PA Rifle Deer Season Starts

We finally finished the bulk of the turkey leftovers yesterday. Thank goodness we had a small bird to feed six people on Thursday. All that's left is the little bit of turkey in the pot of soup.

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After taking Terry out to assist with the erection of a climbing ladder to install my tree stand on Friday--something I nixed when the ladder felt unsafe to me--I went out to the woods yesterday to use some screw in steps to put my stand up. (The ladder--one that straps onto the tree in four-foot sections that are bolted together--looked like a good idea in the catalog but in practice, it didn't pan out. After putting two sections up, I realized there wasn't enough space beyond the rungs for my toes. And that third section was impossible to put in place. Even putting the three together on the ground and then trying to strap it to the tree wasn't comfortable.)

The screw-into-the-tree-trunk steps were easier to deal with as they do not depend upon the bends and twists of the tree. I succeeded in putting enough steps in to put my stand about 16 feet above the ground. From there, I'll be able to see up the hill to a flat area as well as down and across. Looking down the slope from the tree stand can make you rethink your sanity.

Although I really like the view from the Aerie, next time I've got to think about purchasing land on the flats. The slope here is between 30 and 45 degrees in spots. Good for cardiac exercise, but a bit tough on the knees. Climbing those tree steps isn't any easier on the knees either. I'm beginning to understand why I see so many stands that look like one room apartments on stilts with fancy steps (not ladders!) leading up to the door. With the number of hunters at the various camps around here looking older than me, their knees and hips have to be arthritic as well. Maybe next year, I'll pic a spot early in the summer and build myself one of these penthouse blinds.

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The last few days, we could hear guys sighting in their rifles or just shooting for fun. Lots of guys. From lots of camps. (Bill from over near Hunter Mountain, NY would refer to them as "the Italian army" when you would hear such nose the day before the season. near him, many of the folks occupying the camps came up from The City. Some may have even been "connected," if yez knows what I means. A lot of the guys around me come from down near Lancaster. I keep forgetting. Is that the White Rose or Red? In any case, they aren't EYE-talian. German or Dutch? Maybe. Then there are a few guys from New Jersey in the area. Not many as Jersey guys usually hunt a little closer to the Delaware River.

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In any event, I'm ready to head out tomorrow before dawn to walk the grueling 150 yards or so (/sarc) to the tree in which I've placed my stand. There are several game trails that criss-cross on the slope in that area it's my hope that when the other hunters start to move about, a buck or two will come through my little neck of the woods and I'll be able to put a stop to his trespass.

The weather is a bit iffy being warm--mid 50s--with a 30-50% chance of showers in the morning. If it is raining, I'll be staying on the ground for a while.

Unless I put a buck on the ground (and here, in this section of PA, it's got to be a minimum of 3 points on one side) I'll not be checking the nets until after dark.

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Sunrise is 7:12 tomorrow. Opening is slightly before that. With 15 minutes to get up to the stand, I'll be out of the house no later than 6:15 AM so as to be sitting and quite when the action starts. Now if I can just get to sleep tonight. No visions of sugar plums but of Dasher and Dancer, et. al.