Pennsylvania Archery season for deer officially opened up on Saturday statewide.

All hunters with a 2014 hunting license and archery tag can begin their 2014-15 deer season in earnest.

The archery season runs a long time in Pennsylvania and lasts from Oct. 4 through Nov. 15.

The use of all types of bows are permitted in the archery season including; the crossbow, the compound bow, the recurve bow and the long bow.

The minimum draw weight of 35 pounds is required of all the traditional bows and the broad heads must be of a cutting edge design not more than 3.25 inches long and at least 7/8 of an inch wide.

Red Dot Scopes and regular magnifying scopes are permitted on the crossbows only.

During the first two weeks of archery season hunters are not required to wear fluorescent orange but during any overlapping with gun season’s fluorescent orange requirements do kick in for all hunters.

I can still recall my early experiences with archery hunting decades ago as a college student at good old Slippery Rock State College as it was known at the time.

A group of the “rural guys” took to the woods on the weekends and the area around the “Rock” was famous for great deer hunting.

In the 70’s there wasn’t much development and plenty of hunting space around the area. One of my favorite spots has now turned into the posh Poplar Forest Plan and closed down to hunting these days.

Several of the local fellows befriended us and invited us to hunt in the outlying areas of Boyers, West Sunbury, Harrisville and North Liberty as well as around Moraine State Park.

The deer populations were booming and it was unusual not to see a dozen deer or more on every trek into the back country.

Some of those fellows continue to be some of my favorite friends even to this day and we still get out for some hunting and fishing once in a while.

On one such trip they brought me to a beautiful oak tree covered hillside and turned me on to the favorite food of deer in these parts…the acorns of the white oak.

The mast was heavy and acorns littered the ground and signs of turkey, deer and squirrels showed me that this was a prime feeding area.

The fellows left me on a sunny hillside and told me to find a comfortable spot to scout out the area and quietly wait out the deer. It didn’t take long for me to see the wildlife in the area show up for the acorn banquet.

At least a dozen gray squirrels scooted through the fallen leaves around me.

The unmistakable clucking and calls of wild turkey were downhill from me most likely near the unnamed stream flowing towards the Slippery Rock Creek.

Yet I sat still with the warm autumn sun streaming on my face with a cool breeze countering its warmth.

I could easily have drowsed off and I may have if I hadn’t picked up the faintest sound that caused me to feel alert.

It was a heavier drawback of leaves and much more determined than the rustle of the bushy tails.

I knew better than to twist around and give away my silent position to a deer, I waited it out and was patient until the deer came into my view.

Not one but two bucks were eying me suspiciously as I sat with a huge white oak to my back.

One buck would feed while the other looked about the woods.

They sensed my presence but could not make a positive location ID of me. They continued to feed away from me and I never did get a real chance to draw my old Browning Recurve on them.

I was new to the game and just being close to my quarry had my heart beating in excitement.

I repositioned myself to keep an eye on the next likely approach of a deer to my stand.

In those days all the hunting was done on the ground and tree stands were in their infancy.

The evening light was starting to mute the woods when I heard another deer coming towards me on the trail the bucks followed.

I was more ready this time and had my bow more at the ready.

It was a lone doe and she was a fine specimen and one of the largest that I have seen.

I decided right there and then that I would take a shot if it presented itself.

A lot of my college buddies had struck out so far in the early season and someone had to break the hunting drought.

The deer went behind another massive oak and stepped out from behind the cover of the trunk towards me.

The hours of practice paid off as I loosed an arrow and the shot was true. I yelled in exhilaration as my first archery deer was tagged and I began the long haul back to our rendezvous point.

I then knew that the magic of the early archery season was something that I would always relate to no matter how long ago it was.

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.