Pennsylvania Game News - October 2023 - 59

rut ahead. Even before antler restrictions,
I began passing up younger bucks. And,
eventually, that practice became law.
All the while, I was dreaming of
bruisers. And not just dreaming of them
- targeting them.
While the trail cameras I positioned
at pinch points on my favorite hunting
grounds always captured plenty of bucks,
one day, a true trophy - a dandy 8-pointer
- appeared. I resolved to take that deer
or none, unless it was one equally big or
bigger.
In the coming weeks, several legal -
but smaller - bucks gave me opportunities
to shoot. I passed on them all.
Then, on Nov. 9, one of my cameras
captured images of that deer, " Mr. Big, "
coming within easy bow range of one of
my stands. Unfortunately, I wasn't in it
at the time.
Ultimately, I decided to change tactics
anyway, placing a ground blind near
where the trail cam recorded the buck. I
hunkered down there for days as the rut
peaked in mid-November. And, finally, a
doe came racing through the underbrush
with the big buck in hot pursuit. They
passed within 20 yards of my blind.
There was just one problem. Or two,
actually.
First, when the buck approached, he
did so at a bad angle, quartered sharply
toward me. Second, when he finally
turned, a tangle of brush blocked his vitals.
I had no shot and, ultimately, the pair
dissolved into the afternoon shadows.
Thinking perhaps hunting from a tree
stand in that spot, above the brush, would
offer a shot, I enlisted my son-in-law to
help me erect one.
There was still time to hunt. Though
the rut was fading, deer movement was
slowing and the statewide archery season
ended Nov. 18, it continued another week
in Wildlife Management Unit 5D, where
I was.
As things turned out, I still didn't get
that buck before that extra week ended.
Ah, but there's more to this tale.
The late archery season in WMU 5D
ran from Dec. 26 through Jan. 28. Meanwhile,
my wife had gifted me an enclosed
hunting blind that sat atop a 10-foot tower.
We put it at the pinch point near a corner
of our property where I took more than
half a dozen bucks in past years, and
near where my trail cam photographed
the big buck.
The late season found me hunting in
comfort: with an easy chair, a heater I
never needed thanks to the mild weather
and my crossbow at the ready. Several
smallish bucks passed within range in the
coming days, including a legal 5-point that
I passed on more than once.
Still, I held out, determined to fill
my tag with something more regal than
merely legal.
I manned that stand almost every
afternoon as December drained into January.
Then, two weeks into the new year,
Mr. Big finally showed up and strolled
within easy bow range. He offered me
the perfect shot, turning broadside barely
15 yards away.
The problem was he was now an
antlerless deer. He had shed both antlers,
recently, judging by the blood-stained
pedicles in their place.
Without an antlerless permit, and not
wanting to take him that way anyway,
PACING YOURSELF IN HUNTING SEASON
OCTOBER 2023
59
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2023

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