Pennsylvania Woodsman

This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman we chat with fellow Sportsmen's Empire contributor Parker McDonald from Southern Ground Hunting.  Parker is a stone cold killer that travels across the country hunting and filming his adventures.  Not only is he well versed with a stick and string or gun in hand, Parker's attention to detail for bringing the hunt to the viewer is compelling.  Parker shares with us the amount of work behind the scenes that goes into one of his videos.  Quality is a must for Parker, and he shares with us the tools he uses as well as the process to make it happen.  If you're interested in filming your hunts, Parker is the man to take some notes from!

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This week's episode we head south to chat with fellow Sportsmen's Empire Network contributor John Hudspeth from the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast.  You may be wondering how does a guy from Oklahoma relate to Pennsylvania?  First, he is a fantastic guy that anybody would want as a hunting partner, second, he is a hard working family man that can relate to balancing priorities in life of Faith, Family, and Whitetails, and third, he knows how to consistently connect on mature bucks with a few certain tactics.  

We start the episode off by diving into John's 2022-23 hunting season and the 2 dandy bucks he harvested this season.  From here the conversation transitions to how and why he chooses his access and stand locations.  John hunts his family ranch which is an operating cattle farm.  While the ranch is 1000+ acres, around 90% is grassland and pasture, leaving John with "huntable" ground comparable in size to what many may see in PA.  John also uses feeders in his strategy (legal in OK).  While many think this is "cheating," Mitch and John both attest to the difficulties of mature bucks daylighting at these locations.  The guys dive into how using this valuable tool can orient better stand placement, promote daylight movement, and allow opportunity for the best bucks in the neighborhood.  They also discuss the value of elevated tower blinds on private land, especially when hunting near food sources.

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On this week's episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch chat's with Matt Dale from Dale Outdoors.  Mitch opens by recapping his exciting week of turkey hunting and filling his second tag at the end of week one with a bow!  If you listened to last week's episode of Mitch's opening day gobbler, he talked about using the "whine" call.  He first heard this call explained on one of Matt's youtube videos.  We begin our conversation by diving into this call - what it is, how and when to use it, and its context for hunting situations.  

We continue down the rabbit hole of keeping realism in your turkey calling.  This includes using "wheel-wheel's", "do-it do-it's", gobbler yelping, and more.  We discuss the value of volume and cadence in calls, especially in everyone's favorite yelping scenario.  How does a spring turkey hunter yelp sound vs. how does a real hen yelp sound?  Last, Matt recaps a hunt for a bird he called "Quirky", which took 7 hunts until he connected by pulling out an old secret weapon.  This is dynamite turkey hunting information to keep you fired up midway through the season!

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On this week's episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch sit's down and reflects with his cousins Jacob and Joshua Mengel on the opening day of spring gobbler.  Mitch was invited to hunt at their cabin in Potter County for the opening weekend of PA's season.  We dive into our thought process of approaching the rainy opening day, splitting into the areas we wanted to explore.  For Mitch, this was solely based on e-scouting and conversing with Jake and Josh.  From here the boys recount the events from first light until noon in each area - all with exciting encounters and lessons learned.  Mitch however, hid the lucky horseshoe in his backpack and was able to find a lone mountain top gobbler before the buzzer ran out at quitting time.  What an awesome weekend, we can't wait for the next one!  Enjoy!

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Solid machined broadheads have resurfaced in popularity recently, and one company making a big impact is Vantage Point Archery.  This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch chats with Alex Christianson and Ryan Corkwell about the ins and outs of VPA broadheads.  Last year at the beginning of the season, Mitch decided to test out some single bevel broadheads.  However, he quickly learned he needed help understanding what style head, what type of metal, how to sharpen, and how to implement these heads into his bowhunting setup.  This year, he plans to do his preparation well in advance, and what better way to begin then discussing with the experts themselves.  We address all of Mitch's concerns about adopting these broadheads into his quiver and many more.  Hopefully this will help you determine if you are ready to make any changes to your set up!

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This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch sits down with Jason Miller from JMiller Custom Calls.  You're in for a good ol' fashion B.S. session swapping stories and pulling takeaways for the upcoming season.  Jason is a diehard turkey hunter who continues a streak since the 90s of filling a tag in the Keystone state.  Jason is extremely persistent, scouting constantly.  Nearly every morning leading up to opening day and throughout the season Jason is up watching and listening to what the birds are doing in his area.  Then, the plan is simple - be aggressive and get as close as possible without spooking!

