Hunters like Simmerman and the Weeds were part of more than 900,000 who took to the woods on the first day of the season across the state, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission

The game commission says deer license sales are up this year. About 323,000 deer were harvested by licensed hunters in 2007, down from nearly 362,000 in 2006.

In Crawford County, there was a total of 18,041 deer hunting licenses, including doe licenses, sold for this season.

Regis Senko, information/education supervisor at the Pennsylvania Game Commis-sion office in Franklin, said hunting conditions in northwest Pennsylvania were exceptional Monday.

“You had ideal conditions Monday in that you have some light snow,” said Senko. “It increased visibility of hunters and deer. It also made deer easier to track.”

A number of hunters agreed with Senko’s assessment of opening day.

“It was a lot easier this year with the snow,” said Al Wareham of Sandy Lake who got a nine-point. Wareham was hunting with his son-in-law, Eric Uber, of Stoneboro who shot an eight-point.

“It was nice this morning,” said Uber. “It made it easy.”

“The visibility was excellent,” Simmerman said. “If there hadn’t been snow, I wouldn’t have seen those four deer.”

Pennsylvania Game Commission said it had few incidents across the state on Monday.

In Crawford County, one hunter did fall out of a tree stand on Miller Hill Road at 6:55 a.m. The hunter was taken to Hamot Medical Center in Erie for treatment by Cambridge Area Volunteer Ambulance Service. No information on the hunter’s condition was released by the hospital.

In Berks County, a hunter had to be rescued in a remote wooded area in Spring Township, near the Lancaster County line, after falling 30 feet off a tree stand before dawn.

Scott E. Schweitzer, 56, of Adamstown called family members on his cell phone shortly before 6 a.m. and said he had fallen and hurt his back, police and fire officials told The Reading Eagle. Family members called 9-1-1, and emergency crews found Schweitzer about an hour later.

There was no immediate word on the extent of Schweitzer’s injuries.

In York Township, York County, an 85-year-old man was taken to York Hospital after falling while hunting deer.