Mitch Shirk on Hunting Strategy for Public vs Private

Show Notes

Hey everyone, welcome to episode 138 of the Antler Up Podcast!

On this week's episode I was joined by Mitch Shirk from the Pennsylvania Woodsman Podcast.  Mitch resides in southeastern PA where he mainly hunts private land but as we discussed in this podcast Mitch shares his strategy for hunting public land as well.  The two of us get into a bunch of topics when it comes to whitetail hunting. We dive into key factors that a property needs to have to help manage deer, his approach to his past few hunting seasons, getting outside his comfort zone and his story on his 170” buck that was on a 2 acre wooded lot.  We wrap up the conversation by discussing what hunting PA means to us and his Pennsylvania Woodsman Podcast on the Sportsmen’s Empire.  

To start things off in the podcast Mich briefly introduces who he is and we spend the first 15 minutes just having a fun bs session.  We then start talking a little bit about how running our podcasts have helped us over the last few years.  Mitch shares his thoughts on what a property needs to help manage deer.  For this aspect Mitch shares the importance of entry and exit routes.  We discuss the plans for the upcoming 2022 season here in PA.  This was a fun discussion because we both have full time jobs and shared how we plan on not blowing up our main areas when we can hunt if the wind doesn’t allow it.  I think a lot of people can relate to this aspect of the discussion.  Mitch shared his strategies for hunting a specific buck vs a general buck/deer. I asked Mitch how he goes about limiting his mistakes on his own property, his best of 2020 season in which he shot a 170” and the struggles of 2021.  Mitch shares the importance of gaining knowledge and intel by getting boots on the ground and getting outside his comfort zone.  Wrapping this episode up we chat about what hunting PA means to us.  Hope you enjoy this episode and look forward to next week! Antler Up!

Show Transcript