It’s the eve of another opening day of the Pennsylvania firearms deer season. It’s a day as a kid I looked forward to as much as Christmas. Even before I could hunt the excitement started building in my bones the minute Thanksgiving dinner ended and I knew my uncle Jim would be arriving the next day. Also typical for Friday was the loose tradition of sighting in the guns by my dad, uncle Jim, and neighbors, then eventually me and my brother. I loved hearing the “crack” of the rifles and all of the hunting stories and good old fashioned bullshitting between shots. The stories were a mix of recollections of seasons past and expectations for the following Monday morning.
Unfortunately, the tradition and excitement for the “first day of buck” as we called it, is dead in our family. My dad is 71 years old and still hunts, but it won’t be with me or my brother. He and his longtime friend, Ange, will hunt on Ange’s land from a very cushy elevated box blind complete with heat and many other comforts of home. My brother hunts but will likely be on his in-law’s family’s property about an hour away. I will probably make a half-hearted attempt at filling a doe tag from within steps of our cabin door at Horseshoe Hills. We’ll stay in touch with each other, but it will be via text message. Back in the day staying in touch on opening day involved waiting for the trucks to start rolling back into the neighborhood and then getting on the phone and calling around to see how everyone did.
I could take this story 100 different directions and probably will in the coming years, but this time around I’ll focus on the factors that I believe led to the death of a tradition that I lived for as a child and through early adulthood. Maybe dead isn’t the word I should use because those days are still very much alive in our memories. I guess things are just different, and maybe that’s okay too. So what has changed? A lot actually and here is my list of some of the most significant in no particular order.
- The passing of my Uncle Jim. Sadly, I only got to hunt with my uncle for a couple years. It’s hard to believe as I’m typing this that he was younger than me when he died of a rare form of cancer. He would make the drive from his Philadelphia area home with gifts for me, my brother, and sister, and full of excitement for hunting season. He wasn’t exactly the world’s biggest outdoorsman and didn’t kill his first buck until he was in his 40’s, but he loved getting out and just being around it I guess. I know I said this list would be in no particular order, but I will say opening day truly never was the same again after he died.
- Everyone’s lives changed. The one thing nobody can stop is getting older and the life changes that come with it. As my dad aged, hunting just wasn’t as important to him. He still gets out but not with the same vigor as when I was a kid. My brother and I got older, moved for jobs, and started families. My moves included North Dakota and Ohio for about a seven year stretch. Also, everyone that used to live on the hill where we grew up moved or has passed away.
- Hunting seasons changed. Back in the day, the seasons were pretty simple and mostly stayed the same. It was a two week buck season followed by a three day antlerless season if you were lucky enough to draw a tag. That’s why I jokingly still call it “the first day of buck,” because that’s what everyone said in those days and it was true. Then as doe populations soared and tag numbers along with them, the PA Game Commission had various versions of concurrent seasons and at one point went back to just a buck season to start the year. I believe that was for the first week. Over the last several years the state went back to a concurrent season and that’s where we are now. Along the way antler restrictions were introduced and remain today. The point of all this is to say the accumulation of these changes over time has likely had some impact on tradition.
- Archery hunting grew in popularity. Not only did archery grow in popularity, all of us did it and got better at it as the years went by. We began filling tags before firearms season arrived meaning less of us would be participating on “the first day of buck” unless we were just observing or looking for a doe. That also impacted the number of hunters in the woods opening day with the trickle down effect of less deer movement and lower firearms success rates.
- Our goals changed. I started my hunting career in the era when any deer with an antler was a target. We didn’t care what the buck looked like we were after, we mostly cared that we got our buck for the year. There was no letting bucks pass to get a year older, or even years older as is often the case nowadays. I eventually learned about Quality Deer Management and even became a property owner with some others and the rules dictated you couldn’t shoot a small one. While this has resulted in many nice bucks on the wall, I have to admit it probably took some fun out of it. My dad and brother have somewhat stuck to this approach but to a lesser extent. I find myself wavering now that I’m into traditional archery hunting and am getting older and get my enjoyment from hunting in other ways.
- Time changes everything. I suppose all traditions die eventually and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone in my hunting orbit had life changes, interest level changes, or passed away. Now my dad spends most of his hunting time with his friend Ange on his property, and sometimes hunts with me on my land. My brother is getting his kids into hunting so his focus has changed, and he’s now hunting mostly on his in-laws’ family property. Most of my time is spent at Horseshoe Hills, or in Delaware where I hunt with my friend, Ron. I guess the most important thing is we’re all still hunting, but just do it in different ways.
I’m sure there are other reasons that I didn’t cover but those seem like the biggies. I’m finishing this up from the cabin at Horseshoes Hills and it’s bitter sweet. I love that we have the place, but it’s bitter sweet knowing that opening day is tomorrow and me, my dad, and brother won’t be anywhere near each other. We did get to hunt one evening together here during archery season, and I really enjoyed that. I hope we get to do that more in the future.
As for me, I set up a spot within 20 yards of the cabin watching over the Front Meadow hoping to catch an adult doe sneaking through in the morning. This way if I do get a shot, I can take it and likely retrieve the deer with almost no impact on the larger property in terms of chasing deer, particularly bucks, to others. My son Will can watch me hunt from the window and if I get a deer down, he can help me retrieve it and gain some experience as he gets closer to hunting himself. Even though it won’t be the same, I’ll be excited for “the first day of buck” and will enjoy whatever little time I put in tomorrow.