THP spilled the beans on the public land challenge

[PAwildman]

They will be roller skating on acorns. They are everywhere.

[Youngcs29]

If true, so excited to see the public land challenge in my home state! Hope they come to western PA versus northeastern PA. Western PA offers so much diversity on public. TONS of hill country in SW PA, marsh land in NW PA on I-79, and big woods/mountains country in the Allegheny National Forrest. All within a 2 hour drive of PGH. PA gets a bad rap for small bucks, but there are big ones around. Cagey old monarchs that are good at sneaking around dudes like us! No doubt you boys can get on something out here!

[Youngcs29]

Nah, stay out of the mountains, no big bucks and too many rattlesnakes. My guess is they'll hunt out of the Northwest quadrant. Lotta public land, tons of habitat diversity, PAs biggest marshes/swamps even though most are nowhere near the size of Wisco's. I'm sure they'll do ok although early October here can be a tough time to pattern them if you don't have a farm buck tied to a bean field.

They killed a couple does in MI, right? No statewide doe tags here and most except the urban areas are already sold out so I guess they'll be whacking bucks only.

WMUs 2A and 2B typically don’t run out of Doe Tags all season and you can get them over the counter at any County Treasurer’s office.

[westwind]

Pennsylvania's gonna be a toughie. The beast guys have focused on water both of the last two years. Is marsh/wetland hunting viable in PA? Forgive me if this is a rookie question, I've never been out east.

I'm willing to bet dan and some others can figure out the Hills. If not maybe some of them could hurry up and Study Hill Country Bedding. Can't remember off hand where to get it, but a quick google search would probably find it .

I know Dan has experience in more than just marshes. But I think it's notable that in 2018 (Minnesota) Dan and Joe drove ~3 hours each way to hunt those oak islands in that big marsh. They passed by a lot of good hill country during that drive. Seems like when Dan is put in an unfamiliar situation, he usually thinks "water". Just didn't know if that would still be an option in PA.

I hunt a lot more than just marshes or swamps... The reason I chose water in michigan is because of habitat and pressure, the reason in MN was acorns everywhere in the hills, but isolated in the marsh... based on the timing of PA's hunt, I suspect I will be seeking out leeward ridges in the hills. The timing coincides with my favorite time to pattern hill country bucks mid / late Oct. Not real familiar with PA, but have heard they have some good hilly ground.

Absolutely, Dan, I'm not questioning your experience in a multitude of terrains. Like I said, 2 out of 2 years for the the challenge you've hunted water, and I just figured it would make good conversation whether that'd be an option or not this year. I'm excited to see you hunt in a slightly different way. You beast guys always seem to do the best out of everyone that participates in the challenge, I have little doubt that will be the case again.

[aksisu11]

Can't wait to hear more about who's all going to make the trip out there. It would be awesome to see Andy M. make the trip with them, but not sure if he is able to make it work with the craziness of COVID and the school system. It would be interesting to actually see John Eberhart make the trip too. I'm curious if he can come up with a game plan that puts him on some mature bucks. Either way I'm pumped for this, as this is my favorite thing the THP guys put out. They usually release the video crazy fast too!

[PAbowhunter10]

If true, so excited to see the public land challenge in my home state! Hope they come to western PA versus northeastern PA. Western PA offers so much diversity on public. TONS of hill country in SW PA, marsh land in NW PA on I-79, and big woods/mountains country in the Allegheny National Forrest. All within a 2 hour drive of PGH. PA gets a bad rap for small bucks, but there are big ones around. Cagey old monarchs that are good at sneaking around dudes like us! No doubt you boys can get on something out here!

I agree 100%. Lots of diversity on the western side of the state. I’m a little biased (Because the NW is my stomping ground) and tend to believe the bigger bucks are produced on the western side of the state because the mix of agriculture and diverse land features. Swamps, marshes, mature hardwoods, and hill country can all be discovered within a 2hr drive with the use of I-79. A lot of public land as well. And believe it or not, the pressure isn’t terrible during early season and pre-rut. Rifle season, which normally begins in the beginning of December, is when the orange army hits the woods. 5 out of 10 “hunters” in PA will tell you that hunting season starts in December... I still find that pretty funny.

Just a heads up to all the beast guys who will be participating in the PLC, if you do decide to hunt the western side of the state, bring your tick spray. If we have a warm fall, they will be everywhere. One of the local biologist had told me that western PA, specifically Mercer county, has the highest # of lymes disease cases in the entire country. I am friends with a biologist who works out of one of the local conservancy offices and he is directly involved with the testing and sampling of ticks in the area. He had told me last year that the most recent test showed that 4 out of every 10 sampled ticks out NW PA tested positive for carrying lymes disease.
The buck I shot last fall in late October probably had over a 100 ticks on it. When is was skinning and the carcass was cooling off, they were jumping out of the hide left and right.
The local taxidermist who mounted my buck had told me almost every deer he had seen that season were infested with ticks.

[SneakyHunter]

I'm very excited about this. I'm interested in seeing what region of the state they hunt. I would love to see the guys come hunt some of our central state forest. Regardless of where they go it'll be good content to watch. Good luck!

[Buckshot1822]

Nah, stay out of the mountains, no big bucks and too many rattlesnakes. My guess is they'll hunt out of the Northwest quadrant. Lotta public land, tons of habitat diversity, PAs biggest marshes/swamps even though most are nowhere near the size of Wisco's. I'm sure they'll do ok although early October here can be a tough time to pattern them if you don't have a farm buck tied to a bean field.

They killed a couple does in MI, right? No statewide doe tags here and most except the urban areas are already sold out so I guess they'll be whacking bucks only.

I'd bet that they end up in the ANF, huge area with some really good bucks.

[Buckshot1822]

They will be roller skating on acorns. They are everywhere.

Not here, some red oaks have acorns,but its pretty much limited to that

[mipubbucks24]

Not sure where these guys are at, but they have found some slammers on public in PA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=19TDnVFsvcM

[Buckshot1822]

Not sure where these guys are at, but they have found some slammers on public in PA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=19TDnVFsvcM

ANF, it's about 500,000 acres

[mipubbucks24]

Not sure where these guys are at, but they have found some slammers on public in PA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=19TDnVFsvcM

ANF, it's about 500,000 acres

Well I guess that much land should have some slammers on it.

[Thesouthpaw]

As much as I'm looking forward to seeing them tackle PA in mid October, I think it would be cool to see them do the challenge in PA during rifle season. That would definitely be a change of pace.

[EllieTheChubb]

This should be great! I used to go down to PA every year f
With my pops and his crew. It was before the APR so I'm sure its a different game now!