Nov 8, 2014 3 min read

Chris Petronka of Washington just finished his 20th consecutive season of getting a turkey in both the spring and fall seasons and a buck as well.

Petronko, who also has twice completed the Pennsylvania triple crown of taking a spring gobbler, buck and black bear in the same year, extended his streak of two turkeys and a buck this past week when he shot a fall turkey.

He had already gotten his buck, an 8-point, Oct. 9.

Ironically, he had shot a buck out of the same tree stand Oct. 9 of last year.

“I’m pretty passionate about hunting,” said Petronka, who owns Sentinal Security & Private Investiations, Inc. in Washington. “I do a lot of pre-season scouting. In fact, I do more scouting than hunting.”

Petronka, 46, said this year’s buck was one of his smaller ones, but he got it out of the way so that he could spend time hunting small game with his daughter, Isabella. He also has a 12-year-old son, Evan.

“Lately, I’ve been getting larger bucks thanks to the antler restrictions,” he said. “I’ve never gotten anything scored, but I got an 11-point five years ago and also had an 8-point that was probably my biggest deer.”

To have a streak of 20 consecutive years, sometimes you need a little luck, no matter how much scouting you do.

So it has been for Petronka.

“One year, I didn’t get my buck until the last day of the season,” he said. “It was 4:45 (p.m.) and I was walking back to my truck. There was a little patch that I decided to walk through and a 9-point jumped up.”

• With a bumper crop of acorns across the state, the Pennsylvania Game Commission is expecting a big bear harvest this year.

According to commission estimates, there are 18,000 black bears in the state, living in nearly every county. Yes, there are some bear present even here in Washington and Greene counties, where we traditionally haven’t had any.

There aren’t many, mind you, but there are occasional reports of bear sightings that come across my desk.

The statewide archery season for bear begins Nov. 17, while the general rifle season begins Nov. 21, then runs from Nov. 24 through 26.

The largest bear harvest on record – (4,350) – came in 2011, while last year hunters took home 3,510, the fifth-largest number in state history.

• The Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club, Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club and Irwin Post 228 teams all held serve this week in the Greater Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League, winning their respective matches to go to 3-1.

Dormont-Mt. Lebanon put up the week’s best score, beating Allegheny, 1,484-1,419. Amy Smith, Rick Janoski and Dean Trew all fired league high 298s in that match.

Frazier-Simplex got a 295 from Christopher Thomas and 294 from Cyril Walther to beat Murraysville with a score of 1,472.

And Irwin put up a 1,469 in a victory over Green Valley.

• Multiple charges are expected to be filed this past week in the case of a buck illegally shot in Washington Cemetery recently.

According to sources, the buck, which was nearly of record-book class, was allegedly shot in the cemetery with a crossbow.

As many as eight criminal charges are expected to be filed, including reckless endangerment.

For those who don’t know, it is illegal to hunt in a cemetery in the state of Pennsylvania, though it doesn’t sound so much like the individual who shot this particular buck was “hunting.” It was more of an assassination.

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