Trophy Rack Lodge

Gunner Holtz of Spring Grove PA was excited as he made the call to let his dad know he drew an archery bull tag in zone 12. Bob Holtz couldn’t have been any happier to hear the news, he made sure he put his name and his two sons in for the drawing every year. Gunner decided to hunt with us after meeting Larry and going on a scouting trip. His family had a camp only a few miles from the lodge, which made it possible to come up before the season and do more scouting in zone ...12. Early on it was decided that it was very possible to down a real trophy, as more than one bull over 400 BC was seen. Patience was the key the three men decided. Hold out for the big one. Matt Lutz was added along with Larry as Gunner’s guides. They narrowed it down to three bulls to focus on. They were all on and off of a piece of ground Trophy Rack Lodge has exclusive hunting permission on. In the first days of the season there were 3 or 4 opportunities to kill nice bulls but not the ones on the hit list. By Wednesday they had four encounters with the targeted bulls, but they were either too long of a shot or hovering on the border of other private, no hunting properties. Sooner or later they would make a mistake. Patience.... Finally on the Friday evening hunt, they heard the clash of antlers of two bulls fighting in the large open field and one was a bull they were after! Gunner and Matt made their way towards the two elk. Finally the bulls broke apart and Matt and Gunner went in pursuit of the targeted monster bull. Eventually they got within range and Gunner made a 47 yard shot and had good placement and double lunged the bull. They followed the blood trail and Gunner got a second arrow through the front shoulder. The bull went another 40 yards and fell. Larry and Bob joined Matt and Gunner in the field. Their patience and determination to stick with their original plan had paid off when they walked up to the downed bull. Gunner had his trophy 7 x 8 bull that scored over 400 BC and his father couldn’t be more proud! Congrats Gunner! We hope to meet one of the Holtz men for another hunt someday. See more

The archery season started out slow in Zone 11 for hunter Jared Fowler. Distant bugles heard, but they were in the neighboring zone 10. Trophy Rack Lodge guide Dean Carper, assured him that it will happen, the bulls were on their usual pattern and will show up. They were hunting in the Quehanna Wild Area, big country, prime elk territory with a history of having big bulls. Monday went by and still no sightings in his zone. Tuesday had more promise with more bugles and s...ighting of smaller bulls. None were shooters. Wednesday morning they were walking in to a favorite spot with Dean leading the way when he spotted a monster bull 40 yards ahead. By the time Jared got up to where Dean was standing, Jared only caught a quick glance of the bull and it quickly faded away into the thick underbrush. This is what they were waiting for! Of course the plan for the evening hunt was to go back to the same spot where they saw the bull in the morning. As they approached where they were going to set up, they saw a rag horn bull right where they were going to sit. As they walked forward Dean glassed the surrounding area and saw a heavy antlered bull laying in a nearby field. They began a stalk toward the bull. The rag horn began splashing in the pond and got spooked, it ran through the pond and paired with the big bull and both took off into the woods. Dean cow called and the larger bull stopped. He kept calling and they held the cow elk decoy in front of them as they continued their approach. Dean quickly ranged the bull at 52 yards. Jared pulled up his Matthews bow and hit the mark. The bull took off, Jared successfully placed another arrow in the bull. It went another 130 yards and fell. When the guides and hunters back at the lodge from their own hunts heard of Jared’s kill, they all went out to the site to congratulate him and pitch in on dragging the bull out. It was a late night for everyone but well worth the work to help out a new friend. At the end of a week of sharing everyone’s stories of hunting successes and woes, you make friends quickly and the memories that go with it. Congratulations Jared on your awesome 7 x 7 bull! See more

Doug’s picture perfect shot! He was confident when he saw that his lighted nock hit the mark.

Doug Briner of Newville PA has been hunting with his father Bob since he was 12 years old. He didn’t have to think about who to bring on his elk hunt, it was obvious it would be his dad. His friend Weston came along to video and take photos of Doug’s hunt. Doug knew he had a good hunting spot on our private property, he had seen the amount of cows and bulls on it before season. On opening day he saw plenty of elk but the closest cow came 68 yards and he wanted a closer sho...t if possible for his Hoyt compound bow. Monday brought more action. In the morning he and his guide Jamie put a stalk on 6 cows, all to have a coyote come along and spook some deer nearby which in turn then spooked the elk. Monday evening they saw a bull chasing 2 cows over 100 yards away. A cow and calf came within 71 yards but fed away further into the field. Nearing the last hour of daylight a lone cow came close. Jamie ranged it at 40 yards, Doug drew back and held on his 40 yard pin and saw his lighted nock hit the mark! His father saw it all from atop a knoll and knew it was a good hit. They decided to wait and 45 minutes later Larry and several of the other guides came to help out with lights to help track the cow. Doug spotted the first blood sign. The elk went about 300 yards before falling in the field. The cow was a good 500 pound Zone 12 cow. Larry’s hard work with his food plots on our property helps keep the elk in the area, and it also is getting to be a prime breeding area for the elk. Perfect for archery hunting! All of us at Trophy Rack Lodge congratulate Doug on his perfect bow shot on his hunt for a PA elk! See more

