For as long as I can remember, there have been shoulder mounts on our camp wall. Both at our “Camp Bucks and Beards”, as well as at the Werner’s “Camp Triple Trophy”. The 8-Point Uncle Rob got (long before my hunting days) has been engrained in my mind as a memento of successful hunts of the past. I had always wanted a shoulder mount of my own, and I have certainly had my chances over the years. Regardless, it wasn’t until recently that I was able to successfully connect on a mature buck worthy of a shoulder mount. My 2020 PA buck from the Allegheny National Forest near camp was…

Sweet November. As hunters, and archery hunters specifically, there are few better days spent afield each year than those of early November. Each and every year, our family spends a few days in early November at camp for our annual Guys Weekend. It is one of my most anticipated weekends of the year, and this year was no different. I got on the road on Wednesday around lunchtime and got to camp in time to start smoking the ribs and head into the woods for an evening hunt. It was a beautiful warm weather weekend – seemingly a theme so far this year. I was hunting in the “Graveyard” spot…

I am still processing the events of the opening day of the 2021 PA Rifle Season. It was a day that provided a story that likely won’t ever be repeated, but you never know. Here it goes… Following our annual tradition, our alarms went off at 4:30 AM. Rob, Robert, Ken and myself rounded out the crew making the pre-daylight trek. Vince and Aiden would be coming in at first light. Less than an hour later, we made the hike into the big woods for the first day of deer season. It’s a little under an hour trek to my spot on the First Finger if I take my time.…

The 2020 calendar year has certainly been one to remember. For many, this has understandably been a year filled with tremendous negativity. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges. However, for me it has provided one positive: a lot of time spent in the woods. Without the ability to do many normal activities, I spent more time at our camp than I can remember in a long time. When the quarantine began in late March, I used it as an opportunity to head to camp and try my hand at shed hunting. I had never shed hunted before, and I knew little about it. I figured that at the very…

The first main planned hunting weekend of the fall arrived this past weekend and I was once again in the truck heading North to camp. This time though, it was on Thursday after leaving work. Originally, myself, Uncle Rob, Robert and two of his buddies were supposed to go to camp for the last weekend of the early muzzleloader doe season, similar to the year before. However, with Robert’s football schedule changing and his buddies dropping out, it quickly became just myself and Rob heading to camp to hunt, with Jeanne and Grandma coming to camp Friday. While I have been able to hunt quite a bit already this fall,…

Well, we are mid way through October, and I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in the woods already. Despite high temperatures last weekend, I was up at camp and in a tree for the morning hunt. I was in the “Graveyard” tree stand (dubbed that as we found a dead carcass near the parking spot last year) I had hung a week prior, in an area I had pictures of a nice buck. A little before 10 AM, I saw a doe a long way off, but quickly lost sight of her through the thick brush. I headed in for the afternoon to hang out…

On a cool fall afternoon in 2012, my Dad and I sat in a buddy stand behind my aunt’s house just across the PA border into Ohio. This was during the early inline muzzleloader season, and I was looking for my first muzzleloader deer. Soon after arriving, we heard ATVs riding on the power line behind us. Now, this isn’t the first story I have told with the same tagline. If you follow the blog and have read the stories, you’ll recount that this has happened to me in the same location on one other occasion. Luckily, they both had similar results. We debated leaving but reluctantly decided to wait…

Despite my love for hunting the Alleghenies and my draw to the big woods near camp, my first buck came about 6 hours from there in Southern Ohio. In November 2011, Dad and I headed down to Dan’s house in Southern Ohio for a weekend archery hunt. While he and Rob had been down to Dan’s many times over the years, this would be my first hunting trip there. Additionally, this was my first out of state (non-PA) hunt ever. To add to my excitement, I was going to be using our new 10-Point Wicked Ridge crossbow, and I was hoping to be the first hunter to take a deer…

On a warm late October afternoon in 2014 I headed over to my hunt my grandma’s property just across the border in Ohio. Despite higher than ideal temperatures, I was anxious to get into the swing of archery season. Immediately upon arrival, I that anxiousness turned into frustration. Just 30 minutes into the hunt on the soybean field, there were ATVs riding on the power line near me. I had hunted grandma’s property more and more in the previous couple years, and this wasn’t the first time this had happened. I went back and forth in my mind of whether I should stay or go. On one hand, I was…

A different perspective of Freakin Snow! The last Saturday of the 2014 rifle season was definitely one for the books. Having already gotten a buck in Ohio in archery season, I had been looking to have my first season of harvesting multiple deer. I didn’t have any luck during the PA archery season or on the opener, so the last Saturday would be my best and final chance to get a deer before flintlock season. The weekend looked very promising, as there were several inches of snow in the forecast up at camp. Additionally, we would have four guys – Myself, Ken, Rob and Dan – heading into the woods…

​I woke up for another deer opener, even more excited than the previous year. I put on the gear that I had prepared the previous night and got ready for what I hoped would be an eventful day. The usual first day process ensued; we headed down over the hill and across the creek. All the guys from our group split up in an attempt to cover as much of the wilderness as possible. My Dad and I were planning on making a loop around the right side of the group while heading up towards Coon Point, which was always my dad’s favorite spot. We changed out of our sweaty gear and…

2016 Deer season would be open at first light, so I woke up early to get prepared. We got to the parking spot and headed down the hill and across the creek. That year I was hunting with my mom so that my sisters, Jessica and Lauren, could hunt with my Dad. We all headed to Coon Point. Craig dropped my mom and I off at our spot and he continued his way up the ridge. I started changing for what could be a long and cold wait ahead, but that was not the case. Before I could even get my new dry shirt on, I spotted a deer walking…

My first Pennsylvania buck came on a morning when seemingly everything went wrong. I had the day off of school and headed over to my friend Brandon’s house. I had hunted behind his house before, but he was sending me to a new spot he had scouted out. As we walked back in the dark, I was contemplating my decision. See, this was “Guy’s Weekend” up at camp, and I had been invited for the first time. I decided to stay home instead, and wondered whether I had made the right choice. Brandon walked me back to the tree I would be climbing and then walked off to his. We…