While Penn State students settled back into their homes in Happy Valley last night, some of the members of the Tau Phi Delta fraternity, 427 E. Fairmount Ave., cleaned their guns and readied their hunting gear.

Buck and doe hunting season officially begins today, and some Penn State students with a taste for the outdoors will join hunters across the state to take aim at an ample deer population.

"There will literally be ... a million people out there tomorrow," Kyle Russell (senior-wildlife and fisheries science), a fraternity brother, said.

Russell said he has his own gun and a license to shoot a "legal buck," or a male deer with at least three points on each antler. He and other fraternity members are eager to start the season, which begins just after bear season ends, he said.

Scott Lyon, Tau Phi Delta president, said about 25 of the outdoor-interest fraternity's 30 members will be keeping up tradition and heading out to hunt today, though many of them will hunt in their hometowns.

For the next two weeks, local hunters will frequent various locations in Centre County, including property of local farmers who have given permission, Penn State property and state forest grounds, Lyon said.

The overpopulation of deer is a cause for concern for members of the Humane Society of Penn State -- a concern that helps some tolerate the hunting season.

"There is an overpopulation, especially of deer," said Jessica Verpeut (sophomore-psychology), a member of the Humane Society of Penn State. "We should have predators to hunt them, but since we don't, hunting is mandatory."

Another member of the Penn State Humane Society, Steven Jasinski (senior-geosciences) said he disapproved of sport hunting, which can waste the game.

"As long as the people that are killing them are using them for food, I can understand," he said. "Animals are living things too, there's no reason just to kill them."

Lots of open space and a large deer population make this two-week hunter's holiday quite an experience in Centre County, Matt Keenan (graduate-wildlife and fisheries science) said.

Keenan, who worked on a deer-tracking project funded by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Penn State, said he hunted in the State College area for the

first time last year after moving to State College from Massachusetts.

"I've never seen anything like it anywhere else," he said. "When you're out there opening morning, it's like an artillery range ... there's like 50 or 60 rounds going off all around you."

Keenan said hunting here has been unique from his other hunting experiences because of the sheer numbers of game available.

"There's a lot more deer here in Pennsylvania than I've seen elsewhere," he said. "[Local hunters] go out and sit where they always sit and wait for deer to run by, and they shoot them."

In January or February, the fraternity will put their bounty to good use when the members share a game dinner with the Penn State Wildlife Club, Lyon said.

Josh Haladay (junior-civil engineering) said the fraternity's previous years' bear season catches have provided decent meals as well.

"Our cook makes a really good stew," he said. "It tastes just like beef."