August seems to be the first month that many of my associates get serious about hunting and firming up plans for the upcoming hunting season.

I believe that it is the frequent sightings of whitetail bucks in velvet and the drawing of doe licenses that have their interests piqued.

With the first and second rounds of the license lottery for antlerless tags well under way, most of the deer hunters have bought their 2013-14 editions of the PA hunting licenses already. The second wave of license sales usually occurs around Thanksgiving to be eligible for the first day of buck season. The most recent update of license sales reports show that WMU 2D has 9,458 licenses remaining and WMU 1A has 18,552 licenses available. So there is still a chance that you can obtain an antlerless license in our area if you act swiftly.

Pennsylvania is also celebrating the 100th anniversary of the reintroduction of the elk herd in the Pennsylvania Wilds. To mark the event, many elk programs are being sponsored in the elk regions of Pennsylvania. PA Game Commission Elk Biologist Jeremy Banfield will present a program about the many facets of the Pennsylvania Elk. Also featured will be the Pennsylvania Great Outdoors EXPO with details at www.elkexpo.com.

As you can see, there are some good things to get your interest stirred in the PA outdoors. Many people will visit the PGC Elk Viewing Area in Dents Run to see the majestic elk in the area. The upcoming weekend of August 17th through September will be prime times to make the trip to the PA Wilds. We went up a few years back and were rewarded by having a close encounter with two Royal Bull elk that decided to take a rest behind second base of a local school yard ballfield … very cool.

The fellows are also fired up about the numerous bear sightings in Butler County and may follow PGC WCO Chip Brunst’s suggestion about hunting locally. One local sportsmen’s club is going to organize their first Butler County Bear Hunt. The members of the Boyers Sportsmen’s Association are going to have a sign-up of 25 members for an organized first day of bear hunt on Saturday, November 23rd.

They will do organized drives and make a fun day of camaraderie. The club will have a roster posted at their meeting lodge and will have lunch at the facility as well. They can sign me up as it will be interesting to see if their efforts pay off with a county bruin.

An interesting observation was made at my homestead this past week. My wife, Renee, was excited to point out to me that a mature deer was in our yard eating the flowers off our daylilies.

Joining the deer was a set of spotted fawns that stayed close by their protector. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the mature deer was sporting a set of antlers. I have heard of does that carry antlers but have never seen one in our area, or anywhere for that matter.

I tried to really inspect this deer and was greatly surprised to see that it was indeed a buck. Twin fawns with a buck was just as unusual for me to see. Before I became totally baffled, I was brought back to reality when all three deer came to attention and started to walk to the woods’ edge to meet the real mother doe. It apparently was a family group of new fawns and a 1 ½ year old buck that wasn’t pushed off by its mother. Big brother was willing to help out with the youngsters it seemed. I’m not sure how long this will last, but mom should take advantage of the baby-sitting service.

Until we meet on the trails again, take care to watch where you’re stepping!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.