wooly

Those antlers will look beautiful in the snow right where he's standing! That would be a great set to haul out of anywhere, but it would be extra special if they were the first antlers you found on your own property! I'm sure they gotta be at least getting a little loose by now...good luck grow!

Funny that pic popped up here. Just yesterday I was flipping through the December 2013 issue of NY Conservationist and on pg.31 somebody posted a pic of the same set of tracks, and was wondering if they were made by a cougar or bobcat,lol.

Happy B-day Deerthug! Hope it's a good one!

With that much sign around, it's just a matter of time before you're hauling out a pack full of racks! You running any cams in that area?

Geeze Red... I would have at least waited till it gets warmer out.., but the cold is a good excuse to keep in your back pocket in case anyone makes any silly "little" comments! Good luck, and let us know how it works when you get home.

Deadhead from a couple shed seasons back. Typical forky on the left and this cluster on his right.

...'bout time you got on the board John! Many more to come I'm sure, and looking forward to seeing them all! 30 miles is just a long walk in the woods when you're not finding anything,lol Good luck next hike!

Thanks everyone! I'm still super stoked over this find, but I hate getting hung up on one antler that isn't ready to be found! I don't...lol. You should fire up a journal here Sean!Few possibilities I suppose... all of which are no excuse.., hehe! Maybe as a rookie he was looking for the whole antler and couldn't identify this?? It's kinda pretty in the creekbottom now, so maybe he was admiring the birds and scenery! Worse case scenario, maybe he picked up the mate and ran home with it before he could spot this one...uhhhg! I covered the entire creekbottom today in that area and turned up nadda. That means I'm getting closer and will switch to "plan-B" now, which is to look everywhere else I didn't cover with "plan-A".

1-19-14 I ran around to check the cams today and was a little discouraged to see I had at least 5 bucks still packing both antlers where I'd been looking. I decided to hike on anyhow the next block over but I didn't find anything and sign was spotty at best. The snow really sucks here, but at least any antlers that were on the ground were hidden well from anyone else that might be looking for them. Right at the end of the day, I felt pretty good knowing my antlers were still with their rightfull owners for now. With light running out, I made my way home. Just as I crossed the creek and hopped up on the opposite bank, I looked down and spotted an antler laying at my feet! I knew IMMEDIATELY this was the antler from "Tubby-10"... my goal buck heading into shed season who's trail cam pic is back on page one of this journal. I snapped a few ATL's and then I noticed the bootprints right beside his antler. My neighbor has also been looking for this guys sheds, so I left more bootprints in the bottom before I left, he's gonna think an army of antler hunters had been through there,lol! I'll try to match him up tomorrow but I'm so happy right now its sick! You can see my neighbors old boot trcks in this pic not 2 ft away,lol atl Antlers- 2 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 3 Dead doe/fawns- 5

He's on the board!!! Congrats on #1 for the season Sam! We don't throw any back, so that's a keeper! Try not to find so many deadheads would ya!

Sweet find! Nothing wrong with that old bone, and it's in really nice shape! Great to see the new farm is hiding some antlers for ya and hope it produces some nice freshies soon! Congrats on #2 for the season!

Boy, I had to look that one up,lol Never really needed that info before. Looks like 1300ft, but it's 4 miles downhill to the valley.... how can that be? Guess that just confirms how our deer herd has gone to hell over the years around here, hehe!

Same here Grow. I wonder if after years of making the trek to winter at lower elevations is possibly giving the higher ground a chance to rejuvenate enough browse to support a decent sized winter population, but still lacking in other survival necessity areas. Up until recent winters, I used to be able to follow a "migration trail" as wide as a two lane road for miles and miles. Every deer on the hill eventually took it to head out of town and into the valley, but I haven't seen that in probably to 5 or 6 yrs now. A lot more deer staying behind and riding out the winter up here which is often a gauranteed death sentence. Perhaps all the plotting that's gaining popularity around here is holding deer where they shouldn't be this time of year. Another blast of Ol' Man Winter on the way could start to put a hurtin' on some of these deer that stay behind as I've seen the last few seasons. Just something to think about. Maybe all these plots everyone's planting to benefit the herds overall health and condition are ultimately leading to their demise in the end! I know my post season body count seems to be growing year after year, and that's a pretty disturbing trend to notice without having some opinion as to why.

