When I was little I remember making fires in the evening with my dad and he used to tell me that when you could hear the wood start to crack you knew that it was lit and your fire was about to be roaring in short order. You knew that it was no longer just the paper burning and in no time you would be watching the beautiful orange and blue flames as they warmed you to the core. As I sat in the backyard and built a fire of my own after shooting a few final practice arrows I started to hear my dry wood crackle and I knew my fire was about to be ablaze. I sat there sipping on a cold one and realized that the Pennsylvania opener was only days away. I thought of generations past and the tradition that comes with the opening of deer season in the North. Just like my fire, my burning desire to hunt is ablaze and I cannot wait for the first sit of the season this Saturday.
As many of you know I just recently moved back to Pennsylvania from Baton Rouge where I resided for the last ten years. I loved the lifestyle down in Cajun country. The people, the culture and most of all the food was indescribable. But there is just something about being back in the mountains with autumn upon us that breathes new life into my soul. When you see the leaves changing color as fall approaches you cannot help but think ahead to what this season may bring. What encounters will I have this year? Will all of the long hours on the tractor and time spent prepping fields and stands give me the opportunity to kill a gnarly giant this fall? Well, in just a few short days these questions, along with many others, will be answered.
The best part about being back up North is the opportunity I have once more to spend time with my father getting our family farm ready for hunting season and learning the ins and outs of crop management and preparation from him. We have spent countless hours since the end of turkey season with our minds focused on October 1st and having everything ready for that first morning. I have been running cameras the last few months so that we can choose our shooters and which bucks we want to let grow for another year. This also gives us a great chance to inventory the health of our deer herd. You need to be prepared to pass a nice buck if he is too young. The only way to grow true mature bucks is to let the young ones walk and grow.
The last piece to this opening day puzzle is to make sure that your weapons, both physical and mental, are as sharp and oiled as they can possibly be so when the moment comes to make that shot you are prepared to make it count. There is a bow hunter named Cameron Hanes who I follow on social media that is gaining popularity at a record pace in the hunting community for his success as an elk hunter and more notably his insane workout regimen. This guy runs, lifts weights and shoots his bow seven days a week in preparation for elk season. He just finished a two hundred mile mountain marathon to get his body both mentally and physically ready for the strains of hunting season. His sole purpose in life is to dominate on the mountain and become the ultimate hunter. I have been using his success to fuel my own preparations.
I have made it a personal goal of mine to become the best archer I can be this year and that has included shooting my bow religiously and training my body on a daily basis. I want to become the top predator and it takes immense dedication and focus to do so. I have been spending countless hours, shooting arrow after arrow while listening to the combines harvest corn and imagining a Booner standing broadside. There is something so simple yet so surreal about hearing your shot thwack the target and looking up to see that it was delivered right where you intended. The flight of an arrow is an ancient visual that as a bow hunter is the essence of what we do.
We shall see what the upcoming season brings, only time will tell what adventures lie in store.
As a friend recently told me, "If that doesn't get your fire burning, your wood is wet."
-Good Hunting
