The first few days of the 2009 archery season have come and gone, and this hunter is working toward an appointment with a whitetail buck.

Day 1 offered a simply gorgeous morning and the untimely realization that there are other outdoor users willing to rise early. I'd encountered a few trail types in past seasons, but Saturday showed me that my scouted hunting area gets much more human traffic than I expected.

Five trail runners and three mountain bikers were out early to enjoy the crisp morning air, all within sight of my tree. Note to self: do not hunt that area on the weekend. Tuesday morning really felt like hunting season, with the thermometer registering a chilly 37 degrees up on the mountain. Despite the wealth of acorns on the ground just 25 yards from my stand, there was no sign of the deer I know were using this area during the summer.

I tried a different area for the evening after visiting with my old friend Tom. Living next to State Game Lands usually gives Tom plenty of opportunities to see whitetails, and it was sobering to hear him say his sightings have been few and far between.

I climbed a tree 15 yards from an ancient white oak that had littered the forest floor with its larder. The turned up leaves and bare dirt there made it clear that game has been feeding on those acorns, but the only visitors I had were mosquitoes. That spot is in the offing for a morning hunt to see if the deer are dining early.

Putting in some legwork to check out both

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new and old hunting areas has revealed a good early crop of acorns, but little evidence of them being eaten to any degree. With our lower deer population and plenty of acorns on the ground, there are lots of places for the whitetails to be. The corollary to that fact is that there is a great deal of forest with no deer, hence the uneaten acorns I've been finding.

Every time I look out over the vastness of Michaux State Forest, I wish it were 30 years ago. With a younger, arthritis-free body, I'd be able to search out all of the nooks and crannies of those woods and find the whitetails hiding there. Today the aches and pains are a constant reminder of the practical necessity to hunt the more accessible areas.

I realized several years ago that I've spent my hunting years backwards; trekking the flat lands of Southern Maryland with young legs and challenging Pennsylvania's mountains with old ones.

Much of the forest still wears the green of summer, but change is in the air. It won't be long before the mountainsides will be aflame with color. There is nothing that compares to the beauty of spending a day afield during the peak of autumn's show.
Mark Sturtevant is a resident of Chambersburg and an outdoor enthusiast. He may be reached at sturtevantoutdoors@yahoo.com.