Larry A. Smail's Blog

  Saturday, January 4th, my step-father, Bob and I entered the single digit woodlands in search of flintlock deer. My mother said we were “goofy” as we left the house in our pursuits. Maybe she was right.    

We immediately began seeing deer tracks from the night before as we walked along. I felt very confident we would see deer. My task at hand was to be a “dog” attempting to move deer along towards Bob allowing for a good shot. Every push I did moved deer out , but they would be moving too fast or be entangled with brush. Bob never was offered a good shot.

    We, both, saw many deer throughout the three hour hunt. I had one deer feeding by me. I stopped the walk and managed a few photos. None of which presented a great photo. I saw some nice long bearded gobblers too. I may need to pursue them come spring.                                                                    

Any hunts would need to be prolonged after this day. The weather was to turn very frigid with temperatures in the negative readings and high winds. these winds and cold temperatures would be brutal to hunt in.

Robin in a single digit morning.

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Today, a friend, Larry D. wanted to go for a brief hike to a rock outcropping for some photos. I accepted and off we went to northern Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. We saw a number of deer out feeding as we traveled. The temperatures was still in the single digits, but they were to climb into the low twenty degree range by afternoon. This change in the weather was bringing the deer out to feed.