pennsylvania's first opening saturday so how was it?
 

well how was pa's first opening saturday.? did it seem weird to be out on that day instead of the tradition monday opener ? hopefully next years opener will also be the saturday after thanksgiving & along with the first sunday for firearms season. diffently maybe considering to hunt pa next year with my older brother

I personally don't like it. YET. I'm sure as I get used to it it'll grow on me.

I'm one of those that have to go to camp and get set up. And a Saturday opener just made it very rushed.

Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving we typically get to camp, set up, visit, small game hunt, etc. And I've always enjoyed those days.

Like I said, I'll get used to it I'm sure. And it'll become normal. But it did feel rushed to me. I think overall it's good for the hunters though-there were definitely more people out this year.

There were a ton of hunters out. Saturday opener+beautiful weather. Very little shooting around us though.. One younger cousin took his first deer. A 5x1. Would have been a very nice buck if both sides matched. And another cousin got a 6 point. That's all between fourteen of us.

A great first day in my book. I saw about 15 doe and three illegal buck.

-Jake

was very lively here, tons of shooting, and pretty sure they killed a bunch of bears here as well
if the goal is dropping numbers again, on bars and deer I think it is for sure working

other wise I preferred the Monday opening too, for about same reasons,m
holiday and then running off to get to camp or, makes for short time
as well as , in my hunting camps we had a lot of traditions that went on on Saturday, a turkey shoot, get together with all members to find out plans for Monday morning and so on
NOW< its more a hurry up show up free for all

I gather in time things cn a be adjusted, but was nicer to have the down time from holiday traveling to deer camp transition
but pretty sure I will be a notoriety here, as modern folks seem to like to rush it seems LOL, ,

I got my buck during archery season so I didn't hunt on Saturday. As a matter of fact, I was returning from spending the holiday with relatives in Ohio and didn't get home until about 4 PM on Saturday. What really surprised me was that when we left the house to go out for dinner later that afternoon there were over fifteen deer in the neighbor's field at the end of my driveway and we saw six more deer in nearby fields before dark. If I didn't know better I never would have guessed it was the first day of deer season. Very strange.

I suspect a lot of hunters are spooked about CWD. I received a letter from the PGC last week asking me to purchase left-over doe tags that were issued for this area because of CWD. I am in DMA 3 and the letter stated that one wild infected deer was found within five miles of my property. That happened a couple of years ago on a State Game Lands. As far as I know there have not been any other wild deer found with CWD near here since then but there was at least one found on a deer farm about fifteen miles from here in the last year. I assume the next thing to deal with will be the PGC wanting to send sharp shooters onto my land to kill off as many deer as they can.

I submitted the head from my buck this year for CWD testing and it came back negative, sort of. The PGC test results letter that I received had a couple of CYA statements in it that basically said the test was not a food safety test and although no signs of CWD were found in my deer head they could not guarantee that the deer was CWD free. Didn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling. IMO the only reason to get your deer tested is to help the PGC monitor the spread of CWD and that's it! They will not tell you whether or not it is safe to eat.

They don't know what's safe or not safe with cwd. Nobody does.

I hate to complain about having more days to hunt. But most people I've talked to really didn't care for the Saturday opener. Just "feels" weird.
​​​​​​ Again, I hate to complain about additional hunting days.

One thing I know, it will benefit my kids when they start hunting. Having three Saturdays to hunt is better than just two. Especially being Ohio residents now- we don't get the first Monday off school.

-Jake

I don't know how it was. I was nice and cozy under the covers as I got my buck during archery season. I guess I could have gone out for bear here in WMU 4E but my freezers are full and I really don't care to shoot another bear in PA. And I know I will if I see one as long as it isn't a little one. I'd rather save the trophy for someone else. (Right friend?)

:party0005:

Lol, and believe me it's appreciated!

-Jake

Tom, if you do come back to Pa. to hunt next year be sure to let me know. be nice to see you again. been many years. as far as Saturday opener next year i hope it goes back to Monday. i heard one shot all day on Saturday. i dont think there were as many hunters out on Saturday. deer were not moving at all.

WOW, where I hunted there was hardly any shooting at all. I think all morning I heard 4-5 shots and they were far away. In fact, we only say one doe and it was a little one that we let walk. We were wondering if Saturday was truly opening day.

will do mr.slim & yes it would be good to see ya. i just remember all the hunts on lefty stovers property with you & the buffilini's alot of good memories