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After a couple years off from this Annual post, I decided that any year not documented here is a year lost, and since my last Mountain Monarch in 2006 and 2007 tale got some great response and had such an uncanny ending in 2006 I decided the 2009 trip needs captured…(I also attribute it to the Benoit thread currently going on to firing up the juices for it)
This year’s Southern Potter county trip will go on during the entire second week of the PA rifle season. Some will be getting there on the 1st Friday, to hunt Saturday 12/5, but I will be pulling into camp on Sunday 12/6 after spending the first couple days and first Saturday of rifle hunting with my wife and son at our land in our home county of Warren. Hopefully with the satisfiaction of a couple tags filled at home for them, I can go and hunt without a wandering mind in week 2.
A quick recap of last year’s hunt…one that was way too short and likely why it did not get much press from me or result in a good ending. We got there on first Sunday and hunted the second Mon-Wed…not many deer sighted, but more because of the snow crunch than anything following our every step, but on the second Tuesday Dad rousted a very nice WIDE rack buck leading a laarge group of deer and sent a shot at him, the buck was dripping a little blood from his leg and seemed to have a leg drag at points in the tracking, but we were not sure if the wound came from Dad or he got it in week 1…we chased him all day Tuesday, but with 3 hunters in crunchy conditions we were unable to get ahead of him or down him for good. My brother and I had some less than dream shots at him during the course of the chase just trying to slow him down, but to no avail…finally with Dad and borther waiting in a valley down below and me stripped down to a light ahirt just climbing my 3 rd ridge, I tipped my hat to him as the clock approached 4PM and he entered Clinton County still in full stride, almost 2 miles from my Dad’s encounter with him at 9 AM , and after going up and down two steep Potter ridges. An unbelievable feat for a wounded animal no matter how severe. Come Wed Am we had terrible weather and ice was beginning to tear at our departure plans that evening so we hunted til 11 AM and left for the year, quite a dejected crew, that has now turned dejection into motivation.
So almost immediately upon returning home we decide..NO short second week trip for 2009, if we are going to do it we are going to do it right, ALL week. The group for the second week that once just consisted of Dad, my bro and I continues to shape up a bit and it appears we will have a couple more bunks full this year and maybe more cutoff options should we get into another wounded buck situation.
The plan again mainly will be for strategically planned stillhunts drawn out on a topo that is already drilled inot our minds, routes that may help someone in the group capitalize if another makes a mistake and the deer get to traveling to safety. It works well for us in week 2 and the deer seem to be over the slight pressure they now get up there in week 1. These State forest hills seldom get pressure anymore, in fact I believe they get more in bear season than in week 1 of deer. A local group that hunts bear in those hills does come back to push the clear-cuts again in Week 2 because of what they see during their bear drives. We have talked with them before when crossing paths out there, although both parties seem to keep their notes somewhat private. I think they know we are seeing what they have seen, and vice versa…I would never wish any of those guys bad luck, nor any hunter that loves and has not given up on those hills, but at the same time will not hand out info to them on my dream buck. Nor do I expect them too.
Trips to camp during the year have become way too infrequent to do much pre-season scouting. And it is not yet determined if there will even be anyone at the camp for the opener in week 1 to give us an update of what they saw during their hunts. Those tips last year, lead us to the encounter we had with a great but now weary buck. I have made notes so far based on the reports of HEAVY acorn crop on my topo and that in itself has honed at least the first two days of my hunt. Once my feet are on the ground in country and my eyes are taking it all in, days 3-6 will unfold on the fly. Some of us have 2G doe tags (including myself) but we are uncertain if we will fill them, again it will come down to what we see and also the location of where we see them as we quit spending full days of our trip dragging out does years ago. The herd is coming back there in reaction to the logging around and lack of pressure, so if we have a chance and the feel of doing the right thing I am sure an old mature doe will be gladly accepted on the camp meat pole, but in no way is it the mission here.
I hope at the end of this thread we have another great series of photos and stories to share, it certainly was fun for me to look back over the past threads and re-live the hunts again and read everyone’s comments. As updates and thoughts on this hunt come thru my mind I certainly will post it here and look forward to the comments on it all from all my HPA brothers.
