Happy hunters

The weather was beautiful and many eager spectators were on hand at the Pennsylvania Game Commission Check Station last Monday morning to view elk brought in by successful hunters. The first bull elk, harvested in Zone 10 by Ray Kaltenbaugh, was checked in at Quehanna shortly after the station opened at 10 a.m.

View larger

Kaltenbaugh, from Sandy Lake in Mercer County, enjoyed the entire Pennsylvania elk hunting experience.

“I was up scouting on four different

weekends prior to the hunt, and I got to see a lot of beautiful elk,” Kaltenbaugh said. “Seeing so many nice elk was just great.”

It was early — 6:45 a.m. — when Kaltenbaugh’s 8 x 7 bull stepped out of the woods and into a field that he and his guide were watching. Kaltenbaugh put the crosshairs of his Remington 300 magnum on the bull’s chest and took the 100-yard shot. The bull did not even flinch.

“You missed,” Wilber Lewis, his guide said. However, Kaltenbaugh was sure of his bullet placement, and he and his guide watched as the bull made a loop in the field. The 200-grain bullet had done its job and the bull dropped after walking about 100 yards.

Kaltenbaugh’s bull weighed 543 pounds and had an estimated live weight of 706 pounds. Rick Macklem and Tony Ross, from the PGC’s Northcentral office, rough-scored the elk’s antlers at 3564/8 inches.

“This was quite an experience that I was just so very fortunate to have,” Kaltenbaugh said.

PGC executive cirector Carl Roe was also out enjoying the early November sunshine and talking with hunters.

“We saw several herds of elk when we drove in this morning. Elk are another ‘good news’ story for the Game Commission,” Roe said. “People like watching elk, but it is important to keep the herd under control, and that is why we have this hunt.”

At times, there were over 100 people at the elk check station, ogling the large sets of antlers and watching the processing. “It is nice to see so many people out here today,” Roe said. “It looks like they are going to see some nice bulls, too.”

The PGC’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Walter Cottrell, was busy taking tissue samples for DNA testing, lung tissue for tuberculosis testing, brain tissue for chronic wasting disease testing, and serum was drawn for brucellosis testing. Hunters wishing to mount their trophies were given coolers to mail brain tissue back to the PGC. During the first eight years of the hunt, all tested elk have been free of CWD, TB and brucellosis.

A total of 59 permits for the six-day season were available through a lottery drawing that was held in September. The first 20 applications drawn received an antlered elk license, and the remaining 39 were issued antlerless licenses. One additional bull license, dubbed the “conservation tag,” was raffled off by a conservation organization.

By early afternoon, five bulls and several cows had been weighed, measured and processed. This included a massive 9 x 8 bull taken by Reed Bamberger of Graysville, Greene County.

“We set up at our first spot before daybreak, but saw nothing,” explained Elk County Outfitters guide Jack Manack. “Just after 7 a.m., we moved to a second spot, and right away we could hear this elk’s horns shattering trees. So we slowly moved in.”

At 80 yards, they could see the bull raking his antlers up and down a sumac tree. The big bull dropped in his tracks after one shot from Bamberger’s .30-06 rifle. Both Bamberger and his guide were elated.

“I don’t know of any elk bigger than this one. He has a drop tine and kickers,” Manack said. “We tried to get him last year, too, so we’ve spent a lot of time following this guy.”

Rock Hill Outfitters guide Craig Reed was able to lead his client, Robert Black, a part-time grain farmer from Sinking Valley, Blair County, to nine bull elk at once.

“We watched a planting on a reclaimed strip mine, but didn’t see anything,” Reed said. “At 7:30, we moved to the top of Rock Hill.”

“We first spotted elk at about 8 a.m.,” Black said. “There were nine bulls feeding together. Three or four were very nice, and we started to follow the group.”

After being on their trail for nearly three-quarters of a mile, the elk entered a hollow and began to split up. Black and his guide followed the group that went to the left and hoped for a shot at one of the nice bulls.

“I got my shot — about 80 yards with an old .30-06 that used to be my dad’s,” Black said. “I shot two elk out west with that same gun.”

One shot dropped Black’s elk, a 7 x 7 that field dressed at 528 pounds. He was quite happy with the size of its rack. The main beams were each over 41 inches long, and his elk had a net Boone and Crockett score of 265 6/8.

“We walked up to the elk after he shot it, and Bob’s eyes just couldn’t have gotten any larger,” Reed exclaimed.

Black, who is employed by Crop Production Service, has hunted elk in Colorado four times, but nothing out there compared to his Pennsylvania experience.

“I’ve been in the Pennsylvania drawing five times and getting selected for a bull permit this year gave me the hunt of a lifetime,” Black said. “The western elk just don’t compare to the size of the bodies and horns that we have here in Pennsylvania.”

A total of 16 elk — eight bulls and eight cows — were harvested on Monday, the opening day of the hunt. A 7 x 6 bull, taken with a muzzleloader by John Polenski of Meyersdale, just might be the heaviest elk ever taken in Pennsylvania, although the PGC has not yet released the official weight. Catherine Herring of Pottsville brought in a real nice bull that green-scored at 322 in the late afternoon.

Four antlered bulls and four cows were processed on Tuesday. Nine elk — four bulls and five cows — were harvested on the third day, and this included an archery kill. Only four elk were harvested on Thursday, the fourth day of the hunt. By Friday afternoon, a total of 41 elk (18 bulls and 23 cows) — the most recent data available — had been recorded at the Quehanna check station.

Mark Nale, who lives in the Bald Eagle Valley, is a member of the PA Outdoor Writers Association. He can be reached at MarkAngler@aol.com.