Well Sam, that broken tine has gotta count for something.... that's an awesome find and a sweet match up to your dads buck! I know I would count that one in my antler totals and be pretty darn proud of it! Real nice deadhead too! He'll make a nice meal for the Buck Boiler! Good luck this weekend if you make it out.

Remind me not to take any long road trips with some of you guys,lol I'm a big Toby Keith fan.., Brooks and Dunn.., and especially Kenny Chesney's tunes, but any country along those lines will do! Oddly, I like a lot of Eminems stuff too!

You know, on second thought I really never had any intentions of this post becoming a community shed thread. I think there's a fine line between "highjacking" a thread and "kamakazee-ing" a good thread.., so if I could request that anyone not farmiliar with this thread please post their pics and trophy banter in a seperate topic, that would be much appreciated. I really don't feel like competing within my own post. I know most of you know by now I'm pretty open to discussion and questions as you've seen over the past 3 years of posting this journal, so feel free to fire away, and share your observations and experiences with me here. I'm pretty sure you can see by now where I'm going with this, and will start your own journals to post your own pics in. Thanx.

Oh man, too bad you didn't check the cam sooner. You probably could have followed the dragging leg trail right to his antlers. Hate to see them roaming around in that condition, but nice series of pics of that guy!

Thanks everyone! Hopefully I don't have to work so hard for the rest of them! Crappy- I enjoy hearing about what everyone else is seeing and finding out there. It motivates me more when things are slow or I fall into a slump. I just like any chatter about shed antlers! Looks like I have another one to look for across the road from home! Still lots of snow over there and we got some more last night, so I didn't waste to much time looking for this one, but I think I got an idea where to start looking! (date's wrong on cam- should read 1/14/14)

Thanks everyone! Jala- it's really impossible to know how long he'll hang on to that other antler. He could have dropped it close by the same day, or he could carry it for weeks and miles. I once found a match set from a buck that had 2 miles between them. You just never know where the're gonna pop up. 1-14-14 I finally broke the seal today....YAHOOO! I'll tell ya what..., I was really starting to get discouraged with all my hiking lately and nothing to show for it yet. Todays antler didn't come easy though. I set out early this morning and hiked right through lunch without seeing anything that even remotely looked like an antler. Still quite a bit of snow in some good spots, so I tried to focus on the clear areas. Right at the end of my hike I stopped by an old dump pile to look for some old bottles and other goodies. Somebody had cleaned up the pile and all they left behind was a RM 125 dirtbike seat. As I stood by the seat looking around for some glass and other junk, I spotted my first antler of the 2014 season! A nice 4pt freshie from a nice looking 1 1/2 year old! You can see the seat I was standing next to in the background of this ATL. That's where I spotted this guy from! I did a quick search for the mate, but I was running out of daylight fast, so I decided to come back another day to try to match it up. Still a splash of blood on the base of this one... On my way home this weekend I spotted a dead deer laying on my neighbors front lawn. On my way home today I stopped to snap a pic and noticed there were 2 dead fawns that had melted out. Must have got splatted a few weeks ago. Antlers- 1 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 3 Dead doe/fawns- 5

I wouldn't even attempt to make an educated guess untill some time in April just before green up. Still a lot of winter left, but so far, so good here.

You may be able to reverse the effects of tennis elbow by taking up bowling!

Holy hell!!! Lots of supporters here is all I got to say! Unbelievable and almost a little scary... I was out hiking and had forgot about this untill gunfire erupted all around me,lol. 3pm and they're still going strong here for miles around.

It wasn't my call. Unfortunately, my boss loved this dumbass and he wouldn't get rid of him. I would let him take naps in the van for hours just to keep him out of my way,lol

Don't laugh.... I had an apprentice working under me and let him set up the water heater in a $500,000 new home one day. There was some gravel in the basement from the concrete guys tromping through the mud and then running down to pizz in the sump pit. My "helper" set the heater up on top of the gravel and then decided to shim it with a mountain of ciggarette butts he swept neatly into a pile underneath it on the low side. I never noticed it untill hooking up the gas line when the tank started rocking and seperated the flu pipe vent. That could have ended bad if that came apart after the new homeowners moved in.

Did you click on the pics.... these are actually 30 second videos. I got 121 clips of this guy, but these were the most entertaining for one reason or another. Most of the time he just sat there picking at the leg bone meat.