Pre season 2023
Pennsylvania
Time to start thinking fall 2023. I'm not sure how my seasons going to be. Last Friday I had my right knee replaced. May or may not get left done. It's not great and my insurance deductibles are probably met already. So if why wait till next year.
Anyway I had so much I needed to get done, knowing it won't be able to after my knee surgery. I did get 2 cameras out, usually get 10 out. Left 5 of my stands out from ladt year. I aways pull them right after late season, but knowing about my knee I didn't pull 5 of my favorite locals. If I can get others up great, if not, so be it. Luckily some of my camera spots if I want, I can drive to with in a few hundred yds of them and get them out. My state land stands and camera's just may not get out this fall.
So far my bear sightings this year are way up from last year. Had two bear behind my house last night, one big bastard.
Probably won't hunt out west this year. A miracle and 20 lb disappearing would have to happen for that to happen. :) Ny I'm going to take a wait and see.
So whats everyone doing, plans for 2023.
After last year's health issues I'm just looking forward to getting out more. I only hunt SGLs and don't put out cameras or stands so the only prep I need to do is scouting.
Got a new puppy on the way so I'm thinking my archery might be curtailed a bit this year. That is, unless cameras show something interesting:)
After losing the 1,100 acres of private to PA's latest State Park, I was able to get permission on ~250 acres of private that I really need to start scouting.
Up my way with the vast amount of larger private. The public dont get anywhere near the pressure that other public gets south of me. A few years back I chased a buck that I saw of public the whole archery season and only saw 2 other hunters and not my target buck. Saw 4 bear on it also that year. I wish bear would respond to calls. I tryed rabbit and fawn bleats that I'd carry with scouting and hunting for if I saw a bear, just to try. Every time I tryed they would stop and run or just run.
Why can't you continue to hunt the land even if it's a state park?
Phil,
You can. It just turned into the proverbial **** show. Huge influx of hunters, walking around looking for the waypoints marked on OnX. Increase in other recreational users, littering, blasting music, let their dogs run loose. Doesn't take into account within two weeks, I had a stand stolen, and several trailcams went missing. Including one that has been out since Christmas of 2013. 24/7/365. THAT pi$$ed me off. It's close enough to Lancaster and York that it attracts, how shall we say it, a less then desirable element. No thanks. I'm deeply grateful for the memories, but new ones will be made elsewhere.
Best of luck in the new spot. Dealing with recreational users is pretty much a way of life here in Eastern PA - bikers, walkers, horse riders..... :(
I do miss the SGLs in western PA. Love hunting them but they are too far to hunt consistently for me.
The recreational users weren’t too bad. It was the trash that showed up. One Saturday I go back to my truck around 11. Honda CRV is parked there just blasting music. It was loud with their windows up. After 15 minutes or so I go over to knock on the window to ask them to turn it down a bit. I knock several times. Window comes down. This cloud of smoke (think Chevy and Chong) comes rolling out. Black chick is like smiling like yo wassup. I asked could you turn the music down a bit. She smiles says sure and turns it down. I walk back to my truck thinking WTH…
Hope you’re healing up well, Ed!
I always enjoy the off-season and Pre-season stuff .................almost as much as the hunting! Looking forward to getting out to the Keefer farm to help with some UTV trail maintenance, cutting brush/tree limbs along field edges and then of course moving stands, tightening ratchet straps, trimming shooting lanes and such, getting stands ready to hunt. Also collecting SD cards and checking trailcam photos. Then sitting on “The Hill” in the evenings with spotting scope and binoculars and seeing if we can identify the bucks from the trailcam pics.
This year I will be hunting 2 private properties: 1) The Keefer Farm(I think ;-) and 2) my wife’s cousin’s property (he has 30 wooded acres about an hour away in the Southern Poconos) He doesn’t bowhunt much, but may do more this year since we will be mentoring his nephew who will try bowhunting for the first time. Should be a great season! : )
My preseason scouting started after my Christmas vacation. Checking the farm for dead deer and sheds for 3 months, and simply looking out my windows. Never really took down my cameras, unless to put in new batteries or to try new spots. I can tell you that they revealed good news, especially where I added minerals and maintained a licking branch at a scrape. When I put up a turkey blind next to one of the grapevine/scrapes in April, I was immediately getting almost nightly visits from bucks. They didn't seem to care the bind was there. Another spot has been giving me a nice inventory of bucks near a stand where I have had success in the past. We have bears too, and the young male turkeys have been showing themselves.
I had lots to clean up in the woods from 3 weekends in April after all that wind we had and of course WE have to do all that stuff Rut mentioned.
Right not I'm kinda retinking my fall stand setup. Never archery hunted of a blind. But with a knee replacement, not sure I'll be able to climb. Like i stated in my first post. I did leave up a few stands from last year.
You in P.T. yet Ed? I’m guessing 12 weeks of P.T. Will get you climbing trees again.................(as long as there are no complications)
I just lost my spot on a 5D private property. Sucks as that was the only private land I had to hunt. The good news is, I lost it to my buddies son who is leaving active duty in the Navy in August. He's in a squadron at Oceana, VA. I served in a squadron there and on the Forrestal. It was me coming home 55 years ago this Nov. Glad to give up my spot to a young veteran. Very few want to serve anymore. There's a few public spots near me I'll have to get after scouting.
You’re right Woody...............if I HAD to lose a property to ANYONE, I would not bat an eye if it was to a young veteran! We ALL owe them a LOT! ;-)
And Thank YOU for YOUR service!
No stands, blinds, baitplots and such for me. I'll stillhunt the same game lands and state parks I've traversed for 40+ years. Not too many surprises anymore. I'm going to hunt some of them by boat again this year. Simple... but you'd be surprised at how successful and enjoyable it is. Deer, squirrel, turks, furbearers, mushrooms, etc. Shhhhh. Don't tell.
I recently retired so I have options that I never had before. Morning sits in my ladderstand during the rut is one thing I am looking forward to.
Well compared to last year I'm seeing way more bear. 5 in the last 6 weeks and I hit one of them traveling on a dirt road. I hit it at a very slow speed, I'm sure hes ok. It was a small 125 lbs. Thursday evening this guy came into my back yard. He's rubbed or has mange. It all over and it just dont really look like like rubs that I have ever seen before. Julie has 4 bird feeders up high on a steel cable on a pulley. She actually brings them in a night so the bears don't get them.
Here's one from a year or so ago trying to climb out on the cable to get to the feeders.
LOL Ed! Seems like you are in BEAR HEAVEN over there! That last pic reminds me of a pic of a bear in the Poconos that was very adept at crawling out on the wire and swatting at a bird feeder knocking the seed to the ground.
