The Main Event of the Pennsylvania Hunting Season will take place on December 1st.

No it is not Bear, Elk or Turkey Season although all of those hunts have a strong and loyal following. It’s without a doubt the main event of the deer rifle season.

Every licensed hunter in Pennsylvania automatically receives a buck tag that entitles them to try to harvest one Pennsylvania antlered buck.

The buck season causes more excitement, retail sales and the never ending question among the army of orange clad hunters, “Did you get your buck yet?” Pennsylvania has had over a million deer hunters in its heydays and as our population ages those numbers have dropped to current levels of 750,000 licensed deer hunters.

The most interesting thing that many have observed is that sportswomen have started to fill the ranks of the deer hunting fraternity quite capably.

It appears that many times that you walk up to a hunter it could be a Miss or Mister wearing that fashionable blaze orange hunting garb!

I’ve been out in the wilds for many weeks now and don’t have too much to show for my effort.

I’m not sore about it or anything of the sort, one thing that I learned from the Beaver boy and the Professor is that when you are hot… hunting can look very easy, and when you are struggling, you are reminded that is why they call it hunting not getting.

The joy of harvesting a Pennsylvania Whitetail buck should be relished and never taken for granted.

Although in many parts of Pennsylvania you can harvest either a buck or a doe from the opening hour it is a bit different in WMU 2D which covers most of Butler County.

The opportunity to harvest a doe doesn’t begin to until the first Saturday of the season on December 6th.

That gives local hunters who possess a WMU 2D antlerless tag 7 days to harvest a doe in the regular firearms season.

There are standard safety rules to follow in hunting season including; 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material on your head, chest and back, you must completely fill out your harvest tag and affix it to the ear of your deer before moving the animal to your home, camp or vehicle, and you must report your kill to the PGC within 10 days of harvest.

The Safety Zone rules always need to be reviewed and observed by experienced hunter and novice alike.

The general rule is that in any firearm season 150 yards is the safety zone from any residence, school, camp, playground, and cemetery or commercial/farm buildings. In archery season the safety zone requirement is 50 yards.

Never … ever shoot towards a home or people. Rifle bullets can cause significant damage for a 5 mile range in modern high powered rifles.

Many hunters use elevated tree stands to hunt deer throughout the year. Some of the tree/ladder stands are 15-20 feet off the ground and a fall from that distance can be deadly.

In the regular deer season we often have snow cover which makes the elevated hunting stand even more dangerous with ice or snow on their surfaces.

Always use a rope to pull your unloaded firearm up into the stand and wear a safety harness. You will need two good hands when entering or exiting the stand, many good hunters have fallen due to the shortcut of having your hands full of rifles, or a backpack filled with a thermos, lunch or other extra things.

Field dressing deer is a necessary chore but not always a pleasant one.

However it can be much safer with a few common sense steps.

Do not put your hand inside of the deer while pulling a knife towards yourself. Serious cuts and gashes do occur every year.

Do not use your field knife like a hatchet on the breast cartilage or pelvic bone.

Handy field dressing saws are great tools to own. My buddy Jimmy Bonetti gave me a nice sawing tool that comes in a sheath that you can carry on your belt. It works like a champion when field dressing deer with table fare in mind.

One other thing that all the significant others in your life want me to remind you about…dragging your trophy out of the fields and forests.

Don’t be a hunting season warrior and suffer a heart attack due to over exerting your heart.

Many hunters are older or not in the tip top shape they were in at their younger years.

Get help and accept a helping hand when bringing your trophy home, no deer is worth having a life threatening incident!

Until we meet again be sure of your target and then shoot straight!

Jay E. Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.