Northeast Pennsylvania White Belly Deer Forecast: December 7
We are down to the last two days of rifle season. It’s crunch time! Being down to crunch time reminds me of one of the first times I went to Ohio to “lease” (more on that later) some land for the inline muzzleloader season.
I met the “leasing agent,” we can call him Kev, for storytelling purposes, in a bar and handed him $7,000 cash. Kev handed me some maps and gave me a few pointers on where the farms we would be hunting were. Kev stuck around at the bar and the normal back and forth between Kev and our hunters of which stand on which farm do you think is best, have you seen any big buck, blah blah blah, was going on.
All my hunting buddies were trying to get top information from Kev that would help them score a big buck right at first light–like ol’ Kev had an idea of what would come out tomorrow at what time. I couldn’t possibly be more bored.
That is when ol’ Kev came over to me when I was standing by a high-top table. He started the conversation and he said, “Which stand did you draw ol’ buddy?” I responded to him, “Well, I’m on the big farm on the old Boy Scout stand.”
He then proceeded to tell me, “Say I had cancer or I was dying, and didn’t have too long to live, and I had one more day to hunt; I’d be in the old boy scout stand on the big farm.” Now the old feller was maybe not the most reputable expert on deer hunting. Kev was a little weathered and you could tell that he’s had a rough go of things in life. I spent a few hours talking to ol’ Kev, sharing a few drinks and some shots and his stories did not disappoint. Kev told me about multiple 200 inches that he had seen.
He wandered off to another one of my buddies and asked him which stand he had. My buddy said, “I’m on the Pool in stand #3.” Kev quickly responded with, “Now say I only had one more day to hunt, you know, like I had cancer or something, and I was gonna die. I’d be on the pool in stand #3.” I’m sure you can predict what he told every hunter he encountered that night.
When he was done telling stories and the ferocity of the liquor that he consumed kicked in, he promptly laid a whopper of a wet kiss on a not-so-willing bar patron. “You ain’t gonna catch any fish unless your line is in the water.” Maybe not the most trustworthy person to take advice from, but I have always thought back to his “one more day” quote when hunting got to be a little frustrating.
Later on in our future, Ohio hunting excursions we experienced, we found out we didn’t even have permission to be hunting the farms. We were hunting and ol’ Kev “leased” them to us just because he knew the hunters who leased those farms didn’t hunt muzzleloader season. I digress but you all will have to make a one-more-day decision Friday, and maybe more importantly on Saturday.
Put your time in this weekend, hunt your best spots even if they haven’t been very productive lately. Act like you have only one “more day” because, in rifle season, that is your reality. Hunting pressure and shots have dwindled and the time could be right for you to get that last-minute trophy or fill out that last tag. Forecast ratings are good and late morning and early afternoon are two times for predicted deer movements. It may be beneficial to stay in a little later Saturday morning, and I would recommend getting in a little earlier than normal for the afternoon sit.
One other bit of advice I would like to give to all of you is that there is never a more important time to jot down some notes for next season. The shooting lane that you should have cut in but forgot to, a location that seemed to perk up in a particular wind, and where the deer went when the chaos of rifle season began could be some particularly important notes for you. Don’t assume that you will remember what needs to be done for next season.
I also have some notes and goals for the next hunting season for the White Belly forecast. I am hoping to spread the word on this forecast to social media platforms and hopefully gather additional data from hunters next season. Don’t worry, I’m not looking to find out where you hunt or share private information with people you would rather not share.
Responses will be anonymous and the goal is to refine the forecast and detail exactly how effective it is. Speaking of effectiveness, I don’t pretend to know it all, and the forecast will never be 100 percent. The intent is to give people an idea of what days are the best days to hunt and which ones are not. I would hope that all of you enjoyed the information that was passed along and if you didn’t, well I think you know what you can do with your opinion. If you are one of those people you probably shoot a Boone and Crockett buck every year so you don’t need a forecast.
Check out the store for some cool White Belly gear and continue to get informative sports information from Vendettasportsmedia.com. Good luck everyone.
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