It is finally “deer season.” Many traditions have fallen by the wayside over the past few years, but deer hunting remains strong.
In spite of the flack that the Pennsylvania Game Commission has received over its deer management or mis-management, Monday will see between three quarters of a million and a million deer hunters head into the woods. The orange army is still out there, though it is not quite as big as it was a few years ago.
Deer season itself has changed quite a bit. Many long for the good old days when we had two weeks of buck and three days of doe season. That was “back when we had deer.” I thought we “had deer” back in the days before bonus tags.
All that behind us, what we got is what we got. There are deer out there, it is just not as easy to see deer now as it was a decade or two ago. You have to use your legs and your brain more now.
I’ve never had a whole lot of luck on the first day of firearms season, so I don’t get upset if I don’t have my tag filled immediately. On the first day, you have to reckon other hunters into your equation. Where will they be, where will they be walking in from and how are the deer going to react to the other hunters. In most places, you have to know the escape routes.
We all know someone who slept in until 9:30, then walked up the mountain, sat down on a log, and a big 10-pointer walked right up to them. I don’t have that kind of luck. I have to be in the treestand at least a half hour before daylight just to see a doe. I know a couple of guys who I swear could sit in the middle of a Weis’ parking lot and see deer, and probably pass up a buck or two until they see one they like.
At least on the first day, luck does come into play simply because you can never know for sure where all the other hunters are and how the deer are going to react. To a certain degree, you have to make your luck. Learn your area and figure out where the deer will go when they get “pushed.” A lot of times, bucks will travel slightly different trails than does. They tend to stay out of sight in the thicker cover. Get out of bed and get in the woods early.
For several years, I hunted with a guy who hunted only for big racks. The primary difference, the major thing I learned from him, was attention to wind direction. It has made me a better hunter because deer live by their sense of smell, especially the big ones.
You need to have several spots in mind for the opening day and any day you hunt. Approach your spot in a way that the wind does not blow your scent to where you think the deer are. Depending on the wind, you might not be able to hunt certain spots on certain days.
Careful attention to scent control and wind direction has a lot to do with “luck.” Know your rifle, know your quarry, use your head and make your own luck.
-- Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to the Outdoor Section. Email comments to kenrose@tds.net.
Sports
Driven for deer
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Shikellamy Braves rally to stay alive
SELINSGROVE — With 11 losses, the Shikellamy girls basketball team is teetering on the brink of elimination from the District 4 Class AAA playoffs. And on Wednesday night, it looked like the Braves were going to go quietly into the offseason when Selinsgrove built a 14-point lead early in the third quarter.
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They learn to be tough young
It's difficult to recall exactly how the sequence unfolded because it happened so darn fast. Shikellamy made a couple baskets, and the crowd began to stir. It was still anybody's game, and the Braves had some momentum late in the third quarter of a recent run with Danville.
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Motorsports: Selinsgrove, Lincoln speedways to host 360 sprint series
MECHANICSBURG -- Mach 1 Chassis of Mechanicsburg will be the title sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic 360 Sprint Car Championship Series, a $120,000 six-race tour that will include five shows at Selinsgrove Speedway and one event at Lincoln Speedway in 2012.
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Girls basketball: Records fall, Red Tornadoes stay unbeaten
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- An overflow crowd zealously cheered Tierney Pfirman's pursuit of the South Williamsport scoring record throughout Tuesday's game, until their breathless faces matched the Mounties' royal blue.
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High school roundup: Rosini pin lifts Ironmen over Tigers
DANVILLE -- Steven Rosini's pin over Connor Houseknecht in 37 seconds in the final bout of the day at 132 pounds prevented disaster for Danville as the Ironmen pulled out a 40-36 Heartland Athletic Conference crossover victory on Tuesday.
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College sports notebook: Antensteiner starts, finishes fast
ANVILLE -- Ines Antensteiner, a member of the powerful Lewisburg girls track & field team for the past four seasons wasted little time making her presence felt in college. On Monday, Antensteiner, a freshman at Lebanon Valley, was named the Middle Atlantic Conference's Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week after a pair of event wins at Saturday's Ducharme Invitational.
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Bill Bowman's column on college sports: Tale of two teams in the clutch
Because basketball season is so long it is easy to forget that one or two moments in a single game can essentially make or break an entire season. While teams might play 30 games or so, most of them come down to a couple of possessions, spots where one little thing can be the difference between winning and losing, between making the postseason tournament or turning in the uniforms.
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Sports court strips Contador of 2010 Tour title
MADRID -- Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title Monday and banned for two years after sports' highest court found the Spanish cyclist guilty of doping. The Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the three-time Tour champion after rejecting his claim that his positive test for clenbuterol was caused by eating contaminated meat on a 2010 Tour rest day.
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H.S. boys basketball: Selinsgrove rallies to top Southern Columbia
CATAWISSA -- In a battle between two schools better known for their football programs, Monday's game between host Southern Columbia and Selinsgrove naturally featured plenty of physical play. After a combined 43 fouls and 55 free-throw attempts, the Seals finally pulled it out. Reserve guard Tyler Krebs made five foul shots in the final minute and a half in Selinsgrove's 54-53 victory.
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High School Bowling: Kratzer, Hartranft take home Pro-Am titles
SUNBURY -- The name might have changed, but the results were the same. Now called the 13th annual Best Bowl/Strike Zone High School Pro-Am Scholarship Challenge, the two-day tournament was another success as it pitted some of the Valley's best young bowlers against each other in friendly competition.
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