If you ask me and mark my words on this…This year has THE FEEL and that is why I started this thread.
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This year’s Southern Potter county trip will go on during the entire second week of the PA rifle season. Some will be getting there on the 1st Friday, to hunt Saturday 12/5, but I will be pulling into camp on Sunday 12/6 after spending the first couple days and first Saturday of rifle hunting with my wife and son at our land in our home county of Warren. Hopefully with the satisfiaction of a couple tags filled at home for them, I can go and hunt without a wandering mind in week 2.
A quick recap of last year’s hunt…one that was way too short and likely why it did not get much press from me or result in a good ending. We got there on first Sunday and hunted the second Mon-Wed…not many deer sighted, but more because of the snow crunch than anything following our every step, but on the second Tuesday Dad rousted a very nice WIDE rack buck leading a laarge group of deer and sent a shot at him, the buck was dripping a little blood from his leg and seemed to have a leg drag at points in the tracking, but we were not sure if the wound came from Dad or he got it in week 1…we chased him all day Tuesday, but with 3 hunters in crunchy conditions we were unable to get ahead of him or down him for good. My brother and I had some less than dream shots at him during the course of the chase just trying to slow him down, but to no avail…finally with Dad and borther waiting in a valley down below and me stripped down to a light ahirt just climbing my 3 rd ridge, I tipped my hat to him as the clock approached 4PM and he entered Clinton County still in full stride, almost 2 miles from my Dad’s encounter with him at 9 AM , and after going up and down two steep Potter ridges. An unbelievable feat for a wounded animal no matter how severe. Come Wed Am we had terrible weather and ice was beginning to tear at our departure plans that evening so we hunted til 11 AM and left for the year, quite a dejected crew, that has now turned dejection into motivation.
So almost immediately upon returning home we decide..NO short second week trip for 2009, if we are going to do it we are going to do it right, ALL week. The group for the second week that once just consisted of Dad, my bro and I continues to shape up a bit and it appears we will have a couple more bunks full this year and maybe more cutoff options should we get into another wounded buck situation.
The plan again mainly will be for strategically planned stillhunts drawn out on a topo that is already drilled inot our minds, routes that may help someone in the group capitalize if another makes a mistake and the deer get to traveling to safety. It works well for us in week 2 and the deer seem to be over the slight pressure they now get up there in week 1. These State forest hills seldom get pressure anymore, in fact I believe they get more in bear season than in week 1 of deer. A local group that hunts bear in those hills does come back to push the clear-cuts again in Week 2 because of what they see during their bear drives. We have talked with them before when crossing paths out there, although both parties seem to keep their notes somewhat private. I think they know we are seeing what they have seen, and vice versa…I would never wish any of those guys bad luck, nor any hunter that loves and has not given up on those hills, but at the same time will not hand out info to them on my dream buck. Nor do I expect them too.
Trips to camp during the year have become way too infrequent to do much pre-season scouting. And it is not yet determined if there will even be anyone at the camp for the opener in week 1 to give us an update of what they saw during their hunts. Those tips last year, lead us to the encounter we had with a great but now weary buck. I have made notes so far based on the reports of HEAVY acorn crop on my topo and that in itself has honed at least the first two days of my hunt. Once my feet are on the ground in country and my eyes are taking it all in, days 3-6 will unfold on the fly. Some of us have 2G doe tags (including myself) but we are uncertain if we will fill them, again it will come down to what we see and also the location of where we see them as we quit spending full days of our trip dragging out does years ago. The herd is coming back there in reaction to the logging around and lack of pressure, so if we have a chance and the feel of doing the right thing I am sure an old mature doe will be gladly accepted on the camp meat pole, but in no way is it the mission here.
I hope at the end of this thread we have another great series of photos and stories to share, it certainly was fun for me to look back over the past threads and re-live the hunts again and read everyone’s comments. As updates and thoughts on this hunt come thru my mind I certainly will post it here and look forward to the comments on it all from all my HPA brothers.
If you ask me and mark my words on this…This year has THE FEEL and that is why I started this thread.
