PA. opener

[Tedd]

Whew, I have covered some ground. (public north). All my winter scouting was a waste of time. No acorns at all. Deer have vacated completely from a very large area around where I normally hunt. I relocated farther away, searching for some feed or sign. No luck. I have to try somewhere else. Darn! I was really optimistic this year. I had really had some good sign last fall and winter.
 Sign is very hard to see because of the constant wash out rains. But we had a day or so without and I should have picked up something.
 I had to got to the one "sure thing" spot I was saving for the rut that I went to. Nothing! Almost no deer on the 2 cameras I left there.
last week 7 miles. This week 9 miles of sneaking around scouting yesterday according to the GPS, with the whole pile of gear on my back. I finally set up over on old trail, currently appearing unused at 4:00. A thunderstorm washed me out at 5:00
The woods is really dead looking inside from no sunshine and constant rain.
If you are the guy to find acorns your going to have a zoo around you.
One thing I noticed was 3 different hens with no poults. Rain must have killed them. You don't supposed they would close fall turkey in the area?
 I'll be back next weekend for 2 days to keep up the search.
Tedd
 
 

[Alvey]

Ted,Same here went to my area on Bald Eagle state forest I was  optimistic about no acorns and  minimal deer sign.Lots of Acorns lower wood lots.

[Tedd]

You need a horse to cover enough ground in a hurry. Someday when I retire and move up there, I'm going to have a horse.
Tedd

[northern lights]

Funny about the horse, wife and I have quarter horses and while riding woods trails seems like the deer  aren't as skittish of person  on horseback, if  its legal in Pa,?   and I could get him to whoa at the right time think it would be cool to go all Native American and take one from horseback, but about the time I'd drop the reigns and nock an arrow is when  my horse would decide its time to move, seriously though its a good way to cover a lot of ground, Weather is supposed  to break on Friday, just been to hot and muggy for me so far, lots of mulies but no desire to mess with one in these temps. 

[Homey88]

Got out last night for the first time in Bald Eagle State Forest. Did not see any deer but it was great to get out int he woods.

[Homey88]

Found a few rubs though.

[Tedd]

Nice rubs, at least you know they are there!
I finally found a huntable spot.
I moved 2 mountains over and scouted, with the treestand on my back but again found nothing. It was a lot of uphill and then fighting beech saplings for an hour. I came out and took a quick nap in the truck while trying to think of another location. While studying Onx maps I pinpointed a southeast facing point about 4-5 miles away by road from my usual location, It looked like an ideal buck bed area. Also seemed like it could be an overlooked spot. I thought I would check it out since I had no other ideas. Just where I wanted park I looked in the woods and saw some rubs. It was the first actual sign of a living deer I saw so far! The long narrow ridge appeared to be about a mile to the point I wanted to check out. I got 100 yards in an hit a wall of laurel that only a desperate dumbass would try to go into. So in I went. Hoping it would open a little as I went. I stumbled a 1/4 mile and hit some game trails and slightly open spots. Then acorns!!!. 1 tree has them! But they are all hidden on the leave and laurel bushes. The area had stunted very short scraggly oak trees. (opposite of the grand 100' massive oaks where I usually hunt). Top soil must have been shallow, huge rocks were every where. The biggest trees might have been 30' an hundred years old, but they had acorns and deer sign, fresh. And bear sign. I moved another 25 yards a bumped a deer but couldn't see it's head. I'm only a 1/4 way to my destination but slowed up looking for more sign. I found at least 6-8 acorn producing trees with deer sign and decided not to continue in case I ran off more deer. So I hung a camera on a trail then thinking I put down too much sent I moved on another 75 yards. And found a tree to hang a stand. It was 4:00 PM. I was in the stand with an arrow on the string a 4:14. At about 6:00 I saw some deer going right past the camera I just hung. Dang it! One was a buck and 3-4 doe. I snuck out at about 10 min before dark trying to skirt the deer sign but the laurel got so thick I crashed like a bull dozer. Defiantly going back. 4 days of hunting. Sat in stand for about 2 1/2 hours. Feel great!!
Tedd

[Tedd]

This is a bear path coming to the oak trees. It doesn't show up on the camera. But you could easily see the steps where a bear puts his foot the same place every time. Not sure why the paw placements don't show up it was really obvious.

[Homey88]

Tedd looks like a great spot! Keep us posted!

[Homey88]

Got out for an evening hunt in Bald Eagle State Forest this evening. Had a very nice 8pt buck about 10 yards from me and couldn’t get a shot.
I was sitting on my Waldron Pack seat and where I was hunting was close to Route 80 and a creek. So it is very hard to hear anything. Close to quitting time I stood up and heard a sound like something raking the leaves. I froze and heard it a couple of more times. I looked to my left and standing about 10 yds away was a really nice 8pt buck staring at me. He looked at me for a couple of minutes and wasn’t quite sure what I was. He looked up towards Route 80 then looked back at me then trotted away. When he got to about 40 or 50 yds away he snorted once and continued on his way.
Super exciting encounter from the ground!