As usual, you can identify the season's first hunt by degree of difficulty.

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It's 5:45 a.m. when I park the truck.

Cool air fills my lungs, and the scent of the Chester County dairy farm's barnyard invades my nostrils.

I get dressed in the dark, sling my tree stand on my back and carry my bow out across the meadow toward the woodlot where I planned to spend a few hours Saturday morning — the opening of Pennsylvania's statewide archery deer season.

The first hunt of the year always has its pitfalls.

I'm rusty following an eight-month layoff since the end of last season.

The stand feels heavy and my legs weak as I make my way across the huge meadow on the nearly half-mile hike to my stand site.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be able to sprint across this field.

Not today.

Halfway across, my brand-new, 100-percent waterproof boots both spring leaks, allowing the cool dew coating the grass to soak into my socks.

So much for that investment.

At the wood's edge, it takes me several minutes to find the trail of reflective tacks I put up about six or seven seasons ago.

When my flashlight beam finally produces a glowing, white dot on a tree trunk, I follow the tacks to the base of my favorite tulip poplar.

I'm breathing hard and sweating profusely, and more rust rears up as I fumble to set my climbing stand for the ascent.

By season's end, I'll be able to do this blindfolded with one arm tied behind my back.

Up the tree I climb to a height of about 22 feet.

I take a second to wipe the sweat from my brow before I haul up my bow and arrows.

It's 6:22 a.m. by the time I'm situated.

It shouldn't have taken me near as long to get from the truck to this point.

More rust.

My heart rate slows, the sweat evaporates and daylight creeps into the woods.

It feels good to be back in the stand.

I'm fooling around with my rangefinder, marking distances to various trees, around 7:05 a.m., when I look behind me and spot a yearling deer standing on its hind legs, nibbling on the leaves of a tree no more than 15 yards away.

Another 5 yards distant is a big doe — most likely the yearling's mother.

Two deer snuck to within 20 yards of me, and I never heard them coming.

Rust.

It takes a few hunts to dial my senses in to the tune of the woods.

I have to re-learn to differentiate between the rustlings of a squirrel and the delicate footfalls of a deer and to spot the curvature of a deer's hind leg where it meets the hip amid a tangle of saplings and brush.

Eventually, I'll develop DSP — deer sensory perception — which alerts me to the presence of a deer, even when I can't see or hear one.

I'll be sitting in my stand and a feeling will come over me that says, "Get ready. Something's out there."

On opening day, though, deer have no trouble sneaking up on me.

Normally, I wouldn't even think of shooting an antlerless deer on the first day.

Outside the November rut, this is one of the best days of the season to encounter a big buck, since the deer have not yet been harassed by hunters.

But this year, on this farm, the landowner is requiring me and everyone else who hunts the land to shoot a doe before shooting a buck.

So I stand up as slowly as possible and reach for my bow.

I can tell almost immediately this probably isn't going to work out.

The yearling, which I have no intention of shooting, is feeding along without a care in the world.

But the doe is standing right on my trail, vacuuming with her nose every molecule of scent I left on the ground.

I'm pretty thorough with my scent-prevention efforts, but it's nearly impossible to be totally odorless.

This deer knows I've invaded her turf.

She doesn't get enough of my scent to send her high-tailing in the other direction, but she's definitely alert.

Because her eyes and ears are scanning the woods, I'm afraid to move a muscle until she calms down.

She never does.

The doe slowly picks her way past my stand, heading toward the big thicket where all the deer bed, without ever offering me a good, clear shot opportunity.

Deer 1, P.J. 0.

That's all the action I had Saturday morning.

Fortunately, there are many more days to come.

•••

The Pennsylvania Game Commission licensed just under 270,000 bowhunters last year.

Those hunters killed 27,230 bucks and 33,470 antlerless deer.

In Wildlife Management Unit 5B, which includes Lancaster County, archers tagged 2,510 bucks — tied for second with WMU 2D among all 22 WMUs — and 2,600 antlerless deer — fourth-highest in the state.

Our neighboring WMU 5C was the top unit in the state for its archery harvest.

WMU 5C bowhunters last year tagged the most bucks — 3,410 — and the most antlerless deer — 7,390.

Don't be too eager to loose the string at the first legal buck you see this season.

Because the season opened Oct. 4, which is pretty late, bowhunting is allowed through Nov. 15. That's about as deep into November as our bow season goes.

Last year, for example, the season closed Nov. 10.

The deeper you can bowhunt into November, the more time you'll have to chase bucks during the rut, which usually kicks in around the end of October.

•••

Two limited archery/muzzleloader deer hunts have been scheduled for the controlled-access areas of Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area — Wed., Dec. 17, and Wed., Jan. 14.

A total of 100 permits will be issued by lottery drawing for each day of the hunt. A public drawing will be held in Middle Creek's visitors center at 10 a.m. on Nov. 12.

Eligible hunters must be licensed to hunt antlerless deer in WMU 5B.

To apply for the hunt, hunters should mail a postcard with the following information: name, mailing address, general license number, muzzleloader and/or archery stamp number, WMU 5B antlerless license number, if applicable.

Only one postcard per hunter should be mailed by Nov. 10 to: Pennsylvania Game Commission MCWMA, P.O. Box 110 Kleinfeltersville, Pa. 17039.

Successful applicants will be notified by mail. There will be no provisions on the hunt days to fill vacancies created by selected hunters who don't show up.

Each day of the hunt, 10 permits for bucks will be issued by lottery drawing to participating hunters who have unfilled buck tags.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com