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LEHMAN TWP. — The vehicles backed up to Naugle’s Custom Butchering and Deer Processing Inc. and dropped off their freshly killed deer for processing.
About 31 deer were brought to Naugle’s by 11:30 a.m. Monday, an average amount, according to owner Kevin Naugle.
“It will pick up Saturday when doe season begins,” he said.
As the hunters dragged their bleeding deer carcasses in, the crew at Naugle’s — including the appropriately-named Buck Hunter May — were busy removing the antlers and skin of each deer to prepare it for butchering.
On this sunny and mild day, hunters came to Naugle’s from Shickshinny, Wapwallopen, Berwick and several areas of the Back Mountain area to have their venison packaged.
Many of those who bagged a buck were at Naugle’s on Trojan Road, which has been open since 1986.
“We vacuum pack everything,” Kevin Naugle said as his 15-year-old son, Kyle, dragged deer after deer from the parking lot to the processing area.
Naugle’s offers several processing services, including skinning, cutting, vacuum packing, freezing, curing and smoking.
When Dean Kirkpatrick, of Wapwallopen, brought in his 8-point buck, Kyle Naugle said it was the nicest buck he had seen so far this day.
“He just came walking up the hill,” Kirkpatrick said. “And then he just stopped. That’s when I got him. One shot.”
Kirkpatrick said he hadn’t been hunting since the 1980s. He couldn’t find the time and anybody to hunt with, so he gave it up until this year.
Jack James, of Nanticoke, brought in a 6-pointer he shot in the Shickshinny/Berwick area, and John Jones of Plymouth Township nailed his 6-point buck on Plymouth Mountain.
Jonathan Jurish, 27, and his brother, Patrick, 29, of Plains Township, brought in Jonathan’s 5-point buck that he got in the Shickshinny area.
All the hunters said they will keep some of the meat harvested from their deer and give the rest away. None will go to waste, they said.
Earlier in the day, Charlie Storch, of Wilkes-Barre was taking a warm-up break in his truck on Bald Mountain. He said he went out at 5:30 a.m., but didn’t see any deer.
“I heard about a dozen shots,” he said. “But I haven’t seen any deer being dragged out yet.”
Storch said he was hunting for the first time in several years.
“I took a few years off,” Storch, 46, said. “It feels good to be outdoors again.”
There were a lot of vehicles parked along Bald Mountain Road and Route 115 in Bear Creek Township, but no successful hunters were to be found.
Bill Williams, conservation officer and information and education supervisor at the Pennsylvania Game Commission Regional Office in Dallas, said Monday’s weather was good for deer hunting.
“Generally, when you have a nice day, hunters tend to stay in the woods longer,” he said. “When it’s wet, cold and rainy, some call it quits early.”
Williams said temperatures dropped late Monday afternoon, making for good conditions for hunters to hang their kills overnight.
Williams couldn’t say how many deer were harvested so far, saying hunters have 10 days to report their harvest.
In the 2014-15 season, some 303,973 antlered and antlerless deer were taken in all seasons, according to Williams.
He said there are usually 750,000 licensed hunters statewide each year.
As far as violations, Williams said some officers were working on issues like having a loaded gun in a vehicle or hunting in baited areas where food has been put down to attract deer.
Lastly, Williams said there were no reports of any hunting accidents.
