MONTROSE, Pa. — This October was the dryest on record for some in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. For others, it's now the longest stretch of dry weather since Spring 2006. Its effects can be felt throughout the region, with fires and low river levels.
One effect that's not as apparent is how the warm weather affects hunting.
"Guys are still going out and trying. The success rate seems to be down a little bit, especially for the bigger bucks. They're staying bedded down and only coming out at night, and I think a big part of that is due to the weather,” said Ryan Coy, who works at Montrose Sporting Goods.
Jeffrey Scavazzo, the owner of Scavazzo's Deer Processing in Montrose, says the reason there isn't much deer movement in the warm weather is due to it being deer mating season.
"When it's cold out, the does are more receptive to be bred, so the bucks are constantly chasing the does around all day long," said Scavazzo." "When it’s warm, it just kind of tapers off for a while, and then we get a couple another cold nights, and then they get right back at it again."
Scavazzo says the hunting season has been thrown for a loop because it's been warm for some weeks in the northern tier and cold for others.
"It was so warm the first two weeks, but once the third week and fourth week kicked in, we had all those cold snaps, cold nights, very cold mornings, bucks were moving everywhere, the guys were saying, that's where we're getting the bulk of our deer,” said Scavazzo.
“But this week, it warmed up again. Normally, we'd take in 16, 18, 19 a day, but we're only getting 10, 9 a day."
It's unclear how this stretch of weather will impact rifle deer season when it opens on November 30.