We all have memories from our childhood growing up “back home” that are some of the best memories we have. I have many of those. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania was an amazing way to grow up. My parents had a good chunk of land right in the middle of farm country. There is a big river right by the place and lots of public lands all around. Talk about paradise for a kid like me who loved being outdoors exploring. One of my favorite memories definitely has to be deer season.
My dad always told stories, still does actually, about growing up and his early adult years going up the mountains for deer season. My Grandfather had family friends that owned a farm in northern Pennsylvania where they would hunt every year. Many of my stories are very similar to his now when I talk about my memories of deer season. When my father bought his place it became the new place for the family to spend deer season.
I always looked forward to deer season. It wasn’t just the part about going hunting though. A lot of it had to do with the family experience. In Pennsylvania, opening day of the rifle season is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving is another event in our family that would need another post just to talk about. However, everyone always came to our place for Thanksgiving and then my Grandmother, Aunt and cousins would stay for the opener. We’d spend the weekend sighting in our rifles (no scopes allowed) and generally preparing for the opening day. It was always so much fun and I have so many fond memories of those experiences with my family.
Opening day would finally come and we would be awakened in the wee hours of the morning to get dressed, eat breakfast and walk out to our stands. My Grandmother had her spot that she always went to and off she would go, unless my Father drove her out to it that is. The rest of us would head off to whatever spot we had picked out for the opening day. It was a good couple hours before daylight and it was always really cold but on opening day on the farm, you don’t really notice those things too much. Sitting there waiting for the sun to come up and listening to the progression of the morning. First, the tweety birds start to move around and sing their songs. Then those pesky squirrels and chipmunks would start to make noise and rustle around in the leaves. If they didn’t have you thinking an entire herd of deer was coming straight for your stand, they were in the tree in front of you screaming at the top of their longs that you were there. However, those mornings are always so very majestic. Something to be said about what it does for one’s soul sitting in those woods.
I never did get a deer in my youth. Every year I would go out and spend days hunting hoping that I would get a deer to come by my stand. Not like I wouldn’t see sign or even see a deer in the distance. I got into archery and would spend a lot of time sitting in those early fall woods. All my friends would get deer and I would be tortured by the stories about how they got their deer. I didn’t let it keep me out of the woods though. Every year I would be out there for the days I was able to take off from school, after school, on weekends putting in my time. All those years I only pulled the trigger once, on a doe and it was a bad shot that never should have been taken.
I look back now though and I realize even though I never took a deer in those years I was building memories. Memories that have lasted a lifetime. Deer season on the farm will always be something that thinking back on enlists great memories. All the time spent wandering through the woods with my father learning about wildlife and their habitat. This time of my life is what molded me into the outdoorsman I am today. It is what is the bedrock of my passion for the outdoors and hunting in general. I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time back there hunting the farm during my adult years. However, when I do it’s always a great time to build on the memories with family. In the end that’s what it’s all about. Great experiences with those you love.
