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10-02-2007 | 09:50 AM

#15

PABowhntr

Boone & Crockett

Joined: Feb 2003

Posts: 12,157

Likes: 0

From: Lehigh County PA USA

RE: PA Opener

Sorry for not posting more guys but things have been busy on my end for the last year or so. Two little boys and two or more jobs tends to keep things hectic.

I had a rather interesting opening morning. It went something like this.....

The alarm clock went off at 2 am. I proceeded to get out of bed, hit the shower and get the truck packed up in short order. My primary hunting spot is only ten minutes from my home at one of the local gamelands. At this point it is important to put the story into perspective....

Directly across the road from the gamelands that I hunt is a local game preserve, the Trexler/Lehigh County Game Preserve. The entire preserve covers well over 1100 acres of excellent habitat. The central range houses the Lehigh Valley Zoo (20 some acres) but the rest of the property is a mixture of rolling wooded hills and valleys with some agricultural fields mixed in.

This past year the county and the trustees of the preserve decided to open up the North Range section of the preservefor hunting...archery only for deer and turkey. Almost immediately following the public announcement some of the animal rights groups in the area began to dispute the decision and attempted to fight it in court. The case was thrown out a week or so ago however that should set the stage for my opening morning.

I rolled into the gameland parking area at 3:30 am to find five other cars parked along the road and five more cars parked in the parking area. One of the cars was my hunting companion. He had arrived at 2:50 am to already find two cars in the lot. We spoke briefly and then headed in to our stands. (A later conversation with a hunting buddy who rolled in at 4:30 am revealed 35 cars parked along the road that borders the far side of the north range).

My stand location is about 300 yards from the gameland parking area but only about 115 yards from the road that I drive in on. Directly downhill from my stand is the entrance to the North range of the game preserve. This entrance allows hunters to have access to the main parking area and thus the entire north range. However,hunters can park anywhere along the roads that provide the property boundary for the range and just walk right in (no fences). I counted 22 cars entering the North Range prior to 7 am. Most of them entered before 5 am.

Around 7 o'clock a few cars parked along the road next to the front entrance. The people that left the vehicles were not dressed in hunting garb but rather plain street clothes. Some were actually dressed in black though I paid little attention to it at the time. They began unloading flowers, wreaths and various signs from their vehicles. After setting up these "decorations" they began to stand around and chat at gate. They were far enough away so that I only caught brief bits of the conversation and I really wasn't paying much attention as I was actually there to hunt.

A little after 7:30 I heard a car pull up in front of the crowd and a brief, muffled conversation followed. The last words out of the driver's mouth were rather derogatory in nature before he pulled away. A short time later another car drove out of the preserve and stopped in front of the protestors. This car proceeded to spin its tires on top of the gravel stones before speeding down the road. No words were exchanged.

A little after 8 am another vehicle pulled up in front of the protestors and a gentleman exited the car. He was dressed in plain clothes and calmly walked around the vehicle to stand in front of the protestors. The next fifteen minutes that followed were filled with expletives that I dare not repeat here. However, it took the Game Commission to break up the exchange.

Every fifteen or twenty minutes or so afterwards a different vehicle would pull up and some angry words would follow.

At 9:30 am I decided to pack it in as I had not seen a deer all morning (nor had anyone else in my crew...we are guessing the moon played some part).

The afternoon hunt was less dramatic but much more rewarding as I took my oldest son ( 5 years old)out with me for the first time. We set up a ground blind at the edge of a previously productive field. Though we did not see anything I received a great deal of enjoyment out of having the opportunity to share a hunt with him. We left a bit early as dad forgot to pack enough snacks and a silent video game to keep him occupied....

. We did get out last night again but that is a story for another time. Pictures to follow this evening.

I look forward to having the opportunity to hunt more this season includingsome excursions into the game preserve itself as there truly is the opportunity for some record book bucks in there. Once our small game and muzzleloader seasons open up in a few weeks the game preserve should be much more productive for archery as the gamelands will receive quite a bit of multi-season pressure.

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