Buck season 2020 brought cool, sunny weather on Saturday and Sunday, the first time Pennsylvanians got to experience a full-weekend opening hunt for many years, and the boys at Camp F-Troop took advantage. Veteran hunter Shawn Sowers ended a 5-year drought by taking a large 6-point buck with a 17.5-inch antler spread, and new hunter Derek Isles began his hunting career with a huge 8-point deer that was high-racked and full-bodied, the best buck we’ve taken in a few years at our Warren County hunting grounds.
Derek has long been an outdoors enthusiast, a hiker in the big woods for the past 10 years, able to scale steep mountain slopes and travel for miles in a day over a challenging landscape, and a backpacker who keeps an electronic record of where he has been in the deep forest. He has also practiced fly-fishing for the past 4 years under the tutelage of his older brother Brad, who has been a regular at Camp F-Troop for years.
But as of Nov. 27, 2020, the day after Thanksgiving, Derek, at age 36, had never shot a gun at an animal, had never gone into the woods with the intention to harvest game.
“So how did it feel?” I asked him in my F-Troop upstairs writing office on Sunday, the day after the hunt.
“Well,” he said, “I had done some research, and I was well aware of the benefits, the conservation aspects of controlling the deer herd by hunting, the locally-sourced meat resources, and the opportunity to participate in a challenging outdoors activity and also enjoy the camaraderie of life with the guys at hunting camp.”
“But what concerns did you have going in?” I asked.
“My main concern was making a clean kill and not injuring an animal and allowing it to suffer. I was also worried that it just might not be right for me, the very fact of taking a life with a firearm. But everything happened so fast after we took the long pre-dawn hike a mile back into the woods. It was about 8:30 a.m., and the deer just suddenly appeared. I checked through the scope and Brad did, too. The buck was legal, and I made the shot.”
Derek had the help and guidance of his older brother, and he had also learned the skills of a shooter and a hunter through the PA Game Commission Hunter Safety Course. He demonstrated the willingness to hike far back into the forest with a high-powered rifle with taking a legal deer as his goal. We were all confident he would do the right thing, if he got the chance. But the beginner’s luck of the opportunity to get a deer during his very first morning on stand coupled with his preparation beforehand led to the successful outcome.
After the kill, Derek spent a few quiet moments over the deer, as many of us deer hunters do, rested his hand on the animal, and silently expressed thanks and appreciation.
“Any regrets?” I asked him.
“No. None.”
“Will you be back next year?”
“I’ll be back next week for the concurrent buck and doe season,” he said. “For it being my first time, it was a terrific experience, and I’m grateful at many levels, thankful for my brother and his leadership and assistance, thankful to the F-Troop gang for providing a place to go and share the hunt, and thankful to Mother Nature for the woods, for the animals, for the boulders we climb up on and hunt from, and for all that beauty.”
“Amen, Brother,” I said. “Welcome to the club.”
DON FEIGERT is the outdoors writer for The Herald and The Allied News. His latest book, The F-Troop Camp Chronicles, and his earlier books are available by contacting Don at 724-931-1699 or dfeigert@verizon.net. Browse his web site at www.donfeigert.com. Or visit Leana’s Books at the Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage.
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