Larry A. Smail's Blog

Sun warming the tree tops

  Bob and I set up ny the old oak tree to watch a field for deer. We saw one earlier feeding in the field while driving along the road to park. I continued on walking, not driving, for deer. I am armed with a camera this day although I do have an antlerless tag left.

I circled back to see Bob, an hour or so, after I left him. Suddenly, I saw some deer legs in the dogwood-crabapple trees. The deer stopped and I could see a torso. The deer stepped towards us then disappeared. I notice the wind wasn’t in our favor.                

Later we walked down an old remnant of a logging road. I walked around and Bob saw 4 deer flying through the woods. The landowner’s grandson stopped by for a chat and meet Bob. I asked him if he a manual so Bob could identify a deer! Jon walked off as did we. Later he bagged a nice doe.

Show the man what a deer looks like!

  Bob walked over to watch a hollow as I circled around. Suddenly, right in front of me was a feeding buck. It had a small rack, but I didn’t wait to count points. I back stepped and hurried around towards Bob for the deer if he continued on would walk past him. However, the deer may have heard me running around. Bob saw the deer too!

Prior to exiting from the hunt we walked along when I saw what I believed was part of a laying deer. Further study positively identified the image as a deer. I studied the head with my field glasses and felt confident the deer was a doe. the only problem Bob couldn’t see it. I planned to circle onto a dirt road and approach the deer from below. Hopefully, this action would set the deer’s flight towards him. The deer had other ideas as it finally became unnerved and fled. Bob said he now saw the deer.

    We left the woods around 12:45 and I came home to cut up the deer some more and begin the jerky making. The early morning frost evolved into close to 50 degrees by noon.

I saw one squirrel and several grouse too.

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I received a photo from my friend, Randy Tost. He bagged a nice buck this evening. Congratulations Randy!    

Randy Tost's buck- Tost photo

Sunrise

  Bob and I entered the woods very early on a cold morning. The temperatures were somewhere in the lower twenty degree range and the natural world exhibited the traits of such temps. Frost was covering everything as the sun began to rise in the eastern horizon.  

Frosty fog

Bob snuggled up by an old ancient oak tree that stood guard to a field. My plan was to circle behind the field and slowly zig-zag my way through an area of mostly pines and spruces. This plan was not considered an organized deer drive by definition, but a walk to see what I could see with a possibility of moving a buck past Bob.    

Frost on trees

Although cold the walk was invigorating to me. I did move some deer out. A highlight of this move was to see the sun work it’s effects on the frost. Frosty fog was visible at certain areas with proper conditions to form it.

Despite the temperatures, the ticks were still available to se on my pants. They moved a “little slow at the junction”. (from the old Petticoat Junction show of the 60 era.)  While searching for a few on my pants I looked up to see the landowner’s grandson, Jon. It was great seeing him and we chatted for fifteen minutes or so. I left him telling him he’d better “marry that little girl”. I often ask him, when I see him, if he had gotten married yet. Teasin’, of course! I watched him since he was 12 hunt deer. He now is in his twenties! (I guess that makes me older too.”)   

Bob dropped over a hill’s ridgeline and I was going to work around hoping to move a buck. I circled around when I spotted a buck. The buck had a nice-looking rack. I couldn’t count points. I went back to Bob and moved him hoping for a long shot at working the deer past him. My attempts failed as I heard the deer walk up another hollow. Bob was ready to go home and torment my mother so we exited the woods prior to ten o’clock.

Frost on grass

  Later, I began cutting up the buck I shot yesterday and Friday , I guess, will be butcher day!

The annual Pennsylvania buck season came on Monday, November 28th of this year. That day and the next came, and went, without my presence in the woodlands. A number of variables contributed to my decision to remain home those two days. One reason was the fact that I hadn’t been feeling my best for several days and I was debating whether I should call a doctor or not. The heat was another factor. The temperatures remained around 60 degrees for two days. Since I process my own deer I was concerned with the warm days and nights…not good for keeping deer meat safe.

 Another factor is my style of hunting deer. I prefer to “still hunt” for deer. The vast majority of hunters are setting around hoping for someone like me to move the deer. (Still hunting is the method where  the hunter walks a little and watches a lot.) And the final factor is that the 4-point to one side law that had been in place and it is difficult hunting with my style and counting 4 points. This had caused me to lose some enthusiasm. For years I used a flintlock for buck and the handicap of the law and flintlock forced me into, primarily, a doe hunter.

This year the law changed once more. Presently, the hunter needs to see only three points on the main branch of antler to be considered legal. This will make identifying a legal buck easier.

        This morning originally had plans and potential plans in place. I was not going to hunt. The plans changed for our delivery of a new range to late in the day. The other possible plan was to have breakfast with a friend. Dana Gould had e-mailed me about possibly meeting. We talked Tuesday evening and decided to postpone our event and a hunt was now reality for me.

I began my sneaking around early in the grayness of the morning. Light rain and some snow occurred most of the morning. Eventually, I eased towards a field where my step-father, Bob may be watching. He wasn’t there as I watched two doe feeding. I checked along the road and his truck wasn’t there. He had decided to stay home this morning.

I continued my trek until I hunted slowly along an area that had been timbered out sometime ago.The deer like this place due to the old tree tops and young brush.

   Suddenly I noticed deer fur in the brush. A still-hunter always looks for parts of a deer. This might be a leg; an ear; a horizontal brown line; a white color, or maybe a glint of antler. I stepped one more foot and I could see antlers and the torso and the head of a nice buck! I was about 55 yards away and once I noticed three points on one side I shot.The buck was laying in this area and he never moved. The shot was true. Another buck jumped up.

The buck had a near perfect set of antlers with eight nice points. It was 17 inches across. The Remington 760 in the 30:06 caliber did the job.

I called Bob and he came with his truck. I called my cousin Donnie Smail for help once we dragged the buck to the truck. We couldn’t lift the deer onto the tail gate. While standing there a buck crossed the road near us. I believe it was the same buck I had seen earlier.

Bob and I returned to show my mother before taking the deer to my home to hang up, skin and clean some. The cold temperatures will keep the meat fresh until I get to cutting it up for future meals.

As my custom, I give thanks for the deer and respect to the deer.