THP PUBLIC HUNTING CHALLENGE PA

[CharlieTN]

I always enjoy the THP program and have learned a ton from them.

In reference to Zach’s most recent buck in PA, my first thought was regarding the extremely dark conditions. I recently had an opportunity to shoot after dark with just a light on the target. My shots were consistently 2” to the right at 20 yards with a tight group otherwise. The problem was that I couldn’t see the rear peep and was using just my hand position to try to line up my sights. I wouldn’t be surprised for that to have played into Zach’s shot being off horizontally in those conditions. Glad it worked out and he was able to recover the deer.

 

[kenn1320]

I don't think confidence is a good measure for releasing an arrow, I think confidence should be measured before releasing an arrow.

I hunt for what I think are high percentage scenarios. It's my willingness that holds me back when the odds, imo, favor a poor or unpredictable outcome...like I would choose not to discharge a firearm at a deer if there isn't a certain backstop, even though I know I could make the kill. No one forces you to shoot but you, and you take on the responsibility for whatever outcome occurs. Personally, wounding deer bothers me.

Not everyone agrees on what, where, and how to shoot a deer. When it comes to these discussions, bravado is as disagreeable as so called virtue measuring, with perhaps more devastating effects. Not that you're chest thumping at all, you're making good observations about how ground hunting can be and the risk incurred and the success that can be had. I'm just reacting to the specific use of the word confidence as a measure for taking a shot. I think we can respect folks who make conservative shot choices out of regard for the quarry too, without any implied weakness.

More on topic, it is true that this style of hunting can be risky, and rewarding.

We've seen this year (from the ground, THP whitetail deer season):

1. Zach shoot a beautiful buck after an amazing stalk, by plowing his arrow through understory.

2. Jake not recover a deer shot from the ground through some grass with a near broadside angle at close range.

3. Aaron take a short-range, near broadside shot from the ground with little obstruction, yet his arrow hits a small branch and he says it almost cost him a massive buck.

4. And we've seen Zach's situation in PA.

Final tally, one not recovered, two close calls, and, ironically, the best hit is made by a hunter who admits he can't see the deers vitals.

It's interesting that Aaron, at 35:45 of his buck video, talks about making sure there isn't anything between you and the deer especially when on the ground, as a lesson he's learned. In contrast, you have Zach in ND preaching about plowing an arrow through the grass if necessary and admitting he couldn't see the vitals on his buck but shot anyway because it's only 12 yds.

Don't forget Zack shot an elk head on and it went 300yds. You could tell they were getting worried during the track job. Its not a high percentage shot, and worse for us in a tree.

 

[Plebe]

The baseball reference is conceptually to get it through into the ribcage without hitting any ribs. The gap where all the "stuff" goes through up into the neck is about baseball - softball size. It's approx volleyball size on an elk. That's the goal of the frontal, to thread that hole, thus the obvious reference. All the "stuff" in that passage including the jugular/carotid = very rapid death.

You can definitely have highly effective fatal shots without threading the gap, but the steep angle of a true frontal hitting the anterior ribcage or the sternum presents a high risk of deflection away from the vitals.

Zach's autopsy is tough to armchair QB with the footage I saw but my guess is he missed the gap but still punched through ribs, but only got one lung and back into the liver/guts.

To your point:

Bowhunting Tips: When to Take a Frontal Shot

If you talk to me about bowhunting for more then 15 minutes, you'll find that I am an advocate of the frontal shot (taking a shot when an animal is facing you, not standing broadside). I know this is a controversial subject, but hear me out. I'm and advocate of this shot for two reasons: 1) I...

www.outdoorlife.com

 

[Patriot]

Lots of talk about the Zach shot. That was a good shot with lots of blood. 1.5 inches to the right and he would have watched it crash.

Zach is just an incredible hunter. A couple guys early in this thread busted out the “they put their pants on just like us” type of comments when I said I would kill to be in camp to learner from guys like Zach and that just makes me laugh. I don’t put my pants on like Zach and I doubt most of y’all do too. Let’s just respect that hippy hunting wizard for what he is!

This guy walked us through his entire strategy and thought process for days and he NAILED every single element of his strategy and he shared his thoughts out loud right their on film.

And it culminated with an incredibly aggressive tactic that lead to a beast of an animal at 3 yards! And his aggressive tactics weren’t desperate, they were CALCULATED. He knew exactly what he was doing.

if we all put our pants on just like that could more of y’all please get it on film and explain your 100% accurate strategy that results in a beast? Because I don’t put my pants on like that and I would love to learn from all of you wizards who do.

