Originally Posted by Bocajnala

2022 was good to my family. Even if it wasn't a great year for me personally for filing my tags.

I got to hunt Ohio archery, PA early muzzleloader antlerless and bear, Ohio and PA rifle season, Ohio late muzzleloader and a couple hours of PAs flintlock season. I put allot of time into the woods. Never had a shot opportunity on a buck. Passed a ton of doe before finally taking a little one on the second to last day of PAs rifle season.

The year started out with a special draw youth hunt for Jayden (wife's cousin who lives with us). It was in a water fowl preserve. I had previously hunted this area in a muzzleloader draw several years back and knew some good areas to focus on.

That morning we had some vehicle issues and had to unload and repack everything into another vehicle. Set us back about thirty minutes. My first two spots already had people in them and we were quickly approaching daylight. So I just picked a likely spot and we sat down. Didn't see anything and got up to start still hunting about 10am.

Still hunting is tough. It's even harder when you have a new hunter doing it and he's trying to get a shot off. We hunted until about noon without seeing anything then I found a large stump he could sit on and watch while we ate lunch. It was at the intersection of several trails and seemed like a good spot for a break.

Around 1 I noticed Jayden was nodding off. So I stood up beside him and woke him up. A couple minutes later I spotted two bucks working their way through the woods at a trot right Towards us. I saw that the bucks were of similar size so i told Jayden to get ready and I would try to stop one. Worked perfectly. Mouth bleat and he stopped at about 25 yards. Jayden and his .350 legend did it's job and we watched him pile up 40 yards away.



https://i.ibb.co/fFFhrwH/received-732821175186340.jpg





I pointed Jayden towards a road and he started the approximately 600 yard drag to get the deer to the road. I hiked out to get the truck. And drove around to meet him. Buck weighed 158lbs dressed.


Next up was my dad taking a really nice 9 point right behind his house. He has about 6 acres, that deer will pass through. But not a reliable spot by any means. He started cross bow hunting last year and took a little doe. But this buck was a nice surprise. Took it on a Sunday morning before church.



Buck weighed 160lbs.

Opening day of PA gun season. Jayden and I had a small 3 point right below our tree but Jayden couldn't get lined up on him for some reason. He grunted in frustration as the deer disappeared down over the hill.

Dad called me about 0900 and said he shot at one right at legal light. But doesn't know how he missed it. Said the shot looked and felt good but couldn't find blood or hair.

We set up a drive to push the area towards that stand, and then after the drive if we didn't find the buck we'd get everyone and do a grid search. Well, we found the buck. I doubt it lived more than 10 seconds after the shot. But it didn't leave a blood trail. A nice 8 point came out to Jayden on the drive and his .350 legend dropped it where it stood. Dad and Jayden's bucks were brothers.





Couple youth hunters took doe and an uncle took a nice 7 point on the last day.






Couple extra pictures.



Great season!