Northeast Pennsylvania Deer Forecast: Weekend of November 17
Welcome to another edition of the White Belly Deer Forecast. Why White Belly, you ask? Well for a deer hunter, there is no better site than tracking through the woods after a deer you shot and seeing a white belly. So we are going with it.
Before I start with my report for this weekend, I would like to send a special shout-out to the Pennsylvania Game Commission for ending the archery season on Friday, Nov. 17. I guess it wouldn’t make any sense at all to give the working man one more Saturday before ending the season.
If you are lucky, you have a spot in Wildlife Management Unit 5C, or you are hunting in Philadelphia in WMU 5D. My biggest gripe with the Game Commission’s philosophy is if you are controlling the deer harvest with tags, then why are some areas open right to gun season and other areas are not? This philosophy makes about as much sense as the old rules on when to wear fluorescent orange and when not to. Do I have to wrap a ribbon around my tree today? Do I wear orange and then take it off in the stand? Miss those days … NOT!
Enough of my rant, maybe I should start a new article on this site entitled, “Things That Piss Me Off.” I’m not sure what you are seeing, but I saw very little buck movement and my hunter reports and camera data showed the same thing. I did get to see a feisty three-pointer cut off a doe and not allow her to enter a cut soybean field. This encounter reinforces my thoughts that bucks are locking down doe and keeping them in small areas. The fact that a three-point buck has a pretty doe on lockdown also reinforces my thoughts that there are far too many doe for us to see wild rutting activity during this time.
Doe are being bred at a high rate but the fact of the matter is that there are many more doe to be knocked up in the future. As the number of doe yet to be bred, decreases so should the rutting activity and the daylight movement of mature buck. Round one is done and many doe have been bred. Thus, the number of doe who could go into heat is reduced and competition could be higher than the first round.
The next round is either underway, or will be underway in the near future. It’s time for the buck to find that lady at the bar who was a 2 at 10 o’clock, but now she’s a 10 at 2 a.m. She did not get picked up in the first round, but this round her chances are better.
The rut is not over and your opportunity to harvest a wall hanger is still available … so what else will change in the coming weeks? The biggest factor that I see changing is pressure. Our Pennsylvania woods will see the highest densities of hunters in the coming weeks. How many googans (a Wicked Tuna term for a weekend warrior, or part-time fisherman, in this case, hunters) do you know that will venture into the woods in only rifle season?
This increased pressure will undoubtedly get more buck on their feet. In my opinion, there is never a more important time to be in the right spot at the right time. I also have a few spots where you cannot shoot a rifle so bow conditions continue, with the added bonus of the possibility of buck moving in from more pressured areas. If you are hunting a spot with high pressure, it is common to see the most deer movement early in rifle season with a steady decline as the season progresses.
Unfortunately, forecast numbers for this Friday and Saturday are not ideal. Friday carries a 3.5 rating all day long and Saturday has a 2.3 rating in the morning and a 3.3 rating in the afternoon. Temperatures are high on Saturday morning and wind will increase to 14 mph for the afternoon sit. Looking ahead to next week, Monday looks to be your best day, and conditions Saturday morning are currently at a 4 rating.
My forecast for the week of rifle season will come out on Friday, stay tuned to Vendetta Sports Media. For those who enjoy the forecast and are interested in some White Belly gear to increase your chances of getting hit on at the grocery store, check out our ONLINE SHOP HERE.
Good luck and let er’ rip.
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