[Adam Helmer]

On Monday, December 27, 2010 the PA Traditional (Flintlock) deer season begins. There is no Hunter Orange requirement that I can fathom, but I will not wear my buckskins. I hope for snow enough to use my Alaskan Snowshoes, but that is probably not going to happen.

I have my drab color attire for opening day. I like to glide through the big woods quietly in my soft attire. I like the heft and feel of the .54 Hawken flintlock stoked with Roundball and 75 grains of 3F Goex. On my belt I carry a horseshoe knife and a tomahawk in belt sheath. Twice in the past seasons I have seen fresh bear tracks in my wonderful West Woods. Bear season closed before Thanksgiving, so a bear now is just a great sighting unless he/she has hostility and then the game changes!

I am looking for a big racked buck. I will only shoot an injured doe, as in the past. I have never seen another hunter in Flintlock season over the past 22 years. I hunt 2500 acres of mostly woods and see far to few deer tracks thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission deer decimation policy.

Adam