Tradition is not the most important reason to make sure your rifle is properly aligned

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The guns of November are barking, even though Pennsylvania's hallowed deer season opener doesn't arrive until the first of December.

Deer hunters in every corner of the state this week will be firing rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders and pistols in a time-honored ritual that's as much a part of the Keystone State's deer-hunting tradition as wearing blaze orange on the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

They're shooting their firearms to make sure that the bullet, slug or patched round ball discharged from the barrel impacts a target — placed at a specific distance down range — in a precise location that corresponds with the aiming mechanism mounted atop the firearm.

That's a long-winded way of saying, they're sighting in.

Even if you have not fired a round through your rifle since you sighted it in last year, you still have to sight it in this year.

It's tradition.

True, there is a practical reason for sighting in your gun. It is entirely possible that, even if you haven't shot it since last year, the sights or scope reticles on your trusty .30-06 could have been knocked out of whack during the preceding 12 months.

Maybe it got knocked to the floor from its upright position in the gun cabinet or closet by a son, daughter, wife or husband, who never bothered to inform you of this grave infraction.

Maybe you dropped it in the woods one day during deer season last year and haven't yet checked to see if it's still "on."

It's always wise to shoot any firearm before you take it afield to be sure it's hitting where you're aiming.

Of course, that principle is a super-handy excuse to justify an afternoon on the range at your gun club or out behind the barn the week before deer season.

I'm a member of Penn-Dutch Sportsmen's Club on Welsh Mountain in East Earl Township. So when it comes time to sight in my guns for deer season, that's where I head.

This year, I was hunting out of state for two weeks in early November, having just returned home yesterday. With Thanksgiving on Thursday and Maryland's deer-season opener Saturday, I was expecting this to be a hectic week, so I sighted in my Pennsylvania deer guns on Oct. 27.

Even though the season was five weeks distant, the excitement of sighting in mounted as it always does when I worked the combination lock on the gate to access the Penn-Dutch grounds.

It was a cool, overcast day, with low clouds and brilliant fall foliage on the trees ringing the club's 200-yard range.

Two other club members were present that day, but they were not using the 200-yard range, so I had it all to myself.

The first order of business was to set up my gear on one of the range's shooting benches.

I arranged my sandbags, my ammo and my binoculars before setting on the table my .50-caliber Thompson/Center ProHunter muzzleloader and my 12-gauge Remington 870 slug gun.

Since I hunt in Chester County, where centerfire rifles are outlawed, these are the weapons I carry into the deer woods.

Next, I tacked up targets on the backstops at 50 and 100 yards, before returning to the bench to shoot.

I'd used my muzzleloader on a few early-season hunts, so I felt pretty sure it was dialed in. One shot at 100 yards confirmed that.

Then it was time to work on Black Beauty.

That's what I call my slug gun, because it has a black receiver, black barrel, black stock and forearm, black scope and a black sling.

I love that gun. I shot my first Pennsylvania buck with it back in 1992.

It only had open sights back then, and its stock and forearm were factory-standard wood.

I replaced the wood with black synthetic parts in 1995, after I backed over the shotgun with my truck in New Jersey, cracking the stock in several places.

I remember being so embarrassed by that accident, which occurred in the predawn darkness of the Garden State's deer season opener, that I told no one and quietly carried the broken shotgun into the field with me that day.

When a nice buck approached my stand in the afternoon, I lifted the shotgun to my shoulder and pressed my cheek against the stock, where I could feel one of the cracks.

I wondered if the stock would hold when I pulled the trigger or if the recoil would send shards of wood flying into my eyes.

The latter thought caused me to pass on the shot.

Anyway, every time I take that shotgun out to the range or into the woods, I see my first buck scurrying along the top of a wooded ridge in central Chester County on opening day of the 1992 season.

The buck is an old war horse, with broken antlers and white scars clearly visible on his neck and shoulders.

His looks mean nothing to me, though. All that matters is he has antlers.

Remember those days? When the number of points, the spread and the total inches of antler were meaningless? When all you looked for was bone sticking up higher than a deer's ears?

Sometimes I miss those days.

At a distance of about 70 yards, I nervously line up the open sights atop the Hastings barrel and try to center them on the buck's shoulder.

I whistle, but the buck doesn't stop, so I move the sights in front of the deer. When a brown body appears between the two posts of the rear sight, I fire.

The buck doesn't jump or flinch, he just runs faster for about 30 yards before his nose plows into the leaves and his kicking legs come out from under him.

It was a lucky shot, to say the least. But how many deer hunters owe a debt of gratitude to luck for tagging that first buck?

I'm thinking about that buck Oct. 27 as I plug a Remington Copper Solid slug into Black Beauty's open chamber and slide the action forward to close it.

I pull the stock tight to my shoulder and peer through the scope to guide the cross hairs to the bull's-eye of the 50-yard target.

At the shot, the gun delivers a moderate punch to my shoulder, which momentarily knocks my focus off the target.

When I get settled again, I can see a black hole in the paper, planted perfectly about two inches above dead-center.

Another shell goes into the shotgun, and this time, I take aim at the 100-yard target.

The gun's report coincides with the appearance of a black hole in the target, barely half an inch below dead center.

Black Beauty is on.

Attention, successful deer hunters …

If you shoot a trophy buck this season — or if you bagged one in archery season — we want to see it and hear about it.

Pick out the nicest photo of you and your deer and mail it to: P.J. Reilly, Intelligencer Journal, 8 W. King St., Lancaster, Pa. 17603.

Or email your photo to preilly@lnpnews.com.

(Here are a few quick photo-taking tips: move close to your subject; clean up as much blood as possible; don't photograph a deer hanging from a pole).

Along with your photo, please include your name, address and telephone number. We will return all mailed submissions.

Also, let us know how many points are on your buck's antlers — in case we can't tell from the photo — the date you shot it, and the county in which you were hunting.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com