It’s Thanksgiving! The official start of the holiday season. And when we say holiday, we mean deer season of course.
Many of us are celebrating the season with friends and family telling stories of Thanksgivings past and tall tales of deer camp legends. We decided to celebrate by visiting the archives!
Doe 8810 and Buck 8111 each celebrated Thanksgiving (November 24) in 2016 atop a beautiful perch in the Susquehannock.
The weather was nice with a steady temperature of 40 degrees F. Great for a game of post-turkey football. After Thanksgiving, Doe 8810 and Buck 8111 pasted each other briefly in their travels. Perhaps on their way to a Black Friday sale (November 25).
Of course, they both knew the other BIG holiday was right around the corner. The one NOT celebrated by deer.
Gun season opened November 28 that year. And even though DMAP permits could be used in that area in 2016, one of these deer wouldn’t live to see another.
If you watched, you already know which one. Buck 8111 was harvested on Wednesday, November 30. (His last location is where the deer was dragged when he left the forest, not where he was harvested.)
Doe 8810 continued with her travels throughout the season and beyond.
These deer ranged over an area of about a square mile and moved throughout the deer season at all times of the day. Buck 8111 was intercepted by a hunter but Doe 8810 was not.
Here’s to kicking off another holiday season. May you make an interception – beyond that post-turkey football game.
-Jeannine Fleegle
PGC Deer and Elk Section
