The search for hunting ammo continues to be like a scavenger hunt with many calibers for hunting rifles being highly expensive or in some cases non-existent.

Fortunately for me, I have many choices for hunting rifles in Pennsylvania and they have all been carried afield and have proven their worth in hunting situations.

Choices in ammo selection have made it very important for hunters and shooters to be thinking about their preferences for the fall hunt.

I started out with a 30-06 760 Game Master rifle of my dad's in my early hunting years and progressed into a bolt-action rifle when I could choose one from the gun store rack. Ammo was $9.99 a box and when we wanted to shoot some for target practice, we were reminded from the old man that it was 50 cents a cartridge, so go easy on the shooting!

Dad would faint if he knew that the same cartridge was being featured for $2.00 or more for each shot, if you can find it!

Some guys keep plenty of ammo stocked up in their personal shooting supplies closet. I am always amazed when fellows tell me that they have thousands of rounds of their favorite shooting calibers. I never really got into that frame of mind nor had the extra cash to stockpile ammunition with a giant price tag attached.

The trends tover the years have made the investment of a hunting arm very shaky for the average Joe! I would not try exotic calibers and keep to the tried-and-true calibers like the 30-06, .270, and .308 rifles.

Even though I really like my .280 and 7mm-08, they are not always sitting on the shelves at gun shops.

To counter the scarcity and cost of store-bought ammunition, I started to reload and handload my favorite rifle cartridges. Initially, the big cost was the reloading equipment.

Components were fairly reasonable and especially when the gun shops would hold a sales event for bulk powder, primers and brass. Eventually, what started out as a cost-saving exercise and place to experiment with new loads got caught up in the price uptick and components went to the highest bidders as well.

Over the past two seasons I have helped several friends with reloading supplies just in order for them to go afield on a hunt. I told them to keep an eye out for their cartridges as my extra components are dwindling as well.

One area that still has components is black powder shooting with muzzleloaders. Now is the time to think about hunting with the flintlocks and inline rifles. They are accurate and powerful enough for the whitetail deer hunting seasons that Pennsylvania has to offer. Archery hunting continues to grow in interest as more archers join the ranks every year.

Women in Archery has been a phenomenal event for hunting everywhere. Hardly a day goes by when I don't hear of a daughter or wife excited for the fall archery season.PA is featuring both an early muzzleloader season and the traditional after-Christmas flintlock season for either sex and remaining deer tags.

The current antlerless tag situation has plenty of doe tags available in both WMU 2D and WMU 1-A, which covers both Butler and Lawrence as well as Mercer County.The tags assigned to WMU 2D were exceptionally generous with 74,000 tags and 32,809 remaining as we go into the first bonus round.Aug. 16 starts the second bonus round of leftover tags for those hunters who really like their venison.You will not get anything mailed to you from the county treasurer until September, so good luck!You can check on your progress by checking into the PGC website under “license sales.”

I was very sorry to hear that a local outdoor legend had passed this week.Bob McCarl was 102 years old and hunted and harvested a buck at the age of 95. He was featured in the PA Game News for his eight decades of dedicated activity in field and stream. I remember seeing Bob along the bike trail at Moraine State Park as he fished Lake Arthur at night with his son-in-law. Whenever the fishing was good, you could expect to see him.McCarl was honored with a Lifetime Membership with the Boyers Sportsmen's Association, where he was a member for 75 years. Bob and his family always had Sunday dinner at his home and you were always welcome at his table.We will miss you, Bob, and we hope that all of your old friends and loved ones have your place set for a really joyful reunion.Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.