Pennsylvania public land challenge!

[hunting_dad]

Awesome job again to everyone involved in this challenge. The amount of work that goes into this is way more than we see I’m sure, and is obviously LOVED by everyone! The way that each one of you were able to approach your own way and get on deer that quickly is amazing in itself. Congrats to everyone and thank you!

[1STRANGEWILDERNESS]

Fun to watch. There are some nice deer in PA.( they must’ve got on at least 3 Maybe 4 big ones?

When they were talking about northeast deer being short tined etc I’m like crap man those are magnums here in north MI too. Plenty happy with bucks like that though. I can’t imagine someone not being happy with em.

[UncleBuck3268]

Since the day everybody left I was looking for videos to watch! Lol... I know it wasn’t realistic to see a video on day one but I always really look forward to this challenge.

It’s awesome to watch how these guys can get on deer in a place that they have never been before. One heck of a knowledge bank between The Beasts and THP!!

Wish Dan would have ended up with that wide 10! I was really pulling for Dan this year on the challenge, although seeing anybody successful is truly an amazing feat.

[Net Guy]

What a great series everyone! Very informative and exciting to follow along. Looking forward to next year's challenge already!

[MNarrow]

I loved Joe's excitement after that really good encounter with Dan

[Tennhunter3]

That buck at the end of the challenge was a great buck. Would've been awesome for Dan to have gotten him.

Zachs buck having no brow tines was odd never seen a mature buck without brow tines. Amazing how good Zach is at hunting from the ground.


Congrats Joe on the buck nice to see the beast do well in the challenge.

If we get another public land challenge how about Kentucky or Arkansas? Every challenge has been up North.

[backstraps]

Thanks to all the crews involved in making this happen

Since this public land challenge began, I have looked forward to each episode

Great job guys and thanks again for putting it all together

[ArkieArcher]

Please come to Arkansas. I’d like to see how you pick different areas apart

[palmashooter]

I've never enjoyed a series of videos more than those just posted documenting the 2020 "Challenge". Thank you to all involved.

[DaveT1963]

I was just thinking about the differences in geographical areas and the effectiveness of calling. Zach and the THP boys tend to use calls a lot and I'm wondering if the PA guys on here have much success with calls typically in their area? In the Day 4 video Zach calls to a buck they had seen and the buck didn't come back. It seems like in the vidoes out west they seem to have more success with it. Or its just a matter of timing.

I was always told calling, especially buguling for elk wont work on public, and yet I consistently called in bulls in NM, Co and MT. A lot of the time its technique and belief. Some of the grunts I hear people make on TV and YouTube makes me wonder if they ever heard a real grunt.... same with snort wheezing.

[sureshotscott]

Very fun to watch, thanks to everyone for making it happen.

YOU GUYS PUT IN MORE WORK MAKING THESE VIDEOS IN A WEEK THAN 99% OF HOLLYWOOD PUT IN ALL YEAR!!!

[NorthStar]

I really enjoyed seeing the aggressive ground game! All the grunts, snort wheezing, and noise making! I never really got into these tactics but plan on trying a little bit of what I saw in this series in the field this week!

[Jmitch]

As always the PLC was awesome. I'm not sure if maybe covid had an affect or what but I enjoyed seeing how the different groups interacted and there was more of that in the past series I thought. I really enjoyed seeing the THP guys filming Joe and Dan last year and was a little bummed that wasnt how this year was setup but i totally understand why it couldn't really happen with everything going on right now. Guess what I'm trying to say is the PLC was awesome and I want more THP and beast collaboration in the future! Seriously needs to be a THP and beast collaboration in a big buck area during "prime" time in the future

[A5BLASTER]

Agreed great vids.

Now let's see yall come down a dissect some pine thickets in the south. That would be some great vids to watch.

[headgear]

I really enjoyed seeing the aggressive ground game! All the grunts, snort wheezing, and noise making! I never really got into these tactics but plan on trying a little bit of what I saw in this series in the field this week!

I've had some luck stalking bedding areas and calling, making noise, and pulling some bucks into bow range. I don't get all of them but I have had enough success to that I use it a lot but not a lot at the same time, if you know what I mean. Some nights I commit to calling, others I try and be silent and see what happens. Arrowbender has also called in a ton of nice bucks and has some good posts about it. Personally I think the biggest problem with calling is the deer not hearing you or there being no buck there to hear you because I seem to get pretty solid action but then again I don't know if I am tipping a buck off either because they would be gone. I think location, pressure and setup also plays a big role and sometimes those are things you just need to play around with and see what works.

Sometimes it is 5 or 10 minutes to closing and I haven't seen or heard a thing all night and I toss a few desperation grunts out there. I have pulled in several bucks that might not have come my way otherwise. It also tips me off on where they might be bedding, I was setup on an overlooked spot next to the road one time doing a little calling. I pulled in a good sized buck that kept his distanced, too dark to see but good sized body. Well of course like any beast I go and explore where he came from and he has two spots not far from the road for different winds, so it can help you fine tune your setups a little better as long as you use the intel you learn to your advantage.

Sometimes I throw out a couple of direction of travel grunts, so I'm setup on a bedding area and a little buck comes out and moves on. I throw a couple grunts out early hoping a larger buck in the bedding area hears it and comes my way to investigate. I sometimes do this with no little buck too just so they think something is up close by and head my way. Sometimes the bedding areas are large and you can only cover one little spot, if he is bedding 200 away instead of the 100 I am hoping for those couple of grunts might be enough to get him in range. I don't know how much it doesn't work but under the right circumstances it just plain works.