Ken Mattern of Williamsburg PA drew an bull elk tag for Zone 5. He decided to hunt with us at Trophy Rack Lodge and Steve Stiner was to be his guide. Time flew as he only had a few weeks to prepare for his hunt, but on opening day he was ready to go. He brought along two friends, Barry and Galen, to join him on the hunt. The first day of the season in zone 5 he passed on a 2 x 5 bull and a 4 x 5 bull, this was only day one and he thought he could do better. Tuesday mornin...g they saw a 6 x 6 bull but it slipped away in the dense fog. On Tuesday evening they decided to change locations because they had a tip about a bigger bull being sighted. Ken and Steve set up and called and heard a bugle out in front of them about 60 yards. Ken saw the bull through the thick brush and held for an opening, he let the arrow go and missed. He felt down about the miss but everyone told him to hang in there, he would have another chance. His two buddies had to go home and wished him luck on the rest of the hunt. On Wednesday’s hunt it was just Ken and Steve. They went back to the same general area because of hearing other bugles the day before. Steve cow called and a bull bugled about 450 yards away. The bull came towards them to within 100 yards. They set up for the shot and when the bull came in range Ken brought the elk down with his Scorpyd cross bow with one arrow. It was a perfect double lung shot on the 7 x 8 bull that green scored 356 BC with beautiful dark antlers with white tips. The bull was brought out by a horse that was hired for the 1 1/2 mile drag to the truck. Congratulations Ken and thanks for hunting with Trophy Rack Lodge! See more

John Moletteri of Aston PA was excited to say the least when his name was drawn for a Zone 14 archery bull elk tag. With only weeks to prepare, he and his father visited us at the lodge and went scouting a weekend before his hunt, the result was 16 bulls spotted in his zone. Finally opening day arrived and Mike Conaway was his guide. On Saturday they watched 20 cows and 2 bulls. They stalked the bulls but could not get in a position to shoot. Monday morning they listed for... bugles at daylight. One was right in front of them and then a second bull bugled. They walked 100 yards and used a decoy and made some calls. The bulls and cows kept moving and stayed just out of range. They used a hedge row for cover and circled around in front of the herd. Then they saw the second bull with 10 cows and he was the bigger of the two. The bull was thrashing the trees and bugling the whole time but brush was in the way of a shot. The elk reversed direction and John and Mike hustled to another opening but the golden rod was too high, all they could see above it was the bulls antlers. Finally the bull came into an opening and Mike ranged it at 71 yards. John held his TenPoint crossbow steady on his tripod and made the shot. Mike said the shot looked good, he saw blood coming from the point of entry, but the elk kept moving along with his cows for another 200 yards and bugling another 4 times. John and Mike decided to pull back and gave it 2 1/2 hours before going back to locate the bull. They had an excellent blood trail and there was no doubt the bull was down. They found the bull, in 2 feet of water in a mud hole, the kill shot right through the front shoulder, a double lung hit. The 7 x 8 bull green scored 373 3/8 BC. Congratulations John! John’s cousin, Sean Taylor, was the video man for the hunt and got excellent footage of Monday’s hunt. He is going to send us a copy and we will post a link to view it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I already knew the ending! See more

Rick Decker of Garrett PA scored our first archery cow on his Saturday evening hunt in Zone 12. The cow came into range and Rick connected on the 15 yard shot. The video says it all. Rick’s father and brother came along to share the hunt with him. His guide and video man was Jamie Morgan. Jamie takes many excellent scouting and hunt photos and videos for us. Both the hunters he guides and we appreciate his photography!

Bull down!! Steve got the call that he drew a Zone 5 bull tag. It didn’t take him long to find Trophy Rack Lodge and give us a call the same day as the drawing. Fast forward to 4 short weeks later and he and his dad Phil were pulling into the Lodge, ready for the hunt. One of our veteran guides, Jason Rankin, had been updating Steve on scouting reports for zone 5 bulls. The hunt began on Saturday morning with two bulls were spotted, one was close to 320 inches and they ...passed on it. There was too much season left to see what else was out there. That evening they set up in a field and heard a bull bugle. Steve heard the bull thrashing in the brush and all he could see was the bulls antlers through the pines. Two cows came out into the clearing, followed by another two cows. He heard limbs breaking as the bulls crashed through the woods chasing the cows and entered the clearing only 17 yards from where Steve was set up. The bull bugled one last time and went another 10 yards when Steve took a quartering away shot, the bull went 20 yards and fell. The bull was an 8 x 7 and green scored 393 5/8 BC. A great first bull for Trophy Rack Lodge in the 2020 archery season! See more

This guy catches your attention!

Congratulations to all you lucky hunters who drew a tag!! Get EXCITED, this will be a hunt you will always remember! Give us a call and we will fill you in on all the services and experience we have to offer. Bring a guest along to share your hunt Trophy Rack Lodge, we have the best guides and a first class lodge for your hunt of a lifetime! Archery bull: P. Martin, Denver Pa zone 3 D. Henzler, Newmanstown Pa zone4...Continue reading

Another big day for Pennsylvania elk hunters, the drawing for the KECA tag raffle winner is today! It will be streaming live on TomBob Outdoors Facebook page at 1:00 PM this afternoon. We want to give a shout out to The Country Butcher in Woodland PA who is donating the caping and meat processing of the elk. Larry and I will be attending the drawing and look forward to guiding the lucky hunter!

Here we go folks! The day is here for the Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Lottery 2020/2021!! The lottery will be broadcasted in a live feed on the PA Game Commission Facebook page at 1:00 PM today. The drawing will be held at the Elk Visitor Center in Benezette. All of us at Trophy Rack Lodge wish you good luck and hope to be elk hunting with you this fall!

We are happy to announce that Trophy Rack Lodge is now partnered with the Keystone Elk Country Alliance as the outfitter for the KECA tag hunt!! We will be guiding the one lucky hunter drawn on August 16 as the winner of the raffle. Larry and all of the Trophy Rack Lodge guides are now scouting for a monster bull and the hunt begins September 1 through the end of the regular elk season on November 7. The bull can harvested in any of the elk zones and we are up to the challenge!! Enter to win the KECA tag online at the Elk Country Alliance website. The chances are $25 each or 6 for $100. Good luck and we hope to be guiding you on that extraordinary hunt of a lifetime!!