With this insane passion for turkey hunting, Jason has begun cutting his own mouth calls.  What started out as a hobby to pass the time simply to fine tune the sound he likes, has now turned into selling these calls for a little more turkey hunting opportunity.  Jason discusses this journey and relates back to many of the experiences he has had since beginning this call making journey.  Jason's passion is contagious - you should be ready to chase those thunder chickens after this episode!  You can reach out to Jason for more information on his turkey calls through Instagram @jmillercustomcalls. #radixhunting #huntworth #vitalizeseed

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Hunting has a variety of emotions relating to its mixture of being both a science and an art.  Many relate their hunting passion to their career choices.  But is passion the true metric for career decision?  This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman we chat with Eric Lance from the HuntScience Podcast.  Eric is a biologist that consults with landowners privately and also is an associate biology professor.  Eric talks about how his passion for wildlife first drove his interest towards becoming a hunter - not the other way around.  Eric's career experience is a great testimony to learning the influence of our strengths and weaknesses before applying them in our own careers.

This allows us to transition into discussing the current projects Eric is working on.  Eric is well rounded in land, big game, small game, and waterfowl management.  He discusses the nesting success project he is doing with migratory birds and cites numerous examples of sound wildlife management through his own experiences.  Understanding carrying capacity, population dynamics, and the habitat requirements of a species is necessary to interpret data and make decisions.  It also is essential to understand what the most limiting factors are for a species - such as habitat loss.  Tune in to better understand how certain management practices Eric uses have a positive impact on the game species you love!

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@radixhunting #radixhunting
www.radixhunting.com

@huntworth #huntworth
www.huntworthgear.com

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Good Friday and Easter weekend is a time to slow down and celebrate.  It's easy to be caught up in the chaos of everyday life and be consumed by personal goals.  This is especially true for us as bowhunters and outdoorsmen and women who desire to take our pursuits to the next level.  On this week's episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, we have a conversation with Merle Fredericks from Christian Bowhunters of America and discuss things in a bigger picture.  Merle digs into the details revolving around the question, "what does Good Friday mean to you?"

Merle's life has been comparable to most - a husband and a father working as a police officer in New York, and a love for bowhunting.  His passion for chasing whitetails with a stick and string is no different than anyone else.  But Merle sheds light on truth greater than this pursuit, and shares witness to us beyond the world of hunting.  Be open minded as you listen to Merle's message as a leader of Christian Bowhunters of America.  Happy Easter!

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www.radixhunting.com

@radixhunting #radixhunting

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This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman we are proud to announce a new partnership with Radix Hunting!  Our guest is none other than the founder and owner of Radix, Clifford Martin.  Clifford is originally from Southeastern Pennsylvania, but has been blessed with the opportunity to move to Iowa and live out his dream.  In the time he has spent hunting the midwest, he has been able to hone in and consistently connect with big mature whitetails.  During that time, he has learned how to fine tune his approach and mindset when pursuing top caliber bucks.  Even with all his success, you still won't find a more humble individual who continually says he is a student of the whitetail, learning almost daily.  

We gain some background knowledge of Clifford and harass him a little on how he convinced his wife to move to the whitetail capital of the world!  Then we transition into his stewardship of the whitetail, learning their behavior and some of the consistencies he gravitates towards.  We address the question, "what does it look like to be an aggressive hunter?" and how his patience has improved throughout his hunting career.  Last, we dive into his most valued tool - trail cameras.  Clifford mentions multiple times that he feels "cameras don't lie" and his need for quality video to collect as much information as possible.  Quality was a driving factor in producing Radix trail cameras, check them out for yourself! 

@radixhunting #radixhunting

https://www.radixhunting.com/

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On this week's episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch was privileged to speak with Dr. Grant Woods from Growing Deer TV.  If you've followed along with Dr. Woods for any length of time, you know how dedicated he has been to producing educational content through his channel.  With over 700 episodes of Growing Deer TV, the trials and research conducted at his farm "The Proving Grounds" are well documented.  Within this content is a journey of striving to provide high quality food plots through building healthy soil.

Food plot content has been taken to a crazy level in the media.  More people have dabbled in food plots than not, and there are more "professionals" now than ever before.  Like deer hunting, food plots can have an ego associated with the time, money, and blends growers put out.  Regardless of differing food plot blend preferences, we can all agree that good food plots start with good soil.  Dr. Woods shares with us how he has developed his food plot system to promote quality soil and highly efficient nutrient exchange.  We navigate the journey to the current day, and practices such as no-till and the learning curves associated with this management.  Dr. Woods addresses much of the confusion about the seed blends he uses and how each blend has a very specific purpose.  You'll learn how this system is allowing him to feed more wildlife with fewer input costs than ever before!

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