Steven M. Kendus article from The News Journal, January 21, 2009

I can already feel the dreaded emptiness that undoubtedly follows my final trips to the fields, marshes and woods as another hunting season comes to a close. I begin to replay a season’s worth of hunts in my mind, somehow hoping to relive them, extend them, or in some cases, even alter them.

I begin to clean and store my gear, address chores that I artfully managed to ignore since September, and allow my thoughts to drift to future seasons, future hunts, new places and new equipment.

However, like the stabbing pain brought about by an abrupt end to the Eagles season, I’m jolted back to reality and realize that there are still a few weeks of hunting left. In fact (sticking with our football analogy), I consider the next several weeks the last minutes of the fourth quarter. What’s more, I now look at late February, March and the beginning of April as overtime.

As a deer hunter who has not fared very well this season, I have several more chances to even the score. If I stick to bowhunting, I can hunt deer through Jan. 30. If I opt to pursue whitetails with a gun, the January shotgun season runs through Saturday, and the January muzzleloader seasons is open Jan. 25 through Jan. 30.

Waterfowl hunting also presents some last-minute opportunities to harvest game. Duck and regular snow goose seasons are open through Jan. 30, and Canada goose season is open through Jan. 26.

Squirrel, quail and pheasant seasons are open through Feb. 6, and DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife recently announced an extension to the Delaware rabbit hunting season. This new regulation establishes the end of Delaware’s rabbit season each year as the last day of February (or the last Saturday of February if the month ends on a Sunday). This “overtime” season allows hunters to pursue rabbits during periods unaffected by deer hunters.

For extended overtime hunting, the snow goose federal conservation order enables hunters to pursue snow geese from Feb. 1 through April 17, with no bag or possession limits. What a great way to wrap up the season.

Like every year before, I know that this hunting season will inevitably come to a close. Rather than quitting prematurely, I will play until the clock runs out.

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• White-tailed Deer
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• Crows
• Ducks
• Canada Geese
• Snow Geese

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• Southeastern Pennsylvania
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At the last minute, my hunting buddies and I planned a morning waterfowl hunt for 11/25. We finished deer hunting on 11/24, and were discussing our hunt over some ‘cold ones.’ We then decided to waterfowl hunt the Delaware River the next morning.

We met at Shooters Supply at 5:00 AM and drove to our hunting spot. Thanks to awesome calling and decoys, we managed to get a flock of Canada geese to land in our spread. With 5 of us shooting, we bagged 7 geese. Not bad, except for the fact that while we were milling around picking up geese, 35 ducks flew right over our heads — with no one prepared to shoot! Oh well, we had a fun morning. See the photo.