Pennsylvania Rut Report
Beau Martonik of East Meets West provides a whitetail rut update for Pennsylvania.
Location: northern Pennsylvania
Rut stage: summer to fall transition
Current buck movement: 7/10
Projected buck movement: 3/10 I spent opening day still hunting through an area with a relatively low deer density. I was surprised to see a lot of deer on their feet, including a few young bucks within bow range that were feeding at midday. That afternoon, temps fell from the 60s to the 40s. I sat in a ground blind that evening overlooking some apple trees, and had does show up as early as 3:30.
Nearly everyone in back at camp reported seeing plenty of deer movement for opener. Since then, we've had some cooler temps and passing storms. It seems as though deer have been moving more prior to the storms, which led to a lot of archers punching tags and my target buck getting hit by a car. These last few weeks have been more successful for hunters than years past.
Hot weather is rolling in after the weekend, and I believe that'll slow movement. Prior to that, there is a small window of cool days where I think hunters could find solid action around apple trees and oak trees in the big woods.
