Hunters out in Washington, Greene to bag the big buck
Dave A. Mayton, of Washington County, pulls a buck from the back of his truck Monday morning after participating in the first day of deer hunting season.
Joe Bogucki, an employee of the Hungarian Smokehouse on North Eighty Eight Road near Carmichaels, lifts the antlers of a buck that was brought in for processing Monday, which was the first day for deer hunting season.
Robert Kalakewich, 55, and son Larry, 28, stand outside Shuba’s Processing in Chartiers Township after bringing a buck Larry shot that morning to the Allison Hollow Road business.
Ian Delfine shot a nine-point buck at about 8:30 a.m. Monday in Amwell Township. His brother, Ryan Griesbaum, got a five-pointer about an hour later.
By 1 p.m. they had brought their deer to a processor in Washington while their father was still out trying to bag one for himself.
“We would like to see him get a big old wall-hanger to aggravate Mom,” said Delfine, 35, of Houston, with a smile.
Hundreds of thousands of hunters like Delfine and Griesbaum, 29, of Bridgeville, took advantage of the opening of rifle deer season Monday.
Steve Shuba, owner of Shuba’s Processing on Allison Hollow Road in Chartiers Township, where the brothers had brought their deer, called the season opening a “normal day. (Hunters are) bringing in pretty nice deer so far, probably better than average.”
He added, “They’ve been bringing in pretty nice deer all year.”
The Game Commission expected about 550,000 hunters to be out Monday statewide, said Bob D’Angelo, associate editor of the agency-published magazine Pennsylvania Game News.
A few years ago, estimated turnout for the beginning of firearms season was about 750,000, but that figure has dropped off as crossbows, which the Game Commission approved for use during archery season in 2009, have become more popular.
“Archery season has become so popular with the advent of crossbows, a lot of hunters have already harvested a deer,” D’Angelo said.
Still, business was brisk at Shuba’s.
“For rifle (season) today, we’ve had about 50 right now,” the owner said.
D’Angelo predicted Saturday – when the season for antlerless deer starts in Washington and Greene counties – will also bring a high turnout from hunters in the region, and hunters in the area can still bag an antlered deer during that period if they haven’t already.
The statewide general firearms season ends Dec. 10.
Hunters killed a total of 315,813 deer during the 2015-16 achery, muzzleloader and firearms seasons, according to D’Angelo.
Bill and Missy Crick own the Hungarian Smokehouse on North Eighty Eight Road, just outside of Carmichaels. It’s a busy time for them since they do deer processing at their store.
One of the Cricks’ employees, Nikki Swartz, said Monday may have been the first day Pennsylvanians could hunt deer with rifles, but the store started processing deer two weeks ago, when West Virginia’s deer season started.
“We had 36 deer on the first day for West Virginia because people were bringing them up here,” she said. “Rifle season is the busiest.”
Another employee, Joe Bogucki, said they’re expecting a good season this year.
“We get a ton of deer, so there’s a lot of seasonal staff,” he said.
In Washington, the Dog House Diner on Jefferson Avenue opened at 4 a.m. – an hour earlier than usual – so hunters could get their early-morning grub before heading out. Patrons didn’t start coming in until about 5 a.m., “and then we got slammed,” said waitress Tracey Barrie.
Once the rush of hunters started, the diner saw several times the number of customers it usually gets between 5 and 6:30 a.m.
Years when there’s snow on the ground for the first day of the season bring a still-bigger crowd, according to Barrie, who’s been a waitress at the Jefferson Avenue restaurant for 22 years.
“Every year it snows, it gets way busier,” Barrie said. “I’ve heard them talk about it, and they say it’s harder to get a deer when there’s no snow.”
Even without snow, D’Angelo said the chilly weather in the morning probably stopped some hunters from settling in one spot early on, making the deer more active.
Robert Kalakewich, 55, and his son Larry, 28, both of Washington, brought a seven-pointer the younger Kalakewich had shot in Claysville that morning to Shuba’s. Larry said the kill was “probably my seventh buck” since he started hunting with his father at 12.
Robert was empty-handed but not ready to give up.
“I’m going hunting all week – all next week if I have to,” he said.