Monday begins what had, for most of my life, been known as “buck season.” Many of us simply referred to it as “deer season.”

The season began on the Monday following Thanksgiving and ran for two weeks, followed by a two- or three-day “doe” season. Opening day was a big deal back then before we had all these other deer seasons starting in October. The season opener was a very big deal, even the schools would close for the day. All that changed a few years ago with the beginning of a “concurrent” two-week season in which either antlered or antlerless deer could be taken. The concurrent season was part of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer herd reduction program, and I believe, it was the part that raised the hackles on many hunters more than any other facet of the new deer management program.

Back in the old days, some of us would roll into camp on Black Friday, others would arrive on Saturday, and those who actually took their family responsibilities seriously, would straggle in on Sunday. We’d hunt bucks (anything with a three-inch spike was legal) for three days or so, head home and then head back up to camp for the doe hunt. It was tradition, and great fun for all involved.

I missed the deer season last year, save for the October “old-geezer” season. That won’t be the case this year. We’ll have three guys for the first three days this year, then we’ll head home and I’ll return with another friend or two for the second week. In our Wildlife Management Unit we’re now back to five days of buck hunting followed by seven days of buck or doe. It’ll almost feel like old times.

The deer population around our camp in northern Clinton County had remained pretty stable over the past few years. We certainly don’t have the deer we had 15 or 20 years ago, but we seem to have a lot more than they have in some other areas. I didn’t see many during the October senior/junior season, but, truth be told, I didn’t hunt very hard. The way some hunters talk about the deer population in their neck of the woods, I’m looking for the government to add the whitetail to the endangered species list. Some disgruntled hunters would go even further and say that they’ve gone extinct. The truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes, as it usually is.

I’m getting to the point where I’m tired of getting all upset by every move the PGC makes. It used to be that religion and politics were forbidden topics when making small talk. In recent years we’ve added the Pennsylvania Game Commission to that list. I’ve seen some otherwise soft spoken, easy-going people go absolutely ballistic when the agency’s doings came up in idle conversation. I think from now on I’ll just feign illness, and excuse myself when talk turns to PGC policies. I think I’ll let others sort things out and just go hunting whatever the commission says is legal to hunt at that particular time. Starting Monday, that’s deer, with at least three points to a side.

-- E-mail comments to jdsteese@yahoo.com.