There’s absolutely no question Pennsylvania is home to many deer hunters – which makes it a great state for the National Deer Association’s Field to Fork program. Experienced mentors and opportunities to introduce new hunters to Penn’s Woods are plentiful. Even with a population that seems high in hunter density, or hunting knowledge, we are still able to reach many folks who are interested in hunting but have not been given the opportunity to try. Through our partnerships with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, we accommodated over 100 new hunters during the 2024-25 hunting season!
We hosted, and partnered to host, 10 mentored deer hunting events across the state. The majority of these hunts focused on archery, with eight crossbow hunts and two rifle hunts. As a precursor, mentees take their hunter safety course, or purchase a mentored hunting license, and attend a required orientation before their selected hunt.
NDA’s Pennsylvania Field to Fork Coordinator Autumn McEntee demonstrates crossbow safety at the Bearded Buck Field to Fork event, October 2024.
October at the Bearded Buck
To begin our season recap, we start in October 2024 in western Pennsylvania at The Bearded Buck Field to Fork. Over three days, six excited mentees and their respective mentors experienced true deer camp camaraderie, top-notch whitetail deer education, and even saw the Northern Lights! Making for a once-in-a-blue-moon event, all six mentees harvested an antlerless deer with a crossbow. They learned proper field-dressing and processing and were able to take home good quality protein to their families at the end of the event!
Asia Whittenberger (L) with mentor Autumn McEntee and Asia’s first deer, a beautiful 8-point buck harvested at one of the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge hunts.
John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
The National Deer Association partnered with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to host four mentored archery deer hunts at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia. This included one early season orientation, one October hunt, one November hunt, and two January hunts.
Participants learned about each aspect of the hunt, including shot placement, field dressing, and target practice. They got to tour the refuge and visit blinds to ensure they knew what to expect before going afield. Mentees at John Heinz were greatly successful. The events at John Heinz boast a high mentee-to-mentor conversion, with many previous mentees coming back to mentor the next generation of new hunters.
Hunts at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge see a high number of mentees returning to be mentors. Left to Right: Reginald Thompson, Gin McGill-Prather, Nina Roulac and Melissa Torre all participated first as new hunters then returned last season to serve as mentors to other new hunters.
Benjamin Rush State Park
In addition to the John Heinz mentored hunt programs, we partner with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to host two mentored archery deer hunts at Benjamin Rush State Park in Southeast Pennsylvania. This included one early season Orientation, one October hunt and one January hunt.
Group photo from the Field to Fork hunt at Benjamin Rush State Park, January 2025.
Benjamin Rush events are unique, as the Pennsylvania Game Commission has incorporated a “Second Step” hunt program for mentees who have previously participated but would like to further their hunting education. Second Step hunters are able to hunt from a treestand rather than a ground blind. They arrived early and got the full experience, including target practice from a treestand, and setting up their own tree stand location to hunt out of with their mentor. First-time mentees hunted from ground blinds.
“Second Step” hunters at a Benjamin Rush State Park hunt putting up a treestand together.
Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge
At Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Stroudsburg we hosted a November orientation for all participants, a November archery mentored deer hunt and a December rifle mentored deer hunt. During orientation, we covered treestand safety, target practice with both crossbows and rifles, reviewed the gear we would be using, watched a live field-dressing demonstration, and learned shot placement and rules and regulations. In total, we had 13 mentees for our November hunt and 12 for our December hunt. At Cherry Valley, mentees were given the choice to hunt from a ground blind or a treestand – as long as their mentor wasn’t afraid of heights!
Group photo at the Cherry Valley NWR Field to Fork rifle hunt in December (Photo: Jared Green, USFWS)
West Central Pennsylvania Branch
Members of NDA’s West Central Pennsylvania Branch, led by Roy Anderson, hosted a Field to Fork during Pennsylvania’s rifle season. They dubbed it the “Making a Difference” hunt. A small group of aspiring hunters were given their chance to harvest a deer out of an elevated blind on one of two private land parcels. This event was unique in that two of the mentees were brothers and got to experience their first hunt together. The hunters enjoyed their experience and were able to learn a lot from the hunt, including processing their own deer. They will definitely be back for more!
Become a Volunteer Mentor
Each of our Field to Fork events are made successful by hard work, preparation, and dedicated volunteer mentors who take time out of their own hunting season to ensure someone new is able to experience what a hunt in Penn’s Woods is like. Folks who grew up in a hunting family may not realize how new or inexperienced hunters perceive hunting – or the barriers that hold new hunters back. Some are uncomfortable being in the dark woods alone, while some feel they just wouldn’t know what to do in certain situations.
These barriers can be crossed and eventually broken down through proper education, good experiences, and the support of a good mentor to build confidence in their mentee. It is all of our responsibility to take someone new hunting, because someone once took us. If you are interested in mentoring at our events in the future, please reach out to Elizabeth Kligge. Many hands make little work, and with many dedicated mentors, we can ensure we are bringing properly educated new hunters afield.