 

[Patriot]

And random Brett Joy appearance at the end of day 4 for the track job of Zach’s beast?!!!

NH hunters what’s up with that? Is Brett Joy joining THP, collaborating, helping them film?

I love Brett’s content on Realtree365.

 

[MattMan81]

Those guys have there own channel. Just Hunt club. They talked about it some on Zach's pod cast. Good stuff for you NE. Guys. Not a lot of info for Southern Mi. But still a good listen.

 

[raisins]

Lots of talk about the Zach shot. That was a good shot with lots of blood. 1.5 inches to the right and he would have watched it crash.

Zach is just an incredible hunter. A couple guys early in this thread busted out the “they put their pants on just like us” type of comments when I said I would kill to be in camp to learner from guys like Zach and that just makes me laugh. I don’t put my pants on like Zach and I doubt most of y’all do too. Let’s just respect that hippy hunting wizard for what he is!

This guy walked us through his entire strategy and thought process for days and he NAILED every single element of his strategy and he shared his thoughts out loud right their on film.

And it culminated with an incredibly aggressive tactic that lead to a beast of an animal at 3 yards! And his aggressive tactics weren’t desperate, they were CALCULATED. He knew exactly what he was doing.

if we all put our pants on just like that could more of y’all please get it on film and explain your 100% accurate strategy that results in a beast? Because I don’t put my pants on like that and I would love to learn from all of you wizards who do.

Zach is obviously highly intelligent. That guy would excel at anything he put his mind to.

 

[Plebe]

Lots of talk about the Zach shot. That was a good shot with lots of blood. 1.5 inches to the right and he would have watched it crash.

Zach is just an incredible hunter. A couple guys early in this thread busted out the “they put their pants on just like us” type of comments when I said I would kill to be in camp to learner from guys like Zach and that just makes me laugh. I don’t put my pants on like Zach and I doubt most of y’all do too. Let’s just respect that hippy hunting wizard for what he is!

This guy walked us through his entire strategy and thought process for days and he NAILED every single element of his strategy and he shared his thoughts out loud right their on film.

And it culminated with an incredibly aggressive tactic that lead to a beast of an animal at 3 yards! And his aggressive tactics weren’t desperate, they were CALCULATED. He knew exactly what he was doing.

if we all put our pants on just like that could more of y’all please get it on film and explain your 100% accurate strategy that results in a beast? Because I don’t put my pants on like that and I would love to learn from all of you wizards who do.

I think he puts his pants on with a zip tie. Him or one of the others. I don't do it that way.

No matter how good or successful or unsuccessful a hunter is, if they put their pants on with a zip tie we can learn from them. Collective experience = resource for intelligent hunting.

Zach is a very knowledgeable hunter, I don't think anyone is doubting that. But, I think there are many fine hunters who develop a plan and have success following it, as well. Not all hunters video their hunts, nor want to.

I know that Zach's plans don't always come to fruition nor do they always pan out for other guys every time as well.

What is most unique about Zach is his focus on ground archery tactics for ambush and stalk whitetail hunting, and his celebrity personality. There are aggressive tactics others use that don't involve low crawling through the grass you just peed in or nearly pushing your team to heat stroke. But he does seem to always do things that I wouldn't so I think I could learn a lot from hearing about his experiences and trying to understand his stratagies more.

I have a video from years ago of hunters doing archery deer drives and stalking in corn fields. Not something I'm ever doing, but learned a great deal.

I'm not a great hunter in any certain terms and don't have bucks as big as many take most years. I'm pretty pleased with my successes nonetheless.

I happened to hunt PA archery last year on public, developed a strategy, followed it, and had two legal bucks in front of me within 10minutes. Neither was a dink, but neither was what Dan saw at the end either. Probably just luck though.

 

[Dewey]

All I can say is great hunts from a bunch of great hunters. That series as usually was truly enjoyable to watch. You won’t find more real stuff out there than what they provide. No sugar coating or pimping products for half the show just real down to earth hunting showing the ups and downs along with many out of the box tactics that we all can learn from. Great stuff.

 

[ImThere]

Yep we all put out pants on the same way. Any talk of anything else is ludicrous.
I may not be the hunter others are but they probably cannot program a RSlogix 5000 either? Lol
I don’t even know why we talk about guys the way we do? Jealousy? These guys are out doing what we all wish we could for a living. Right? I would love to support my family hunting and fishing. But that’s not in the cards for me.

