Jack Zelina lives in Kane, Pennsylvania. This is his story.
Around 1967, the Game Commission introduced the “Triple Trophy Award”. It would be awarded to any hunter who successfully bagged a turkey, antlered deer and a black bear in a single season. Doing so was quite a feat and definitely gave any hunter accomplishing this serious bragging rights. Zelina and his friends at camp decided to give the award a try.
The adventure began on a Saturday morning during the November wild turkey season. He and good friend Bill Sachse planned to hunt the Red Bridge area. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day. When they arrived at their destination, they met a fellow hunter who’d broken up a flock
of turkeys earlier.
Loading their shotguns they separated, working their way up the hill. An hour later Zelina heard a shot from Sachse’s direction. He waited but didn’t hear another shot. Not sure if Sachse had connected or not, he continued up the hill. Peeking over a bench, he saw a turkey who spotted him at the same instant. The big bird immediately flew. Zelina threw up his 16 gauge, Remington 11-48 shotgun, swung through the turkey and pulled the trigger. At the crack the turkey exploded in a cloud of feathers and hit the ground. Elated, he returned to his cool VW van. Sachse climbed out with an ear-to-ear smile. He’d scored too.
They high-fived and excitedly rehearsed their hunts. Back at the camp, they were the only hunters who’d tagged birds and were, of course, labeled as heroes. Phase One of the “Triple Trophy” completed.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving. After the traditional family dinner at Zelina’s mom’s house, he packed for the camp. At that time the camp crew consisted of Zelina’s dad, uncles, cousins and some friends. A mixed bag indeed. The hunters filtered in from Friday to Sunday. As the hunters arrived, the usual camp chores took place: cutting wood, camp repairs, sighting in, etc.
At the time, bear season took place just before the Monday opening of antlered deer season. That Saturday everyone was busy at camp. Zelina decided to go out and do a little preseason scouting and bear hunting. He set out on an old trail behind the camp. He’d been walking about 20 minutes when he heard a loud crack behind him. Startled, he looked around but saw nothing. A few more steps and, again, another loud crack behind.
Spinning around he saw an oversized black bear running right to left. When the shock of actually seeing a black bear in bear season subsided, he whipped up his trusty .308. Zelina’s a deadly running shot. Fully confident of hitting the bear he fired but to his astonishment the bear kept running. After 50 feet the bear stopped behind a large brush pile. Was he dead? Zelina took a step toward the bear’s location and in a split-second the bear leaped out on a dead run. Zelina quickly fired another shot, but the bear kept running.
Desperate, he raced to the edge of the valley, but the bear was already out of sight. Running down his tracks, Jack skirted large rocks, ducked under brush and leaped logs but never caught up to him. After an hour, the tracks crossed another set of bear tracks. Now what to do? Zelina remained on the original tracks until exhausted, he finally reached the road near Bob’s Trading Post, his legs like rubber. From there he hitched a ride back to the camp. Well, Phase 2 of the “Triple Trophy” incomplete.
Back at the camp Zelina told his sad story. His fellow hunters were in disbelief. Curious, an older hunter checked out his rifle and discovered the bolt beneath the recoil lug had broken. Everyone was delighted. Broken bolt or not Zelina had missed and, justly or not, he was teased unmercifully.
Sunday, he traveled to Kane looking for a replacement bolt. The closest match was a brass one with coarse threads. The soft brass allowed him to cross-thread the bolt into the receiver. The barrel was then duct taped to the stock and sighted in. It was the best he could do.
The first day those in charge of breakfast were up before 4 a.m. The table was soon heaped with platters of bacon, eggs, toast and pots of hot coffee. Dressing for the cold weather that awaited, Zelina decided to hunt the power line area off Route 321. Earlier scouting showed
numerous rubs, scrapes and other deer sign there.
Zelina is still a hunter. He stops often and looks carefully around before moving a few steps further on. Around noon he reached the ridge top and, despite his care, spooked two deer. The lead deer had antlers. Another running shot. Up came the repaired and taped .308, the crosshairs found the buck and he fired. The buck stumbled, then fell.
Jack ran up to his deer, marveling at the beautiful eight-point buck’s antlers. He was thrilled, this time the rifle shot true. But if the bolt hadn’t sheared, he’d have had a bear also. Well, two out of three isn’t bad, but three and the Triple trophy would have been far better.
