Joel Russo
Well-Known Member
I figured it looked familiar.
Hi Longrangegebo, you fellas have a nice setup there. How far can you shoot there and could you give us some details on your rifles (what calibers) your viewing glass ect.We have been longrange hunting the Jersey mills area for about 40 years, have 3 nice spots , only got 1 ling range this year. Used to hunt up on a big rock at browns run.View attachment 85481 View attachment 85482
At the first place we can go from 5 to about 1800 yds, the second place is about 7 to 17-1800 yds The gun on the bench is a 338-408 and the other one is 338-378 the binos are toyko battleship made in japan the other is Baush lomb american battleship all hyped to 27 power The smaller pair are miyauchisWe have been longrange hunting the Jersey mills area for about 40 years, have 3 nice spots , only got 1 ling range this year. Used to hunt up on a big rock at browns run.View attachment 85481 View attachment 85482
Nice to hear from you buddy, we had a bad year, only one buck long range and another from a tree stand, your right no hunters. The commission did it handing out doe permits, the hunters are the ones killing them though! What kid would rather go hunting and see nothing for 4-5 days or play games? We are a dying breed and it wont come back soon, but I love longrange hunting HaHaHa You should go back south and warm up!Check your glasses Bo, they appear to be all fogged up to me. lol
Anyway Lowell is alive and well as can be expected. He was on his old lookout this year near Leetonia and coached/coaxed? 4 guys into 4 nice bucks. We drove by and blew the horn at him on the first day.
After that he came over to Driftwood and visited George and I for a few days and showed us the video which also included 5 different bear on the first day of buck.
George and I did a lot of driving around this year since were still able to at least do that. We drove from Liberty to Slate Run and found at least 90% of the camps to be empty on the first day of buck season.
We saw very few cars parked along the roads and didn't see a dead deer anywhere. Not a single l/r hunter at the Bradley Wales vista on the first day. There was a group at the Blackwell lookout but they were playing cards.
The old guys are dying off and the young guys would apparently rather play video games.
Very well said , young fellow !Lets be honest here guys, packing in in PA still means you are not very far from a road. Fact is you might be closer to one after packing in, than the distance you walked from your vehicle. And we wont count the many many miles of pipelines and power lines which in many cases can also be driven on.
This was my 70th season hunting that part of the state, and the only real change is all the gates which now close off access by vehicle to some of the areas. That and over 300 camps that used to exist before the area we now know as Quehanna existed, including our old one.
Yes some places can pose issues as for retrieving a dead animal, but that's a choice we make, and there are ways of addressing that.
What it takes is young people who have the interest in pursuing that activity. And not very many are doing that as compared to past years.
As for the bigger bucks being confined to the more remote areas, that's just not so. They are where you find them and in many cases that's where we live also. The whole area is remote, even the towns are shrinking away as compared to 50 years ago. 20 miles to the nearest store or gas station. 50 years ago there were 4 gas stations and 2 stores just in Sinnemahoning. Even the sportsmans club is having problems existing.
The nicest buck ive seen taken in all my years there was taken this year right along a well traveled road at about 80 yds by a long range hunter friend on his way to a spot he hunts. 12 very nice points with a very heavy 22" rack. First 12 pointer ive ever seen shot.
Yet the fact is that today, unlike in years past you might ride around the back roads all season and not see a deer.
Areas that produced well for long rangers in past years aren't producing as well today for one reason. And that reason is far less woods hunters moving deer off the tops where its easy hunting, and onto the sidehills where guys like us can see them.
Take a look at (archery) buck kill numbers today as compared to 10 years ago and that's also an indicator of why we have a lower hunter turnout in rifle season.
So in summation, its still my opinion that scouting out the food and signs is important, but otherwise it really has little to do with being or doing anything unique, other than putting in the time at any of the many good long range locations thruout the north central part of the state, and be both lucky and good.