Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Some pros and cons of early archery season
I was among our area’s opening day bowhunters who enjoyed near perfect weather, cool temperatures, crisp, clear skies, and dead calm Saturday morning when archery season opened here in Wildlife Management Units 5C and 5D. Settled in my tree stand well before first light, my compound bow at the ready, I didn’t have long to wait until the first whitetails sauntered by a few clicks before 7:00 a.m. The two does and young fawn were likely the same deer recorded numerous times on my trail camera footage at this same location.
I took careful, stealthy aim and immediately shot the doe and fawn -- with my Nikon camera, that is. Full disclosure: I’m not even in possession of a single antlerless deer tag this year, having failed to apply for the permit before the 29,000 licenses allotted to Wildlife Management 5D here sold out. That means, as far as my Pennsylvania deer hunting prospects are concerned, does and fawns will not be on the menu.
In any case, now that bowhunting season has arrived in our neck of Penn’s Woods (with the rest of the Commonwealth to follow suit on Oct. 5) let’s consider some pros and cons of the early archery season. First, the pros.
Bowhunters who have practiced religiously throughout the off season, peppering arrows into backyard targets and participating in 3-D shoots, have been itching to get afield and finally go after the real thing. And for archers who’ve spotted the buck of their dreams while scouting or captured images of a trophy wall hanger on trail cameras, the anticipation and excitement of early season is likely through the roof.
The primary advantage the early season gives archers is unschooled deer that haven’t been disturbed by hunters since last January. That puts these whitetails unwarily off their game and more likely to let their guard down. While this may not apply to those wise alpha bucks with long memories, the whitetail herd, for the most part, is at its most vulnerable to hunters -- at least until the rut kicks in at the end of October. That, and the adrenaline rush provided by those initial forays into the deer woods, pretty much sums up the early season pros. But my forty-five plus years of archery hunting experience tell me those positive aspects are far outweighed by the negatives.
A major one: you can’t shoot what you can’t see. The woods are thick with green foliage right now. This makes medium to long range visibility problematic. Deer can stroll by completely undetected. The deer that sauntered past me Saturday morning soon vanished into the lush undergrowth a mere thirty yards from my stand.
That our season here in the southeast opens two weeks earlier than the rest of the state amplifies this effect. A buck that would be easy to spot when the leaves are down in mid-November can be nearly invisible in late September. Foliage can also obscure obstacles for archers that attempt early season shots. Unless the bowhunter has taken care to make sure shooting lanes are entirely clear and open, an unnoticed branch or limb can easily deflect that arrow, turning a presumed sure thing into a clean miss or a bad hit.
And just as early season deer are tough to see, they’re also tough to hear. Deer step lightly, and with few leaves down, their footfalls tend to remain muffled. The three deer that cautiously ambled by my stand Saturday morning never made a sound. By late October and early November when the forest floor is carpeted with wall to wall leaves, the footsteps of those deer, and especially those of heavy footed rutting bucks, will broadcast their movements to any hunter within earshot.
And while the mild weather of the early season may seem like a plus factor, it’s really a major minus. Although the weather Saturday morning was cool, pleasant, and ideal for hunting, by afternoon the temperatures were nudging toward 90 degrees. I suspect most prudent hunters opted to pass on the evening hunt given the sweat factor involved, but perspiration isn’t the only problem here. Any hunter who connects with a shot on such a balmy afternoon or evening had better recover his game ASAP. If the trail is lost in the dark and tracking chores are put off until the next morning, the unfortunate outcome just might be spoiled venison and a wasted deer.
One other potential problem in filling an antlerless deer (aka doe) tag early in the season is the chance that, in so doing, you might orphan a fawn too young to fend for itself and survive in the wild, especially one born late in the spring. Exhibit A in this case is the tiny young fawn that trailed its mother past my stand on Saturday morning. Why not spare a doe and save a fawn until the rut kicks in at the end of October? By then the young of the year are no longer dependent in their mothers for survival. In fact, does tend to abandon their fawns when the breeding season begins. Why not wait until then to start filling those doe tags? There’s plenty of time with deer hunting seasons here that stretch clear to January 25, 2020, so what’s the rush?
But if you happen to fill that precious buck tag in the early season, congrats. The downside is that you’ll miss hunting during the most exciting time of the year — early to mid November when the rut peaks and even trophy bucks get careless, respond to scent lures, and are drawn into bow range while answering grunt and bleat calls. I for one will likely hold my fire until then.
HUNTERS OF THE SKY
The West Chester Fish, Game and Wildlife Association will feature Dawn White of the Indian Run Environmental Education Center (IREEC) with her presentation of Hunters of the Sky, an up-close look at birds of prey and their adaptations for survival. The program will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, at the Paradise Farm Camp Dining Hall, 1300 Valley Creek Road, Downingtown, and will highlight live hawks and owls, non-releasable due to handicaps from injuries sustained in the wild. The program is free and open to the public. For more information e-mail wcfgwa@gmail.com or visit www. wcfgwa.org for details and directions.
YOUNG WATERFOWLERS PROGRAM
Registration remains open for Brandywine Red Clay Alliance’s Young Waterfowlers Program set to run on Wednesdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 5, 12, 26, Nov. 2, 9, & Dec. 7 at Ashland Nature Center, Hockessin, DE. With an eye on instilling a strong conservation ethic for all of our natural resources, BRC and the Delaware Nature Society are providing a fantastic opportunity for youngsters ages 11 through 15. The program includes weekend field trips to Ommelanden Hunter Education Training Center, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and Coastal Delaware to study marsh ecology and waterfowl identification. Participation in these programs requires a family membership with BRC. The cost for the program is $150. For additional information call 610-793-1090.