CHESTNUTHILL TOWNSHIP -- The first day of rifle deer season is considered a state holiday among hunters.
The owner of one deer processing business in the Poconos says the amount of deer that came into his shop Monday is the most he's ever seen.
He said Hurricane Sandy may have something to do with it.
"We probably have 25 today already. That's really good for this early in the morning. Usually by now we have eight or ten," said Louis Hervurth, the owner of Wacky Worm.
Hunter after hunter came by his store, bringing in their harvest to get processed. Each hunter shared a different story of success.
"Early on, the three of them stood by for about a half hour, when it got light enough to see them, they started to move away. Eventually one of them turned and came back, that was a quarter after eight. One shot, that was it," said John Bingman of Saylorsburg.
"I went in anticipating not seeing anything today and that came by," said Arthur Youmans of Albrightsville.
The owner of Wacky Worm says he's processing more deer on the first day of rifle season this year than last year. He says that's thanks to Hurricane Sandy.
That's because Hurricane Sandy blew through during archery deer season, preventing hunters from going out for various reasons.
One reason was the major power outages in the area.
"When you lose power, you don't want to go out hunting, harvest an animal, and not have a place to go with it," said Hervurth.
Along with no freezers to the store the deer meat, this hunter says Hurricane Sandy made it tougher to hunt.
"I didn't get the time into the woods that we needed because of the hurricane. The weather was very wet. A lot of rain days," said Youmans.
But Youmans isn't upset with Sandy, rather thankful she paid a visit.
It meant more deer for hunters who use rifles and for the first time in his life, he finally bagged a trophy buck.
"I felt in my knees when I actually laid hands on it. I've been hunting now for 30 years and this is my biggest year ever," said Youmans.
Rifle deer season continues for two weeks.