I’m proud for them and appreciate them sharing their adventures with us.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hokiehunter373]

I always enjoy the THP program and have learned a ton from them.

In reference to Zach’s most recent buck in PA, my first thought was regarding the extremely dark conditions. I recently had an opportunity to shoot after dark with just a light on the target. My shots were consistently 2” to the right at 20 yards with a tight group otherwise. The problem was that I couldn’t see the rear peep and was using just my hand position to try to line up my sights. I wouldn’t be surprised for that to have played into Zach’s shot being off horizontally in those conditions. Glad it worked out and he was able to recover the deer.

It looks darker through the camera than it is in person. Hunting channels always talk about being out of "camera light" for a reason.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Collective experience = resource for intelligent hunting

I think this is an underrated aspect of their success.

Let me start by saying I am not taking anything away from the THP guys or the rest of the guys in the PLC. They are all really good hunters. What helps the THP guys all season and the entire group during this challenge is the fact that they have multiple good hunters going out everyday, scouting different areas for different reasons, doing different things, reporting back to the group their findings and then individual guys formulating game plans based on the collective knowledge. Five guys scouting for 3 days and sharing information is the equivalent of one guy doing 15 days worth of in season scouting and you could argue it's even better because you get 15 days worth of information in 3 days, before patterns change.

I see something similar every year when my extended family goes on vacation. We have 8 guys in four different boats going out every morning trying to get on schools of Stripers. We report back everyday and are able to get on fish way quicker then I am when I go down on my own. I think the same thing applies to hunting.

Like, I said to start. I'm not taking anything away from these guys. I genuinely enjoy their shows and this challenge specifically, especially when it is in terrain similar to what I hunt. I always learn something new and take away something that I think will make me a better hunter. But, you put that many good hunters in the same camp with the singular goal of tracking down and killing a big buck, they are going to get it done way more often the one guy by himself.

 

[JPS]

With the amount of pressure the deer in PA get, it should be interesting for sure. I can’t wait for the hunting challenge, I always learn a lot as the different people involved have different methods for getting on the same kind of deer I hunt, pressure cooked public land whitetails.

They did the challenge in MI Public land last year. And this year in PA. Talk about pressured whitetail.

 

[Weldabeast]

I think he puts his pants on with a zip tie. Him or one of the others. I don't do it that way.

No matter how good or successful or unsuccessful a hunter is, if they put their pants on with a zip tie we can learn from them. Collective experience = resource for intelligent hunting.

Zach is a very knowledgeable hunter, I don't think anyone is doubting that. But, I think there are many fine hunters who develop a plan and have success following it, as well. Not all hunters video their hunts, nor want to.

I know that Zach's plans don't always come to fruition nor do they always pan out for other guys every time as well.

What is most unique about Zach is his focus on ground archery tactics for ambush and stalk whitetail hunting, and his celebrity personality. There are aggressive tactics others use that don't involve low crawling through the grass you just peed in or nearly pushing your team to heat stroke. But he does seem to always do things that I wouldn't so I think I could learn a lot from hearing about his experiences and trying to understand his stratagies more.

I have a video from years ago of hunters doing archery deer drives and stalking in corn fields. Not something I'm ever doing, but learned a great deal.

I'm not a great hunter in any certain terms and don't have bucks as big as many take most years. I'm pretty pleased with my successes nonetheless.

I happened to hunt PA archery last year on public, developed a strategy, followed it, and had two legal bucks in front of me within 10minutes. Neither was a dink, but neither was what Dan saw at the end either. Probably just luck though.

Now if we can find the guy who puts his pants on with amsteel we will have found the mobile hunt god

 

[kenn1320]

I think this is an underrated aspect of their success.

Let me start by saying I am not taking anything away from the THP guys or the rest of the guys in the PLC. They are all really good hunters. What helps the THP guys all season and the entire group during this challenge is the fact that they have multiple good hunters going out everyday, scouting different areas for different reasons, doing different things, reporting back to the group their findings and then individual guys formulating game plans based on the collective knowledge. Five guys scouting for 3 days and sharing information is the equivalent of one guy doing 15 days worth of in season scouting and you could argue it's even better because you get 15 days worth of information in 3 days, before patterns change.

I see something similar every year when my extended family goes on vacation. We have 8 guys in four different boats going out every morning trying to get on schools of Stripers. We report back everyday and are able to get on fish way quicker then I am when I go down on my own. I think the same thing applies to hunting.

