Aug 21, 2011 5 min read

It won’t be long before hunting season is here again, as archery deer season opens in a little more than a month on Oct. 1.

Serious bowhunters are already out spotlighting and scouting in an attempt to local a big buck.

The Game Commission’s three-on-top antler restriction rule for WMU 2A should increase the harvest numbers considerably.

WMU 2A has continued to better WMU 2C in doe harvest figures and overall harvest most of the time, but buck numbers have slipped.

I think antler restrictions had more to do with the drop than any other factor, and I still wonder where all the big bucks are that we were promised.

I’m not saying that there aren’t some record-book bucks out there, but there are not nearly as many as were promised when antler restrictions were implemented.

One way I get a handle on the Greene County deer situation is by talking with KJ and Kevin Polish and KJ’s Kustom Archery in Carmichaels.

KJ said, “I haven’t been spotlighting as much as I usually do. I got out about five evenings from about 9:30 until 10:30, but we’ve been seeing some really nice deer.

“In the Waynesburg area we saw a main frame 8-point that is probably about 145 inches. His antlers are about 23 inches wide.

“We’re seeing a lot more deer this year than we did at this time last year. The deer seem to be really healthy.

“On night we saw five bucks together in the 15-to18-inch area. We’re seeing a lot more nice bucks, where we saw a lot of scrappers last year. We’re seeing a lot of bucks in the 12-to-13-inch range. The big buck near Waynesburg is the biggest we’ve seen so far, and he was probably pushing 150.”

Multiple births are always a sign of healthy deer herd, and when asked about fawns, KJ said, “We actually saw five or six does with three fawns.”

KJ and his friends have been setting out trail cameras, and have photographed approximately 50 to 60 deer in the last two to three weeks.

“The herd seems to be improving. It’s not was it was several years ago, but it’s better than it was,” KJ said.

When asked about larger buck kills in 2C than 2A, KJ said, “Greene County was one of the devastated areas, so I think a lot of the people took things into their own hands and passed up on smaller bucks and didn’t shoot does at all. They are starting to respect the herd a little bit.”

He believes the infestation a few years ago killed three times as many deer in Greene County as the Game Commission estimated.

“From what the hunters told me, it was far more drastic than what was reported. Many friends told me that on their 300-acre farms they counted 60 deer that died.”

KJ noted that last year the shop had its worst buck pull since his dad started the business about 28 years ago. A 16-inch 8-point won the contest. He said, “A buck that size hasn’t won the contest since the early 1990’s.”

He said that rack-wise there hasn’t been that much improvement, although the second largest typical buck ever killed in the state was taken in Greene County last year.

“There are a couple of those flukes around, but the size of the average buck has been the same for the past four or five years.”

He went on to say that everyone can’t keep on killing two and three deer and year and expect to have deer.

With deer numbers down, KJ said he hears more and more hunters say they can no longer hunt the private property they hunted for years, as landowners are limiting hunting to family and close friends.

I noticed quite a bit of insect repellent and insect repellent devices on the shelf in KJ’s shop, which I never noticed before, so I asked why the sudden need for the items.

“Bugs were as bad as they have ever been this year,” KJ said. ‘They about ate the guys alive in turkey season this year.”

A quick look at KJ’s arms was testament to that statement, and he wears 100 percent deet.

He then noted that there was a case of West Nile virus in the county.

He stocked up on ThermaCELL bug repellent devices which is a silent electronic device that takes a repellent cartridge that is unscented but repels mosquitoes, black flies and other insects. Hunters and fishermen wear them on their belts or hang them near their stand.

They take care of a 50-foot area.

KJ said he first started using one while night fishing for catfish.

While on the subject of fishing, KJ said that one of his buddies caught a 47-pound flathead in the Mon about a month and a half ago.

He said they had done well on sauger and walleye, and he said that the fishing has been really good lately in Hatfield Power Plant area of the Mon.

Dunlap report

Cap’n Al Packan notes that the number of fishermen at Dunlap Creek Lake has really dwindled.

He said, “A smaller number of fishermen have been coming out. They are catching fish. Trout are being taken in deep water, mostly at night, and they are catching some catfish.

“The fishing is slower than ever for this time of year. There has been a really big dropoff.”

Benefit tournament

Bridgeport Sportsmen’s Fish and Game Club will host a catfish and carp contest to benefit Alexandra’s Butterflies of Hope, which benefits children with life-threatening illnesses.

The tournament will be held Saturday, Aug. 27 from 7 a.m. Until 12 noon.

Registration fee is $10 per person, and the prize goes to the longest catfish or carp caught, with one-half of the take going to the winner.

The clubs is located at 265 Hammondsville St., Mount Pleasant. For more information call 724-547-1899.

Alesdandra’s Butterflies of Hope provides juvenile cancer patients with financial, emotional and logistical support.