Greg Putney of Summit Township, left, and his sons Eric, center, and Scott share hunting traditions that focus on getting out in nature. Greg shot this 7-point buck Monday morning.

NEW BETHLEHEM, Clarion County — For the Putney family, hunting is more than enjoying the sport itself; it’s about continuing tradition, becoming closer with nature, and most important of all, spending time with family and friends.

Greg Putney of Summit Township along with his two teenage sons, Scott and Eric, take an annual trek to a friend’s cabin near New Bethlehem each Thanksgiving weekend with six other friends. They end each trip with a day of deer hunting the Monday after Thanksgiving.

“When you’re at camp, you don’t hear the traffic; you don’t hear the dogs barking,” Putney said. “You don’t hear the neighbors blowing leaves like you do around here. It’s just woods. You might hear a cow here or there mooing, but that’s about it.”

During the long weekend, they spend a lot of time talking, cooking and playing cards, but they also have done various trips over the years. This past weekend, they visited a gun shop and a distillery in Brookville. In past years, they’ve gone to restaurants and driven to Elk County to watch elk.

The Putneys were among about 750,000 Pennsylvanians who were out deer hunting Monday, which was the first day of rifle hunting season for deer. They spent about 12 hours hunting, starting about 6 a.m.

“We do have certain areas that certain people like to go to,” Putney said, who shot a seven-point buck near the camp Monday morning.

He called his prey a lucky shot. The shot ricocheted off a tree and hit the deer in the gut. They found the deer in tall grass a short time later and took a quick photograph of the kill on a friend’s cell phone.

“It’s just the rush. Your heart starts going when you see a deer,” said Eric, 16.

Scott, 18, said while hunting itself is fun, there’s a lot more to it.

“Even if I don’t harvest an animal, it’s just the point of being in God’s country, seeing the sunrise and the sunset,” he said. “It’s not always about the kill. It’s about being one with nature.”

Last year, Scott shot a 10-point buck, and the year before, he shot a six-point in the same area.

In addition to their Thanksgiving weekend trip, they will hunt in areas around Butler County for the few weekends during the brief shooting season with other friends.

Greg Putney, who also is a longtime secretary for the Happy Hunter Sportsman’s Club in Fenelton, said it’s important for the hunting tradition to continue through the generations.

“It seems as much that society today is just as happy to let their kids sit in front of the TV or in front of the Xbox,” he said. “I wanted to try to keep my kids out in the outdoors, whether it’s hunting, fishing or trapping. And we do all of that together.

“Getting more youth involved with the hunting sport in particular, and not in just hunting, but in target shooting, is a good thing for us as well.”

They use their venison in a variety of ways. They slow cook it, preserve it through canning, and even grind the meat to make things like smoked bologna and hot sticks.

Putney said he began hunting as a teen because of his wife, Lisa.

“She was an old farm girl from Carbon Center, and her family hunted. And when I started dating her at the age of 16, I started hunting with her and her dad,” he said.

Lisa Putney hasn’t hunted for a long time, but has considered going back to the sport.

Eric and Scott said they’ll be hunting “till the day we die.”