Nov 3, 2012 3 min read

November has come in like a lion thanks to Hurricane Sandy dropping several inches of rain on the area over the past week.

And as the weather has turned colder – and wetter – it’s hard not to think about how this nasty weather will affect the fall hunting seasons.

It’s safe to say that there has not been a lot of hunting activity in the past week as the rain, coupled with cold winds, certainly made being outdoors for any length of time nearly unbearable.

And with archery season in full swing, you’d have to be nearly insane to get up in a tree stand in that type of weather.

The trouble is that when the weather hit, deer were beginning to go heavily into the rut.

Now, with a week of heavy rutting behind them, archery hunters – those who have not yet gotten their buck – are left with just one week of hunting left – provided the weather cooperates.

That could be good news for rifle hunters this year.

It’s no secret that archery hunters – with the first opportunity to hunt that year’s big deer – take a large portion of the big buck every year.

But with at least one prime week of the archery hunt lost to the weather, it stands to figure that more than a few monster buck made it through archery season unscathed.

n The Pennsylvania Game Commission will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the York County Fairgrounds to answer questions regarding the 600-square-mile Disease Management Area (DMA) in Adams and York counties and the Executive Order as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to monitor the wild deer population for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

Representatives of the Department of Agriculture will also be on hand to answer questions related to the efforts to trace out and trace back other captive deer that may have come into contact with the infected deer.

n As a reminder to boaters, beginning Nov. 1 all boaters are required by law to wear a life jacket while underway or at anchor on boats less than 16 feet in length or any canoe or kayak.

The new regulation, passed earlier this year, lasts through April 30.

n With all the rain we’ve had in the past week, the Lake Erie tributaries are running high and are full of fish.

According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the lower stretches of Walnut and Elk Creek have seen success of reported catches and varying numbers of fish. Upper Elk Creek is beginning to see some steelhead along with Crooked Creek.

n Successful deer hunters who wish to report their kill via e-mail should make sure that they include “Deer Kill” in the subject line.

All of the information asked for on the coupon that appears on this page weekly should also be included.

Remember, deer kills are not accepted by phone and the Observer-Reporter does not run submitted deer kill photos on the Outdoors page.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.