My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
- flinginairos
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My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Living in north central WV, PA isn't too far of a drive for me so the past few years I have been scouting some game lands up there and have found a few good spots that I felt like could hold some bucks. Problem was, I never could find time to hunt it! Last year I hunted it some during late season and saw lots of deer, but no legal bucks. This season I tagged out fast the first day of rifle in WV and with no other trips planned I figured I would spend a few days in PA and see what I could come up with. I had remembered a spot that was deep I had looked at three years ago and after looking at it on the map I had a hunch that there would be some deer pushed back in there after the first week of rifle season. It's basically a STEEP creek drainage with three ridge points that dump into it and its 1.25 miles from the truck with no public access any other way. I got to the parking lot at daylight Monday December 6th, an nobody else was in the parking lot. My plan was to still hunt super slow and work my way back into the spot I had picked out and sit for the evening. I had my backpack and small backpacking stove with a freeze dried meal and a thermos of coffee so no reason to leave the woods
I saw no deer at all as I slowly made my way back to the drainage so I had my lunch and quietly setup in my saddle two sticks high, just high enough so the the entire ridge point was in view and both sides of the drainage. I figured if a buck was bedded on either point he may work his way up the point I was on to head to a distant field to feed after dark. At 4pm I caught movement at the end of the point and see antler so I grabbed my gun and got ready. He was a shooter no doubt, a beautiful ten pointer BUT his whole right side was busted off! My plan worked perfectly, but I couldn't bring myself to shoot him. I considered the hunt a total success even tho I didn't pull the trigger.
Fast forward to Thursday, the 9th. After my previous encounter I started looking over maps trying to find something similar. Hard to access, steep, thick, isolated ridge points with no other public access other than a far walk. I found two spots that met my criteria and honestly it was hard to pick which one. We had a south wind and my first spot setup better for it so that was my #1 spot for the day. The thing that intrigued me about this spot was the public that touched the road was very narrow (50 yards) and there was no parking lot. I figured that may deter some guys and then add in that you have to climb roughly 400' of elevation in 300 yards and I thought there may be a chance nobody has been in this spot. I was able to get my truck off the road and I started following a heavy used deer trail through some thick stuff toward the side of the ridge where I would begin my ascent. The trail was beat to mud and there were ZERO boot tracks. Score. I made my way up the ridge through a nice stand of white oaks loaded with sign from October. Tons of good rubs. I figure the acorns hit and was drawing deer down the ridge earlier in the season but I knew they weren't going to be there this late in the game so up I went. I had a spot marked that looked to be a thick saddle between two ridge points coming off the main ridge and when I finally got to the top, the cover completely changed from mixed oak hardwoods to thick nasty brush and maple and poplar. Clearly the top had been logged a good while ago. I slowly followed the transition line toward the saddle looking for sign and just as I got to the far side of the saddle I found a fairly fresh rub and a scrape that had been worked in the past few days. The transition line I was following was thick but got even thicker on the knob overlooking the saddle. I figured with the thick cover and sign right on the edge of it I should probably just setup and see what comes through. I dropped off the backside of the saddle roughly 60 yards and got one stick high with my saddle and waited. It wasn't long when I spotted a spike come out of that thick stuff and start rubbing a tree not 40 yards from the fresh scrape i had found. I'm thinking "this is good, he may have a buddy bedded close by!" so I kept watch in the same area for the next several minutes. It wasn't long and I thought I could hear a deer walking but couldn't pin point it. I looked behind me just scanning and when I turned back around a deer was standing on the edge of cover right where the spike had come out. I couldn't see its head but I grabbed my gun, clicked the safety off and held on the opening right in front of him. The cover was so thick I knew I would have a few seconds to get a shot off. His head came into view and I saw a tall rack with four on one side and as soon as his shoulder cleared the tree he was behind the gun just seemed to go off on its own! He mule kicked and went crashing over the saddle and five seconds later silence. My first PA public land buck was down It's hard to describe how cool it is to pick a brand new spot on the map, make a plan, and put good buck on the ground the first time in. Hard to beat!
