Nov 3, 2018 4 min read

I can’t deny that the popularity of birds has waned. It’s plain to see as the nose on your face.

First, the pheasants went the way of the Dodo bird. Then, the state bird was a more sporting proposition and lived in mostly public land where hunting permission could be had. Now, even the Grouse is hard to find. The hunter finds little pleasure in hunting what is all but extinct.

As I spend more time with the Scenery Hill gang, I learn not to fret but to change my prey and instead hunt what does exist in good numbers and is considered undesirable by many landowners. The scattergun comes out of the mothballs on certain days of the week. The hunter can pass, shoot or call those intelligent birds the crow.

If one can locate a good creek or wetlands, then there are always ducks that can be pursued. Doves also can be found around local farms and are attracted by spilled grain. So I must say there are still some uses for the shotgun as there are birds to hunt. The hunter needs to break away from the past and change his habits.

The other birds that come to mind are much larger and one of them is a ground hugger seldom shot in flight. Of course, I am talking Turkey. The humble turkey was Ben Franklin’s choice as the national bird. It is the spring season that attracts most turkey hunters though the fall season produces a better eating bird. The spring bird might lose as much as 4 or 5 pounds as his time is spent looking for love, which might be important since he is the only legal bird. In the fall, the turkey has had no lack of food, which shows in the cooked bird set out for the family dinner.

There has been more than one argument on the dinner quality of the Canada Goose. I have eaten some that were terrible, but properly prepared, Goose meat can be excellent. Mainly grasses and grain eaters, Geese are plentiful. So you see, there are still birds to hunt.

There is little doubt that the residents of Pennsylvania who hunt are attracted to the woods and the deer. When hunters pass away, do you think Saint Peter will ask did you get your buck? This old joke points out something else about the Pennsylvania hunter. Not only is he or she a deer hunter, but they are always seeking that one big buck. When I say big, I am referring to those antlers on the bucks head.

If the hunter is in the woods and there stand two bucks, one a small six the other a 10-pointer, I would wager the shooter will aim at the 10-point. I do not think he looks them over to see which one looks tastier. So much for the line you can’t eat antlers.

With that in mind, I thought I should write a line about the idea of trophy hunting. I think that includes where the hunter has the best chance of downing that wall hanger buck of a lifetime. First, when considering where to hunt, it should be pointed out that Pennsylvania, despite antler restrictions, is not what one would call a trophy state. If you don’t believe it, just look at the numbers.

There are two categories in the record book published by the Boone & Crockett Club but to simplify things a bit, I want to deal with the typical category. The non-typical category follows the same pattern though there are fewer deer in that record book list. Of the millions of bucks taken in Pennsylvania, there are but 74 in the book. This includes the three from Washington County.

Here at home Westmoreland County is the top county in Pennsylvania with seven. Incidentally, Allegheny County is second with 4. On the other side of the coin, the state of Minnesota has 547 entries in the typical category and still there are three states ahead of Minnesota. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s 74 is a total of typical and non-typical list.

The top ten states are as follows: Wisconsin 673; Illinois 664; Iowa 659; Minnesota 547; Kentucky 465; Missouri 415; Ohio 397; Kansas 354 and Texas 362.

The top county in the United States is Buffalo County, Wisconsin. Please note there are only 9 states in my top 10 list. That honor is the other place not in the United States but the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It not only is high among the top 10 but it is the home of something very unique in record book bucks. Next week, we will look at what that might be.