I love shooting this gun. Here in Pa the week long muzzle loader season has been open for several day's now. I always love being in the woods this time of year. The colors that surround you with the changing of the leaves are amazing. The deer are going about their normal routines, nothing has them spooked yet, so you can pretty much count on them to be where they should be. The weather is still fairly warm, evening daylight still reaches the 7 PM mark and I use this time of year to get out and get my head straight and try to add some venison to the freezer. Never was much of a antler hunter, so a doe only season is fine for me. I usually take a week off from work and go camping with my hunting buddies up in Caladonia State Park and hunt the Big Flats in Adams and Franklin Counties. This year I did the same but unfortunately my friends couldn't make it so I was going solo. I must admit the campfire conversation that I yearned for was somewhat limited. I've been hunting this area for over 30 years so you can imagine my surprise when I was awakened early Monday morning by the sound of my two coolers being thrashed about by a bear, something I had never seen even a sign of around here before. A Big Bear too. In previous years you only heard stories of bears passing through but the local DCNR and Game Commission now confirm a breeding population of local bears. It was so cool. I stepped out of my camper, lit her up with my flashlight and spooked her off my coolers only 8 feet away, but not before she had consumed 4 Aunt Jemima pancake and sausage microwave breakfast meals, an entire 12 pack of Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Patties and a gallon of Orange Juice and a loaf of bread. It wasn't until daylight that I noticed she had taken a couple of bites out of my Duroflame Log I use for fire starter. She probably regretted that sometime later. I called the park office the following morning assuming that they would want to know only to be told that it was probably the same sow that's been raiding their bird feeders and getting into their trash hoppers. They said I had to remember that I was in their house now and had to play by their rules. I politely told them that I understood that and if they knew they had local bears coming into the park than they should post signs and inform the campers. Had I known I would have locked my coolers in my car. We agreed on that point and signs are currently going up. I really did enjoy seeing her. Its something that you just never got to experience before in this area, despite the fact that one cooler was a total loss and the other has tooth holes in the lid. Oh! and later on Monday afternoon I settled into my favorite set of pines up on the Big Flats and dropped a nice doe at 75 yards with my Traditions E-Bolt. Did I tell you I love shooting this gun.
