Hunting weekend won't be remembered for the deer, but it still had memorable moments
We had a quiet camp this season, for the most part
The most exciting thing that happened during our opening weekend of deer camp was not good.
In fact, it was very bad and could have been much worse.
Saturday night usually comes early on the first day of the Southern Zone firearms season. Everyone has been up since 4 a.m., most everyone has spent most or all of the day in the woods, it’s dark at 5 p.m., and everyone is beat.
That night, everyone was in bed by 9:30 p.m., except for me. I was up reading in one of the downstairs bedrooms until about 10 p.m., then turned out the light. A few minutes later, I was awakened by a beeping noise.
It took a few seconds before I recognized it as the smoke alarm in the living room. I ran out there to find our kerosene heater smoking and flaming up like a miniature Vesuvius. This was not good.
I messed around with it for a minute but couldn’t find a way to turn it off. A couple of the guys came tumbling down the stairs, but they couldn’t do any better. We finally roused my cousin, who knows his way around such things, but he was unable to do anything. The wick appeared to be stuck in the high position and wouldn’t move.
Meanwhile, the house was filling with smoke, although most of the guys were unaware of it, happily sleeping through all the commotion.
Finally, we hauled the heater out into the backyard. It was still breathing fire and smoke, but it was safely out of reach of anything flammable.
We never figured out exactly what went wrong with the heater. There had never been a problem in the many years we’d used it.
One thing for certain, though - if that alarm hadn’t been there and hadn’t been in working order, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now, and most if not all of our guys would have already experienced their last deer hunt.
That mishap made the weekend one we will never forget, which is good in a way because the actual hunting is something we would rather not think about.
All spring, through the summer, and into the fall, we had a lot of pictures on our cameras posted in many different areas on our 300-plus acres in Steuben County.
Bears, bobcats, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, a fisher or two, I think.
And deer. A lot of them, including several nice bucks.
The great thing about trail cameras, to me, at least, is that they whet your appetite for hunting. There are many other ways to certify that a lot of deer are on your spots, but there is nothing like a portrait of a big buck to get your blood going.
Hey, you know this animal was here last week or yesterday or even this morning. Maybe he still is.
We also know that the odds of a buck pictured in May will still be around in October or November are sometimes slim. He might end up taking long walks into the next township looking for partners. So what? Another one might take his place, and he might be even more impressive.
As it was this year, we had several very big guys hanging around most of the summer, including a 13-point that showed up repeatedly down in the cornfield in our flats. The sad thing is, they seemed to have gone into hiding when the season started.
A couple of deer were taken during bow season, but the opening weekend of gun season was quiet. Too quiet, as they used to say in the old cowboy movies.
That 13-point had his portrait taken Friday morning, but no one saw him the next couple of days. No one saw much of anything. It wasn’t just us. Our valley is a very well-known and productive whitetail area, but the whole place was extremely quiet. There were very few shots up and down the river, or in the hollows to the south. There were a few in the big property up behind us, but no one anywhere within earshot was busy.
Why? You’ve got me.
I heard from some hunters that things were slow during the weekend, and plenty of people were complaining online. However, I can’t remember too many years when there wasn’t a lot of frustration about a lack of action on opening weekend.
There were a lot of suggestions as to why this seemed to be happening, including many jabs at the Department of Environmental Conservation. I don’t think there are any easy answers other than to keep after it and get out there as much as you can.
Deer were seen on our opening day, but not many, and only one that presented a shot or that anyone wanted to shoot. One of the guys hit a button buck but couldn’t track it into a neighboring property. Another had a buck chasing a doe but couldn’t get a shot. It was pretty strange.
Me? I didn’t hunt. Recent surgery kept me out of the woods, and I just hung around the house, trying to be useful with a few chores, and otherwise staying out of everyone’s way. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to make the score any better.
So, Saturday was pretty much a blank, and so was Sunday morning. My brother and I had to leave early, but we were told later that our usual drive didn’t produce anything either.
Still, we had a great time, mostly because, you know, we were at camp. It’s been done for more than 60 years. It never gets old, and it always produces memories, almost always good ones.
Again, just being there is a good memory, deer or no deer, eating like kings, just enjoying the outdoors. This time around, I especially enjoyed being in the backyard at 2 a.m. Sunday, looking up at countless brilliantly shining stars in an impossibly black sky, with Orion walking across the ridge to the south, just above the roof of the house. It was outrageous.
The food, as always, was great: shrimp cocktail, olives, cheese, peppers, good bread, wine, beer, salad, potatoes, and perfectly grilled filet mignon Friday, with apple pie for dessert; pretty much the same appetizers followed by lasagna Saturday. Huge bacon and eggs breakfasts on both days.
Yeah, it was pretty good. No deer, but it was camp. It always is good.
Write to John Pitarresi at 60 Pearl Street, New Hartford, N.Y. 13413 or jcpitarresi41@gmail.com or call him at 315-724-5266.
Notebook
Gilman downs big buck
Our friend Leo Gilman, owner of the New Hartford Barber Shop and proprietor of the barbershop at Union Station, had a big opening weekend of the deer season.
Gilman downed a bruiser 10-point buck in the town of Paris that dressed out at 200 pounds. He’s been told it could measure out at 140 inches, which would earn a spot in the New York State Big Buck Club record book.
The buck went a half mile before it was tracked down by Gilman’s son Grant. Gilman said it was previously hit with an arrow, and it had a broken foot that had healed.
“It’s the nicest deer I’ve ever taken,” Gilman said. “It’s the thrill of a lifetime.”
I am sure many nice bucks have been taken locally. If you are willing to share your experience, send me an email with some details.
Repeat offender pays a big price
Some people never learn.
David Gretzner, 66, of Long Beach, Washington, had been cited for snagging salmon in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
He was awaiting trial for some of those violations when he was ticketed again in August. He pleaded guilty to a couple of charges in that incident and was sentenced by a Pacific County judge to 50 days in jail, fined $1,500, and had his fishing license suspended for five years.
Pretty expensive salmon.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: NY hunting season: Opening weekend had issues, but was good time
