Crunch!

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 Saturday morning. This was a decent sized crew for us on the last day, and we were hoping between the visibility from the snow and the movement we made together, we would be able to see and hopefully harvest some deer.

As we got closer and closer to camp, we began to see white on the ground, and the optimism for the hunt grew even greater. That was until we stepped out of the truck. “Crunch!” as Uncle Rob put it. There was a thick layer of ice in top of the few inches of snow, due to the sun melting the top layer before re-freezing it.

Friday evening was spent planning out the following day, realizing we would have to walk slowly through the woods. We decided we would head to the creek together before splitting up and working our way deeper.

The issue also arose Friday night that Dan failed to bring any ammunition – which would provide him quite the problem if he were to find himself in front of a deer. Ken brought some of his 7mm loads, but Dan’s gun was not sighted in with them.

Thus, we arrived at the parking spot as light broke out on Saturday morning and set up a makeshift shooting range. After a couple shots, Dan’s gun was sighted in, I was sure all of the deer were spooked off, and we headed down the hill.

Though we hoped maybe the shade in the woods would have made the ice layer less of an issue, we quickly learned that was not the case. Walking through the woods would be just as loud as when we got out of the truck at camp.

Once we arrived at and crossed the bridge, we split up and all moved very slowly deeper into the wilderness. I was headed up the Coon Ridge, with Dan in the Coon Valley, Ken up the First Finger and Rob out around the First Finger.

I had made it to the “wood fort” on the Coon Ridge when Dan radioed that he was “scaring all of the deer out of the woods” Immediately I dropped my radio in the snow as I saw deer trotting about 100 yards in front of me. I dropped to a knee and rested my gun against a tree. The deer stopped directly in front of me and I could see that the were all doe.

The lead doe’s body was behind a tree and I could only see her head. I placed the crosshairs through a tight window where her shoulder would be when she began to move. She began to take a step, and I squeezed off the trigger. The deer all began to run toward me over the side of the ridge. It was too thick to see which was which.

I gave it a few minutes before walking up to see where I shot. I immediately found blood thanks to the white ground. I followed it about 20 yards over the side of the ridge and saw red skid marks where the deer slid, and then saw the doe leaning against a tree she slid into.

It all happened so fast, and I couldn’t believe I was able to take a deer given the conditions. Dan hiked up to supervise as I gutted the deer and snapped a few pictures.

Being as though it was now only 10 A.M. and I had my doe tagged gutted, we decided to keep hunting deeper into the woods and stop to drag her on our way out. Dan and I continued together up the Coon Ridge to the Target.

The group did not see much action for a while after that, and decided to meet up for a late lunch. Ken was making his way to Dan and I and we hadn’t heard from Rob in quite a while.

All of the sudden we heard “Pow!” Dan and I looked at each other as the shot sounded close. It came from the back side of the Third Finger, which is about the deepest point from the truck. We still hadn’t heard from Rob, but we thought this had to be from him. Finally, Rob got on the radio.

Rob: “We got a problem”

Ken: “I don’t got a problem, Dan you got a problem?”

Dan: Laughing “I don’t got a problem”

All jokes aside, Ken and Dan headed to Rob to see his nice 8 point that he did indeed shoot on the back side of the Third Finger.

Knowing that was a bigger deer and a much harder and longer drag, the three of them began the trek out. I headed over to the Coon Ridge to pick up my doe and begin my drag.

We met at the bridge as it began to get dark.

By the time we got back to the truck, it was well after dark. At this point I had drug my deer the whole way out as the other three had to drag Rob’s big bodied buck. I dropped back into the snow as Rob put it here, snow angel style.

All in all, we had a great day in the woods. The rollercoaster of emotions starting with the anticipation of snow Friday to disappointment of the crunchy snow to the high of two of us harvesting deer, it was quite a memorable last day of the season.