Larry A. Smail's Blog

Thursday mornings traditional is breakfast at my mother’s place. Today, I called and said I would be hunting bear. She was disappointed, but she knows my hunting heritage is strong and she, also, knows I will be out more.

Thursday Morning: I entered the woods with a hint of light as I traveled down some sort of access road. I heard some turkey yelps and instinctively responded as I continued on. Shortly, I left the road and began a slight climb to get to the ridgeline. I was glad I did for I saw the fog over the Allegheny River again. North of my position the fog was dense appearing like cotton candy. Also, seeing the fog from a high vantage point helped to make the sight extremely soothing. I sat down on a log and watched for a time.

I still-hunted the ridge hoping to see a bear feeding on the acorns, but it was not to be this morning. The very open woodlands at this particular site is not the best habitat for bear, but with fall coming on and the bear’s need to eat encouraged me to attempt this hunt. Later I would be an old clear-cut. It, too, is growing up past the best habitat. I would see some deer and squirrels and I quit the hunt around noon due to the warming temperatures.

Friday morning I was at it again. This morning was different for the sky was cloudy and sprinkling. The temperatures were cooler, as well. I walked a township road until close to eight o’clock for the gloom of the morning made seeing in the woods difficult. Once I did enter I would be seeing some deer and more squirrels.

Eventually, I crossed back the road and began a trek towards an area I needed to check out. There is a strip of Autumn Olives along the hill. Bear habitat indeed. However, it was extremely dense and one couldn’t even crawl through. I decided to abort and circumvent.

I noticed a ladder stand near the edge of the dense mesh. I was in awe when I saw it. I nice buck was dead and only about twenty or so yards from the stand. I looked at the deer and could see nothing to indicate a shot and lost deer. the buck was an eight-point.

Although saddened to see such a nice buck dead, I moved on only to find some piles of bear fecal matter. The droppings were fairly fresh for last night we experienced heavy and hard rains. This scat was still firm proving it had to have been made since the rains.

I walked to my left and didn’t go far when I saw the woods were posted. I reversed and moved along the Autumn Olive and sat for time while the rains fell. Movement caught my eye and a deer of the year walked past me at about twelve steps. My camera was in my shoulder bag due to the rain and I missed some great woodland shots. I left the woods about eleven to go home and dry out. Tomorrow I am hunting deer with the flintlock.

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I was blessed with a beautiful sunrise this morning. I was happy to have been already on the top of the hill in time to see such splendor. This was my first morning out for the early muzzleloading season in Pennsylvania. I have tags to take either a Black Bear or antlerless Whitetail Deer.

The morning was young when a nice doe walked from the woods into a field of high grass. I stopped and maneuvered to exchange the muzzleloader for the camera. She stopped and looked away at first and eventually looked upon me with a penetrating stare. I took several shots before she ran away. The distance was around thirty-five yards. A shot would have been very easy, but I had made up my mind I wasn’t going to use my doe tag this morning. I would have fourteen deer sightings throughout the morning hours. I found one sizable pile of bear droppings, but they were not fresh.

A chipmunk moved to my right climbing a vine offering a photo. Once I saw the Chipmunk on the computer I noticed the Deer Tick on the cheek.

DAY 2: I tramped around until noon and quit for several reasons. I was getting warm. My knees were hurting enough and I was to play music at the God’s Choice event beginning at five. God’s Choice is a weekly event held at the local Kittanning Free Methodist Church. Individuals with special needs attend where they have a meal, sing and act and here a Bible story. they all love this evening every week. I reached the jeep at noon after being over the hills for five hours.

My second morning out was another beautiful morning. I chose a place, but some was disappointed. There was no food normally needed to hold bear. I checked two ridge areas with mature Oak trees and never found an acorn. There were no squirrels scampering about either. Most of the area had extremely abundant Autumn Olive trees around and not a single berry could be found and I covered much ground. I reached the jeep close to 11:00 deciding to head home.

I saw five deer.

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