Challenging Whitetail Hunting on Public Land in Pennsylvania: My Quest on 26,000 Acres

Now you’re hunting! It’s just you, your weapon, and your brain against the ghosts that circumstances have to be either real nasty weather or perfect for them to come out. Try a day that’s raining real hard and on the peaks. Most mountain hunters are foot of the mountain hunters. You have to have a deep emotional passion for the mountains to hunt them.

Scan satellite map and let your gut guide you to which mountain to go. Your gut will pick the one and tell your eye to stop. Don’t keep pushing past it. There’s a reason why your gut picked that particular mountain.

From my experience the ghost will bed at the very top or near it and at a spot where his back is covered and he can watch from almost any direction for other deer or threats. Take the hunting trails to avoid putting more scent than necessary down. When I say keep your eye sharp and peeled, I mean sharp and peeled. You can walk right past rubs and not see them if you’re moving quickly. Ignore the scrapes out in the open. They are misleading and put out where he can watch them from above. If you notice he keeps hitting a certain tree, that’s your starting point to find his core rubs and scrape.

And be sure to go as slow as molasses in the winter time when looking for his core area rubs and scrapes. You can miss them easily. When hunting the ghost, that’s the brain scratcher. Scout his area hard before season. You will find things that help to eliminate what will work and what won’t work. Be prepared to find surprises and pay careful attention to both heavily trafficked areas nearby, where food sources are, and where his water is. Most likely he’ll have more than one water source. Listen to your gut to which side of the mountain to go up, and where exactly to go to. You may like a particular side, but there can be places that open up and he see you as you’re coming up.

Been mountain hunting three years now and these are part of the lessons I’ve learned so far. There are more to come. Way more to come. Will add while hunting him, don’t go up there the day before rain or the day after-wind will do a constant 360 and e wet animal on the mountain will smell you. Go on the day of rain, two days before, or two days after. But watch to see if another storm front is coming. It’s easy to get excited when it’s raining and you’re trailing him. When you’re hunting anytime, but especially in a storm, going slow like you’ve never gone before and have your gun shouldered and ready to raise. He was thirty feet from me and I had no clue he was there until there was a snort and hooves pounding the ground.

I meant every animal on the mountain will smell you.

I think one of the smaller wmas near me is around 20, 000 acres, you are talking my bread and butter. I've killed piles of ol mountain bucks over the years. You may go 2 or 3 weeks without seeing even a single deer, but it's what I was raised on and didn't know any better. Nowadays I enjoy spiking in blind just from reading topo maps and have fairly consistent success. I don't get any thrill from shooting a deer in a cornfield or foodplot. I like to know I outsmarted something rather than just shoot them out of a feed pile. That topo map will tell you dang near everything you need to know. Especially when it comes to the rut and pressure. I thoroughly enjoy anticipating what other hunters are going to do and capitalizing on the deer they bump out. Definitely pays to sit past noon as there is often a big shuffle as folks give up and leave around lunch. On the big opening days when the orange army emerges, I sit all day to capitalize on the folks bumping deer all day. Feel free to send a screenshot of a general areas topo and I'll show you some examples of what I look for. Best of luck!

@Appalachian Amen! And you’ll hear shots around you at the bottom of the mountain while you’re waiting for the ghost to come out.

You might even find a spot where big bears hang out near a park. A friend of mine bear hunts every year and big bears do this very thing and if they see/hear/smell you, they run to the park side to hide

Best of luck! Can’t wait to see how the hunt pans out!