Its the first morning of buck season here in Pa. Which now opens on a Saturday instead of Monday as it did for decades. All for the idea of the game commission getting for money. Especially because of declining license sales. Even though it comes in on Saturday now the kids don't have school Monday. I guess its another holiday for teachers. When I was a kid there was school on opening day, and many just didn't go. Its the same for those who worked. If you wanted to hunt you just took off work via a vacation day, or calling in ill.
At 66 years old I just can't get that excited about it any more. As a kid. the first day of buck was better than than Christmas. There are a couple nice bucks around home this year, with the number of scrub bucks, and just legal ones, with 3 up on at least one side. I have decided I'm going to pass on any of the just legal bucks in hopes of seeing one of the nicer ones. Even though the excitement has waned. I'm still driven enough to get out with my 25/06 that I've hunted with since I was 16, and see what I can see. I have used a 45/70 when hunting in thicker places. When I started hunting I used das 30/06 Springfield, until I saved enough to buy the Remington 25/06. So this is my 52nd opening day of buck season. God willing I'll have a few more, even though most of the excitement is gone.