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PA archery season opening day: Letterkenny Army Depot

Whatta ya think?


  • Total voters
    7

Thunderflight

Dignitary Member
17,770
167
Shermans Dale, PA
When I arrived to PA I put in to hunt Letterkenny Army Depot which is about one hour South of were I live. Being active duty we get pretty much every date we applied for in Zone 1. Zone 1 is inside the actual ammunition supply point (ASP). The area is HUGE and from what I've been told has quite a few deer. They only allow hunters in the ASP on Saturdays and on holidays. Because of this the deer don't get a lot of pressure. I can also hunt Zone 2 any day of the week.

So, last week I was pretty much nonchalant about the opening day of the PA deer season. With the move, school, work, and my upcoming elk hunt it really wasn't a priority. That started to change when two weeks ago I went to another base hunting safety lecture. During the brief the head biologist mentioned that the average deers age aboard Indiantown GAP was 2.5, but aboard Letterkenny it was 4.5................. Oh my I thought. Only good could come from that.......

My friends had told me fish tales of large bucks being taken off Letterkenny and at the time I had written then off as exaggerated statements made during peak moments of bravado (we've all be there). I thought, could there be some truth in these statements? Maybe Letterkenny isn't such a bad deal, but only time will tell. The following week we get our Letterkenny passes. I got opening day, a few days in October, 10 and 12 November (whooohooo!!), and a couple days in December for archery. I also got a few doe only gun days (I only applied for antlered archery hunts).

Monday a friend gave me this picture and showed me a dozen more like it. Holy cow!!!! All this time I have been hearing stories of big bucks and giant doe and wrote them off as delusional dreams. I've had at least 10 people tell me that a high 120's to mid 130's buck is common. I guess that's what happens when you have a liberal doe harvest, only one buck per year, and a perfect controlled environment that allows deer to get old.

I can only hunt Saturday morning so I'll let you know how it goes when I return. My arrows are tuned, my shooting is on, and the internal fire that I once thought was dead is ROARING!

IMAG0077.jpg
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
Sounds like a no brainer to me. What is the worst that can happen? You come home empty handed? Oh well. Better than never having the opportunity. Get after them. Good luck!
 

Thunderflight

Dignitary Member
17,770
167
Shermans Dale, PA
Well I'm back........ I'm a bit pizzed at myself too.

I leave at 0400 and arrive at Letterkenny at 0500 or so and was created by several hundred cars all of which had an average of two hunters per vehicle. By the time we got checked in it was almost 0530. While standing in the 30 minute line to catch the bus to our hunting area I was starting to get frustrated because our line was the longest. I guess G and D (the line was for both areas) are both really good so everyone wanted to go there. About 15 minutes later this old man walks up and ask if anyone is active duty. I raised my hand (hoping to get a quicker ride) and he then asked were we were going. We chatted for a minute and he confirmed that area was a good one. During this period he managed to convince us to try another area. I had also google scouted this area and it was on my back up hit list so we said screw it and went there instead.

By the time we arrived it was 0645 and bright as all can be. It's OK because this way I didn't stumble through the woods making even more ruckus. Eventually I found this beautiful white oak meadow. Surprisingly there was no one there so i set up. Around 0800 I see a doe feeding about 100 yards away. Eventually she feeds off and thats the only deer I see. At 1030 I climb down and start doing some active scouting. I walk over to were the doe was and find out there's a hunter there. He must have been horn hunting because that doe was in easy compound/string gun range. So, I go across the street, step in the woods and meet dude's buddy...... Gotta love public land.... 8*)

So I decide to walk down to were I had planned to hunt. I just wanted to get an ideal of what it looked like so I could hunt it in November. On the way back I run into my friend who saw two doe and a nice buck, but couldn't get a shot. We chat for a bit and I start the 1.5 mile hike to the other side of the area.

20 minutes or so later I arrive and was very pleased to see that this area was every bit as good as I thought it would be. What really surprised me though was that I didn't see a single hunter. I had figured they had gone home early, but later found out that one TWO people hunted it!!!!!!! MAN!!!!

Anyway, thats what I get for over thinking it. On the way out I called my friend and told him to get his butt down to that area ASAP. Regardless it was a great morning! 8*)