Jeff Gowen has been going out to hunt with his father every year since he was 12.

Gowan (senior-landscape contracting) and his father always get up early on the first day of hunting season, eat breakfast at a local truck stop and head into the woods for the day.

He began the week hunting in his hometown of Ebensburg on Monday and said he intends to go hunting for antlered deer in Centre County during the rest of the season, which ends Dec. 11.

Gowan, a member of Tau Phi Delta fraternity, 427 E. Fairmount Ave., said the fraternity holds deer drives every year, where members of the fraternity go into the woods and force the deer toward a certain area so hunters can get additional shots.

He added that he expects about 20 members of the fraternity to go out this Saturday for the hunt.

"The one year, we got three deer out of it," he said. "It was a blast."

Despite the beginning of deer season, local police forces have not received a large volume of calls concerning hunters.

Ferguson Township Police Chief Diane Conrad said the department had not received any unusual calls so far this year and hopes the trend will continue.

"Typically, I think most departments with hunting areas get calls for heart attacks," she said. "Occasionally, someone gets shot."

Conrad added that they also sometimes receive calls about hunters hunting too close to residences, and they deal with those situations in conjunction with the game commission.

The police departments for both Patton Township and State College said they have not received any unusual complaints regarding hunting.

Jerry Feaser, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said the Harrisburg office has not received a large volume of complaints this year, either.

"Nothing has happened out of the ordinary," he said.

Feaser added that as of yesterday, eight shooting injuries had occurred since Monday. Three were self-inflicted wounds. Sloppy gun handling was responsible for the other injuries, he said.

Feaser said shootings occurred in Clearfield, Washington, Warren, York, Armstrong, Lawrence, Juniata and McKean counties.

He said all hunters are required to wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange covering over the head, back and chest.