Pennsylvania Game News - August 2012 - 20

hunting guides had called and offered their services, and because this was a once in a lifetime hunt, I decided to go with a guide. So I set up meetings with a couple of outfitters, and on September 24 I met with an outfitter in the morning and with Trophy Rack Lodge in the afternoon. I decided to go with Trophy Rack Lodge. Owner, Larry, told me to come up with my group on September 30 and he would show me some bulls that were in the area. Being that I’m Amish and drive a horse and buggy, I had to find a good friend and driver to get me from Mifflin to Clearfield County. Friend and big time hunter David Kurtz said he’d take me, and he was really into it. On September 30 I got off work early and we went up and met our guide. We first went to his property where we could hunt and spotted some sign. We then went to his brother’s property and saw a lot of sign there. We also heard bulls bugling. After that he showed us a food plot on state property, where we saw some elk. The Game Commission deserves a lot of credit for the habitat work being done on these food plots. Larry told me to come up the week before the elk season. On October 28 I, along with seven friends, made the trip to Clearfield County. On the day before the opener we set up some blinds so we could watch over a field. Larry took me and my father-in-law out to another blind where he had been watching a pretty good bull that week. We sat in there till near dusk when, all of a sudden, Larry said, “Here he comes, Ivan, that’s your bull.” And, oh, what a beauty he was. We watched him for a while, and then we quietly got out of there. I was pretty fired up for Monday morning. We made the trip back home. I had made plans to bring my wife and two children along, and David’s wife was
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coming along as well. We had secured a cabin to stay in, and had made plans with Larry to come up early Monday morning and cook a big breakfast before the hunt. We left my home at 2:45 and arrived at Larry’s an hour later. We had a good breakfast. After that I loaded my gear in Larry’s truck, waited on two more of my hunting buddies and then off we went. Larry told us that things looked good. He had seen 17 the night before, but only four shooter bulls. Larry then laid out the game plan and told us that we would all be sitting pretty close together, so my friends could watch the hunt. After getting settled in the wait for hunting hours to arrive began. It was cold that morning with patchy fog, and after a while Larry looked at his watch, then at me and said the hunt was on. Nearly half an hour later Larry said, “Here they come.” I looked out and all I could see were two sets of antlers coming up over a hill. Then the adrenaline kicked in. Larry got his binoculars and said he knew the bulls, but that there were bigger ones around and to pass on a shot. It was hard to do, but that’s what I did. It was probably 7:50 when Larry spotted another bull, but when I looked, all I saw was a whitetail. Larry said the bull was in a patch of fog to the right of the deer and said the bull was a shooter. The bull cleared the fog and I got my crosshairs on him and squeezed off a shot from my .30-06. The bull spun around and Larry told me to shoot again. At the second shot he went right down. The bull was a 6x7 with chocolatecolored antlers with ivory tips and lots of mass. His estimated live weight was 826 pounds. His antlers scored 377-2/8, which makes him the second largest typical bull taken in Pennsylvania. It was a great hunt for a great animal. Being Amish I didn’t pose for a photo, so Larry is posing with my bull here. I’d like to thank everyone who was involved in my hunt, from the Game Commission, to my guide, to my family and to my friends. 
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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2012

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