Like, I said to start. I'm not taking anything away from these guys. I genuinely enjoy their shows and this challenge specifically, especially when it is in terrain similar to what I hunt. I always learn something new and take away something that I think will make me a better hunter. But, you put that many good hunters in the same camp with the singular goal of tracking down and killing a big buck, they are going to get it done way more often the one guy by himself.

I have said the same thing. When they go to other states they usually have 1 tag and several others scouting/collecting intel. They can cover far more ground in a short period of time. Add their individual knowledge and as a group their learning curve excellerates.

 

[Plebe]

It looks darker through the camera than it is in person. Hunting channels always talk about being out of "camera light" for a reason.

They say in the video that its the last few minutes of shooting light I think. Could have been a factor, or not. I don't know.

I had a huge buck in front of me a few years ago at about 10yds that I drew on but didn't shoot because I had trouble seeing my peep due to low light. Every pin was on that deer's vitals.

Last year I got my buck in low light and could just barely tell the pin was centered inside the peep.

Probably could have killed that first buck too, but chose not to shoot.

There was a podcast and one of the Tethrd guys has changed his sighting system and done away with his peep to avoid this altogether based on a similar experience.

Anyway, I don't think Zach was wrong to do what he did, I think he accepts some risks that I wouldn't, but admittedly he sets himself up better to deal with the potential difficulties of his ground hunting style than I do.

It is pretty cool that THP don't sugar coat anything. I mean, how easy would it be to show the shot and recovery without the rest of the story.

They demonstrate good stewardship, and sharing the details no matter the blowback is demonstrative of one of their primary objectives, passing on their knowledge and experience to us viewers so we can hunt more effectively.

It's good to see them learning and wanting to improve as well. As good as anyone is, there is always something to learn, add, change.

 

[Hunter260]

I believe the art of the unpaid intern is an important part of their business model.

Nope. Gooch is pretty well compensated and I’m sure those other boys were too

 

[hokiehunter373]

They say in the video that its the last few minutes of shooting light I think. Could have been a factor, or not. I don't know.

I had a huge buck in front of me a few years ago at about 10yds that I drew on but didn't shoot because I had trouble seeing my peep due to low light. Every pin was on that deer's vitals.

Last year I got my buck in low light and could just barely tell the pin was centered inside the peep.

Probably could have killed that first buck too, but chose not to shoot.

There was a podcast and one of the Tethrd guys has changed his sighting system and done away with his peep to avoid this altogether based on a similar experience.

Anyway, I don't think Zach was wrong to do what he did, I think he accepts some risks that I wouldn't, but admittedly he sets himself up better to deal with the potential difficulties of his ground hunting style than I do.

It is pretty cool that THP don't sugar coat anything. I mean, how easy would it be to show the shot and recovery without the rest of the story.

They demonstrate good stewardship, and sharing the details no matter the blowback is demonstrative of one of their primary objectives, passing on their knowledge and experience to us viewers so we can hunt more effectively.

It's good to see them learning and wanting to improve as well. As good as anyone is, there is always something to learn, add, change.

Well said. I also think they usually learn from their mistakes, as seen by Jake not pulling the trigger in the most recent video.

 

[dalton916]

They say in the video that its the last few minutes of shooting light I think. Could have been a factor, or not. I don't know.

I had a huge buck in front of me a few years ago at about 10yds that I drew on but didn't shoot because I had trouble seeing my peep due to low light. Every pin was on that deer's vitals.

Last year I got my buck in low light and could just barely tell the pin was centered inside the peep.

Probably could have killed that first buck too, but chose not to shoot.

There was a podcast and one of the Tethrd guys has changed his sighting system and done away with his peep to avoid this altogether based on a similar experience.

Anyway, I don't think Zach was wrong to do what he did, I think he accepts some risks that I wouldn't, but admittedly he sets himself up better to deal with the potential difficulties of his ground hunting style than I do.

It is pretty cool that THP don't sugar coat anything. I mean, how easy would it be to show the shot and recovery without the rest of the story.

They demonstrate good stewardship, and sharing the details no matter the blowback is demonstrative of one of their primary objectives, passing on their knowledge and experience to us viewers so we can hunt more effectively.

It's good to see them learning and wanting to improve as well. As good as anyone is, there is always something to learn, add, change.

You’re peep really ought to be set so that you draw back, put the pin on the target and release the arrow.

 

[131north]

I believe that THP's YouTube channel has done several things, from literally recruiting new hunters to the sport, to making experienced hunters better. Lots of people are going to try and replicate it, but it's their sportsmanship and personalities that make it must-watch TV.