Nov 7, 2015 6 min read

It seems to me that there are those who love wildlife and those who hate wild things.

Those who hate the diversity of nature or pretend otherwise are easy to spot. Listen to them talk and the comments show they believe the world was created with concrete sidewalks.

I recently heard a woman call a talk show who was amazed that the Pennsylvania Game Commission allowed deer to roam free. Then there was a fellow who didn’t believe that the big bird in the rear of my truck was a turkey. He stated that turkeys are white.

Another time I heard a talk show host say a big bird had struck his windshield while traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A caller suggested it was a turkey the host said it couldn’t be because turkeys don’t fly.

Or how about those people who take in the poor little orphaned fawn they found somewhere by itself. Probably 95 percent of the time its mother stands back in the cover watching her offspring being taken to its death. This despite constant warnings to leave them alone because mom is nearby and you can’t take care of it.

My point is people don’t love wildlife or bother to learn about the animals and fauna around them.

The peak of the rut should be about right now so drivers should be extra careful. Keep your eyes on the sides of the road. If one deer crosses, there could be another behind it. The rut brings with it an increase in deer activity and more deer vs. car collisions.

Many of these could be avoided by the use of common sense when driving. A particularly dangerous time is late evening just before dark and just after dark.

As the traditional firearms deer season approaches, I find myself reflecting on two mental pictures from long ago. The first occurred as I was heading to a date I had with the most beautiful female I had ever seen.

It was one of those cases of love at first sight and eventually we married and had 56 years together. Of course that girl was my wife, Eileen, but on the way to her home on Linnwood Road I had to stop. In the middle of the road was a magnificent 10-point buck.

This was the first free-roaming deer I had ever seen and I would carry that 1953 mental photo with me the rest of my life. It was a turning point in my life, as there and then I vowed I was going to hunt deer.

A second picture in my head when thinking back to how my deer hunting love began is made up of those adults in my childhood who traveled upstate for an annual deer hunt.

My photo is through the eyes of a pre-pubescent George as he watched the men in black-and-red checkered shirts and laced-up boots load their cars with big rifles. This was the time of the Model-94 Winchester in 30-30 or a sprinkling of 30-40 Krags.

Some even would use the scattergun with what at the time was called the punkin ball but was really a shotgun slug. I heard stories of the great killing power of the punkin ball and how they whizzed as they went through the air.

It also was also as I listened in awe, about the awesome power of the Krag. The 30-40 was admired as a long-range round.

Of course, there were a few Remington pumps in .35 and I even remember one fellow from Hill Station where I lived as a child who carried a 186 Winchester in 45-70. His last name was Miller.

I was only 10 or 12 years old a the time. It is those memories that formed my personality. We all have them. They are not all related to hunting but perhaps those memories that make us who we are.

Since it’s deer season and I am writing about learning about your state’s wildlife, let’s go over some deer facts.

Perhaps it was that early education in guns or the sight of that buck on Lynnwood Road that led me to learn everything I could about deer. Either way, here are some interesting facts.

• Did you know the front hooves of the deer are larger than the back?

• Deer probably love acorns over other foods but mast is not a dependable food source for them. In wintertime after the frost, they will eat hedge apples sometimes called monkey balls.

• A buck’s antlers are nothing more than bone and each year they grow from scratch. Growth of the antlers begins in the spring and has reached full growth in most cases by September. Then after the rut is done they just fall off. Each year, the buck grows a new set of antlers and size is based on food supply, age and genetics.

Learning about these beautiful creatures is part of hunting.

There are still some who travel to the north woods for their deer hunt. It is there they have a hunting retreat and the lure of the big woods is what overtakes the desire for a big buck near home.

I have seen drastic changes in deer hunting over the course of my life and yet some things never change. There is still the passion and excitement of an approaching season and the dream of just one more trophy buck.

Time is not judged from January to January but instead from the Monday after Thanksgiving to next year’s Monday after Thanksgiving. When that Monday arrives, many of us say thank the Lord I made another one.

• Want an outstanding calendar? Check out the one from the Game Commission. The photos are outstanding and the words on each page are written by one of the state’s best outdoors writers, Ben Moyer. Special events and dates are identified. For information, call the Game Commission at 1-888-888-3459.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.