PLOSKI: Good Dog + Game = Good Hunt

This Week in Outdoor Adventures I am going to talk about Rabbit and Pheasant season that opened Saturday October 24. Pheasants are plentiful this time of the season due to the fact that the Pa Game Commission stocks them in various places throughout the state. Many hunters use bird dogs to help locate the pheasant while hunting. There are various types of bird dogs that hunter’s use; Labrador Retriever’s, English Setter’s, German Shorthair’s and a number of other dog breeds. Hunting for pheasants is really enjoyable. It’s great watching a dog work a field and trying to locate the game. I was recently talking to a gentleman out at the game lands around the Cadogan area about the bird population. He stated that birds are plentiful now but predators seem to take their share throughout the season.

Hunting rabbits in the early season is very tough due to a variety of cover in all areas. This past weekend I was hunting with a couple of buddies of mine. We had a pack of 4 beagles down to help find rabbits. Hunting was tough; the rabbits can hole up and come out at night time leaving many hunters wondering where they disappeared to. In my opinion when the weathers nice out the rabbits are more difficult to locate, and when it is cold and rainy they seem to be out everywhere. Most people who hunt for rabbits use beagles. The beagles bark while on pursuit of the rabbit. The goal is to find and hopefully keep the rabbit coming back to the hunter. Most rabbits that are jumped make a circle and return back to the place they were sitting.

Next week I will get into the rut of archery season. Good luck to everyone this coming week.

PLOSKI: Verner Harvests 12-Point Buck

George Verner of Worthington shot this really nice 12 point buck. The buck had a 21 inch spread, and was shot about 8:45am on October 12, 2009.

by Bryan Ploski

I have been an avid outdoorman for over 20 years. I became interested in hunting when I took my first hunter safety course at age 12. As many of you archery hunters already know archery season opened the first weekend of October and continues through the second week of November. So if you haven’t harvested your buck there’s still plenty of time. I have talked with a number of people about the first week of the season. A lot of archers have told me they’ve had a very slow couple of weeks, seeing only some small bucks and does. And, because of the warmer temperatures deer movement may be slower during the daytime hours.

Last week one man had the weather in his favor. I spoke with George Verner of Worthington who shot this really nice 12 point buck. The buck had a 21 inch spread, and was shot about 8:45am on October 12. The buck scored 135 on the Pope and Young scoring scale. For those of you who may not know, Pope and Young is one of North America’s leading bow hunting and conservation organizations. Through its Records Program, the Club encourages quality bow hunting, and records data on North American big game taken with bow and arrows. It conducts ongoing recording periods and every two years presents recognition to the finest animals submitted. To have your animal recorded and entered in their records is quite a feat.

Mr. Verner told me this particular buck walked into the range of his tree stand following a smaller buck. He said the buck was about 30 yards from his tree stand when he shot, and it fell about 50 yards from the stand. There was a quick recovery on the animal. Mr. Verner certainly enjoyed a great hunt. Congratulations George!

Good luck to everyone archery hunting! If you have a story or a picture, email it to me at bploski@ kittanningpaper.com