I saw no deer at all as I slowly made my way back to the drainage so I had my lunch and quietly setup in my saddle two sticks high, just high enough so the the entire ridge point was in view and both sides of the drainage. I figured if a buck was bedded on either point he may work his way up the point I was on to head to a distant field to feed after dark. At 4pm I caught movement at the end of the point and see antler so I grabbed my gun and got ready. He was a shooter no doubt, a beautiful ten pointer BUT his whole right side was busted off! My plan worked perfectly, but I couldn't bring myself to shoot him. I considered the hunt a total success even tho I didn't pull the trigger.
Fast forward to Thursday, the 9th. After my previous encounter I started looking over maps trying to find something similar. Hard to access, steep, thick, isolated ridge points with no other public access other than a far walk. I found two spots that met my criteria and honestly it was hard to pick which one. We had a south wind and my first spot setup better for it so that was my #1 spot for the day. The thing that intrigued me about this spot was the public that touched the road was very narrow (50 yards) and there was no parking lot. I figured that may deter some guys and then add in that you have to climb roughly 400' of elevation in 300 yards and I thought there may be a chance nobody has been in this spot. I was able to get my truck off the road and I started following a heavy used deer trail through some thick stuff toward the side of the ridge where I would begin my ascent. The trail was beat to mud and there were ZERO boot tracks. Score. I made my way up the ridge through a nice stand of white oaks loaded with sign from October. Tons of good rubs. I figure the acorns hit and was drawing deer down the ridge earlier in the season but I knew they weren't going to be there this late in the game so up I went. I had a spot marked that looked to be a thick saddle between two ridge points coming off the main ridge and when I finally got to the top, the cover completely changed from mixed oak hardwoods to thick nasty brush and maple and poplar. Clearly the top had been logged a good while ago. I slowly followed the transition line toward the saddle looking for sign and just as I got to the far side of the saddle I found a fairly fresh rub and a scrape that had been worked in the past few days. The transition line I was following was thick but got even thicker on the knob overlooking the saddle. I figured with the thick cover and sign right on the edge of it I should probably just setup and see what comes through. I dropped off the backside of the saddle roughly 60 yards and got one stick high with my saddle and waited. It wasn't long when I spotted a spike come out of that thick stuff and start rubbing a tree not 40 yards from the fresh scrape i had found. I'm thinking "this is good, he may have a buddy bedded close by!" so I kept watch in the same area for the next several minutes. It wasn't long and I thought I could hear a deer walking but couldn't pin point it. I looked behind me just scanning and when I turned back around a deer was standing on the edge of cover right where the spike had come out. I couldn't see its head but I grabbed my gun, clicked the safety off and held on the opening right in front of him. The cover was so thick I knew I would have a few seconds to get a shot off. His head came into view and I saw a tall rack with four on one side and as soon as his shoulder cleared the tree he was behind the gun just seemed to go off on its own! He mule kicked and went crashing over the saddle and five seconds later silence. My first PA public land buck was down It's hard to describe how cool it is to pick a brand new spot on the map, make a plan, and put good buck on the ground the first time in. Hard to beat!
- Eddiegomes83
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congrats .... it is awesome when it all comes together.
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- Edcyclopedia
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Bucktacular!
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congrats again!!
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
- Bonecrusher101
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Outstanding, you’ve got the lucky horseshoe this year, no doubt!!!
Be original and Enjoy every step along the adventure.
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congrats
You've had one heck of a season.
You've had one heck of a season.
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congratulations
- Swamp Beast
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congratulations! Good work!
- PK_
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
That’s awesome man congrats. Surprised you passed on that snub nosed broken rack buck.
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Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
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- AttackMode
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
That's a solid public mtn buck, congrats!
I just kill mtn bucks
- DaveT1963
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congrats Ninja! You've had an awesome season that was due to a lot of hard work. Good on ya.
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- OH nontypical
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Live that scope pic….
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Well done! Congrats!
- Ryan549
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- backstraps
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Re: My First Pennsylvania Public Land Buck!
Congrats!! Awesome season you’re having
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