Planning, preparation and patience are keys to a successful hunt, according to outdoorsman Greg Luce.

A little luck doesn’t hurt either as Luce found himself about 30 yards from a large doe, roughly 160 pounds, in the recently opened state game lands in Indiana Township on Saturday.

Luce, a resident who lives just a few minutes away, arrived around 5:45 a.m. and was one of the first in the woods.

Wearing an orange hat, orange hoodie and worn jeans, he took down the deer using a 450 Bushmaster rifle.

The 266-acre plot was added earlier this year to State Game Lands 203.

The property, located directly adjacent to Emmerling Community Park, also hosts about a mile of the Rachel Carson Trail near Deer Creek.

Initially acquired by the Allegheny Land Trust in March, the plot expands Game Lands 203 from its 1,200-acre main area in Franklin and Marshall townships.

“I love it,” Luce said shortly after tagging the deer, one of the regulations enforced by the state Game Commission to help keep track of deer kills and deer population.

“I grew up in Erie. Up there it’s like hunting and fishing just reigns supreme. Everybody hunts and fishes,” said Luce, 35. “Down here, it doesn’t seem as big. Most people who live in Pittsburgh seem to go out to a camp somewhere in the mountains or whatever.

“I like the tradition (of hunting). The meat that comes with it, too. Sometimes I’ll process it myself at home. You can get specialty things made if you wanted to take it to a processor.”

Luce estimates at least 80 pounds of meat will come from the doe. That’s enough to feed him, his wife and their two sons, ages 7 and 9, for quite some time.

Luce has a camera set up in the woods and captured a near 13-point buck on video twice, once in October and again this month. Luce didn’t see it Saturday.

He estimates more than a dozen deer are hiding amongst the trees.

At least that many hunters made the trek to Indiana Township early on the first day of rifle deer season.

Terry Gipe, 60, of Harrison was another early riser and got to the game lands before sunrise.

The retired Army sergeant said he has been hunting for 45 years throughout Western Pennsylvania. The township’s state game land may be his new favorite spot despite going home empty handed on opening day.

“This is nice,” said Gipe, who was on the opposite side of the game land from Luce and closer to the main parking lot.

“It’s not wicked weather or anything. I heard some shots, but not really that much shooting. You look for trail signs and stuff — tracks, buck rubs and scrapes. You try to hunt near them. Preferably in a thicket.”

He said the trails were well-marked, minimizing the risk of hunters getting lost in the woods.

Being outdoors brings back memories and helps keep Gipe feeling young. He was taught how to hunt by several uncles and still uses those tips today.

“I grew up as a kid in the woods. My mother had seven brothers,” Gipe said. “The main thing is safety. If you’re not doing things safely, you don’t need to be out here.”

Rules and regulations

Kolton Boyer, 25, of Plum is the district’s state game warden for northeast Allegheny County.

He was a constant presence checking licenses, deer tags, apparel and more to ensure hunters were following proper procedures.

Some of the state rules include hunters must have a valid license on them while operating on game lands. No loaded weapons are allowed to be in a vehicle or leaning on one.

Hunters get a digest with the rules and regulations, as well as hunting season dates and a map of the districts, when they get their license.

Boyer said he only had one issue in the township out of the dozens of hunters checked. One had a valid hunting license, but an expired buck tag. The hunter was let off with a warning and the tag was confiscated.

“It’s been good,” he said. “A lot of hunters enjoying this new property. As we saw, someone had some success already.

“It’s been a good day. Everyone’s being safe, following the rules. Hunting is a very regulated activity, which is why the Game Commission as a whole exists. It ultimately stems from needing to preserve our wildlife populations.”

There are separate tags for bucks and doe. Hunters are permitted one buck tag for the year and those tags are good statewide. Hunters write the date and time of kill on the tags.

Doe tags are designated for certain districts and wildlife management units. Some wildlife management units permit six tags while others allow nine antlerless tags.

Hunters need to wear at least 250 square-inches of orange, usually with hats and vests, and are required to report a harvest within 10 days. They can do so online, by mail or by calling the Game Commission.

More information about hunting rules and regulations is available on the Game Commission’s website.

Family time

Tom Hughes Jr., 40, of West Deer’s Russellton neighborhood, arrived at the hunting grounds shortly before noon Saturday with his two sons, Tom Hughes III, 8, and Mike, 5.

They were participating in the state’s mentored hunting program, which allows youths ages 12 or younger to hunt provided they get a permit.

Children must be accompanied by a licensed hunter at least 21 years old who serves as a guide. Only one gun is allowed with a group of up to three mentored hunters and their guide.

The family was also in the township in October for youth rifle season.

“This is close for me,” Hughes Jr. said. “We’re all hunting. We just moved here from Somerset a year ago. It’s awesome. We went to bear camp last week. It’s what we do. We’ve probably been hunting for three years (as a family). We got a little bit of a late start this morning. Dad (himself) wasn’t moving fast enough.”

Mike was very eager to get geared up and out on the trail. He speedily put his boots on the wrong feet while his father was getting their hats out of the trunk.

Tom Hughes III was excited to possibly bag his first buck.

“I like nature and I like to explore a lot,” he said. “We got an eight-pointer on the wall (of our house).”

Hughes Jr. said the key to keeping the boys quiet and calm and not scare the deer is repetition.

“They get a little wound up, but we do this a lot,” the father said. “This is what they like to do. I’m kind of tough all around. I’m what they got and that’s it. I just try to keep them in line.

”I’m better than what my father was (at hunting). I want them to be better than me.”

Boyer said his fellow wardens encourages family participation.

“We love seeing kids out — being outside not on a phone or something,” Boyer said.

Luce fondly remembered Erie area hunting trips as a youngster with his uncle, Joe Sicker, who was a stickler for remaining in a familiar location. Lessons about patience were taught.

“We didn’t really kill a whole lot because he was one of them guys that goes in and sits at the same spot every year no matter what’s happening,” Luce said. “Half the time we’re just in (the woods) sitting and didn’t see a whole lot. Just a lot of fun.

“Deer season was like a holiday. It used to be on a Monday (after Thanksgiving). They would close down the schools and everything. I remember that growing up.”

This is the seventh year Pennsylvania firearms deer season opened the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The season closes Dec. 13.

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