I'll admit, that the last few years have been the best in my 30 years of hunting in PA. It had nothing to do with the deer population but because my daughter and step son had started hunting.

This was the biggest thrill of my entire hunting career. Being with the kids and watching them get their first few deer.

We hunt in Greene Co. There are still many deer there but not as many as there use to be. We see more bucks but fewer deer overall. My daughter has said this will be her last year hunting. She is now 17 and doesn't find it as interesting as she once did. My step son is not as into it as he once was. This has been hard to swallow. I almost blame myself for making it so easy for them that they did not appreciate it.

I use to scout my butt off finding several perfect spots so that when the season would come in they would score. I would scout out places during archery and early muzleloader. I'd pass up shots and save those places for them.They usually would fill all their tags. I sometimes feel, that if they had to work harder for success they'd appreciate it more.Anyway, I'm glad I got to hunt with them and see thm enjoy it, even if it only lasted a little while.

But as for hunting myself, I loved hunting West Virginia. We had permission to hunt the perfect farm. Lots and lots of deer. The farmer had the only cornfields around for miles. Those fields attracted deer like a magnet. When we first hunted that farm in archery season, we never even used treestands. We just walked around and still hunted. For the first 3 or 4 years, some days I usually would get my deer within an hour of leaving my truck.

WV allowed 2 deer with a bow. I usually had both tags filled in the first 3 days of the season. Sometimes does and sometimes bucks. It didn't matter to me.

Rifle season was a blast. We were all tagged out on bucks by noon on the first day, for the first couple years. The bucks weren't trophy but it sure was nice that everyone got their deer instead of just one or two guys like back in PA.

Most years i would bag up to 5 deer hunting in WV. I loved that place.

Then in 2002, we got the news, that the farmer was killed when his tractor rolled on him.The farmer was a heck of a nice guy and I considered him a friend.The farm was sold and I haven't been back.