DAVIDSVILLE — Jim Saylor Sr. is no novice to deer hunting.
He perches himself from a stand just off the ground on his brother’s farm in Conemaugh Township, waiting for his prey. His love of the outdoors has kept the ritual alive.
Saylor doesn’t get around as well anymore. He chooses to hunt alone from the stand three of his sons built for him.
“I got a seat to sit on and a gun rest,” he said. “They got it fixed up nice for me (because) I can’t keep up with the other fellows.”
The plan paid off when Saylor bagged a 7-point buck at 7:45 a.m. on the second day of deer season.
And, oh yes, Saylor has no trigger finger, is blind in one eye and is 90 years young.
He shot the buck about 500 yards away with a Remington 660 rifle.
“My son heard the shot,” he said. “He came over and he helped me get it on the truck.
“I sawed my trigger finger off in my workshop some time ago,” he said. “I shoot with my middle finger.
“My left eye is blind, (but) I have good sight in the other eye,” he said.
Saylor, a widower who retired from Bethlehem Steel in 1977, said it was the 70th deer he’s shot since he was a bright-eyed 12-year-old hunting on the family farm with his dad.
He has the head of an 8-point whitetail deer mounted, as well as other trophies.
State game commission officials in Harrisburg said they do not keep records of ages of hunters, but were not surprised upon hearing of a 90-year-old local hunter bagging a buck.
“It’s not unusual in Pennsylvania to hear of someone who’s been hunting for 40, 50, 60 years or more,” game commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said.
“Hunters want to continue participating in our hunting traditions well into their golden years,” he said.
Saylor said through the years he has bagged three elk and nine antelope while in Wyoming and has collected a number of fishing trophies.
His brother, Frank, who owns the farm, also was not surprised his eldest brother bagged a buck.
“He gets one every year,” said Frank Saylor, 72, owner of Saylor Industries in Tire Hill. He said the family keeps tabs on his brother as he hunts on his farm with a few hundred acres.
“He’s got a lawn chair and everything out there,” Frank Saylor said.
Jim Saylor said he plans to hunt as long as he is able. Saylor hunts alone but always is within earshot of family.
“They know where I am,” he said. “They check up on me.”
Saylor also enjoys woodworking, building furniture and grandfather clocks.
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90-year-old Davidsville man bags 7-point buck
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