When I arrived to PA I put in to hunt Letterkenny Army Depot which is about one hour South of were I live. Being active duty we get pretty much every date we applied for in Zone 1. Zone 1 is inside the actual ammunition supply point (ASP). The area is HUGE and from what I've been told has quite a few deer. They only allow hunters in the ASP on Saturdays and on holidays. Because of this the deer don't get a lot of pressure. I can also hunt Zone 2 any day of the week.
So, last week I was pretty much nonchalant about the opening day of the PA deer season. With the move, school, work, and my upcoming elk hunt it really wasn't a priority. That started to change when two weeks ago I went to another base hunting safety lecture. During the brief the head biologist mentioned that the average deers age aboard Indiantown GAP was 2.5, but aboard Letterkenny it was 4.5................. Oh my I thought. Only good could come from that.......
My friends had told me fish tales of large bucks being taken off Letterkenny and at the time I had written then off as exaggerated statements made during peak moments of bravado (we've all be there). I thought, could there be some truth in these statements? Maybe Letterkenny isn't such a bad deal, but only time will tell. The following week we get our Letterkenny passes. I got opening day, a few days in October, 10 and 12 November (whooohooo!!), and a couple days in December for archery. I also got a few doe only gun days (I only applied for antlered archery hunts).
Monday a friend gave me this picture and showed me a dozen more like it. Holy cow!!!! All this time I have been hearing stories of big bucks and giant doe and wrote them off as delusional dreams. I've had at least 10 people tell me that a high 120's to mid 130's buck is common. I guess that's what happens when you have a liberal doe harvest, only one buck per year, and a perfect controlled environment that allows deer to get old.
I can only hunt Saturday morning so I'll let you know how it goes when I return. My arrows are tuned, my shooting is on, and the internal fire that I once thought was dead is ROARING!
So, last week I was pretty much nonchalant about the opening day of the PA deer season. With the move, school, work, and my upcoming elk hunt it really wasn't a priority. That started to change when two weeks ago I went to another base hunting safety lecture. During the brief the head biologist mentioned that the average deers age aboard Indiantown GAP was 2.5, but aboard Letterkenny it was 4.5................. Oh my I thought. Only good could come from that.......
My friends had told me fish tales of large bucks being taken off Letterkenny and at the time I had written then off as exaggerated statements made during peak moments of bravado (we've all be there). I thought, could there be some truth in these statements? Maybe Letterkenny isn't such a bad deal, but only time will tell. The following week we get our Letterkenny passes. I got opening day, a few days in October, 10 and 12 November (whooohooo!!), and a couple days in December for archery. I also got a few doe only gun days (I only applied for antlered archery hunts).
Monday a friend gave me this picture and showed me a dozen more like it. Holy cow!!!! All this time I have been hearing stories of big bucks and giant doe and wrote them off as delusional dreams. I've had at least 10 people tell me that a high 120's to mid 130's buck is common. I guess that's what happens when you have a liberal doe harvest, only one buck per year, and a perfect controlled environment that allows deer to get old.
I can only hunt Saturday morning so I'll let you know how it goes when I return. My arrows are tuned, my shooting is on, and the internal fire that I once thought was dead is ROARING!
