Ep. 497: Giant Bucks in Mountain Laurel Nobody Else Will Hunt w/ Pat Burns

Beau Martonik sits down with Pat Burns, a big woods hunter from the Northeast who has been hunting mountain laurel thickets for years, killing giant bucks in cover most hunters won’t go near.

Pat breaks down how he finds openings and funnels inside a sea of laurel using leaf-off maps, why he considers all those ladder stands on the edges to be the equivalent of hunting a field edge, how he creates access trails to get a quarter mile deep into the thick stuff without making a sound, and the story behind the giant buck he killed last fall. They also get into tracking an 11.5-year-old buck across a five-mile stretch of mountain over several seasons, why November 4th consistently produces for Pat, his approach to reactivating community scrapes with nothing but fresh dirt, camera strategy in remote terrain, and pushing the envelope once you’ve done enough homework to back it.

Pat also works for Huntstock, an outdoor festival held in Massachusetts (August 7–9, 2026). Beau will be at the Massachusetts event recording live podcast interviews with Rick Labbe, Lanny Benoit, Jeff Doyle, Jim Massett, and others.



00:00:00 — Intro

00:01:07 — What Makes Huntstock Different From a Trade Show

00:04:20 — Podcast Row and Northeast Legends Beau Will Interview in Massachusetts

00:08:59 — Pat’s Background in Maine

00:11:23 — The Shed That Started a Years-Long Obsession

00:15:44 — Learning to Track Big Woods Bucks

00:20:42 — Five Miles of Sheds and Closing in on a Giant

00:25:58 — How Hunting Pressure Moves Big Woods Bucks

00:31:22 — The Shared Buck Discovery

00:39:06 — Why November 4th Is Pat’s Magic Date

00:45:53 — Reading Wind to Find Buck Beds in Thick Cover

00:49:43 — Finding Bucks in Miles of Mountain Laurel

00:57:13 — Creating Trails to Hunt Deep in Laurel

00:58:27 — Why Big Woods Bedding Isn’t a Science

01:01:37 — Why You Need Boots on the Ground, Not Just Maps

01:06:32 — How Pat Reactivates Community Scrapes

01:14:14 — Pushing the Envelope and Having a Backup Spot

01:25:24 — Camera Strategy in Big Woods

01:34:13 — Mindset and Staying in It Through Hard Seasons

01:41:25 — The Giant Laurel Buck Pat Killed Last Fall

01:48:14 — Bringing New Hunters Into This Style

01:58:37 — Huntstock Details and Beau’s August Appearance

Resources:

Pat's IG - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thejohnnystewart/⁠

Huntstock - use code EMW25 for a discount - https://huntstockevents.com/

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