wooly

I had my last ciggarette about 10 minutes ago.... gonna wait untill next year before I light up again! My resolution for 2014 is to come up with a real good resolution for 2015! Happy New Year!

That's a wolf Joe!

I found an entire village of those tarp structures, plywood walls, rock bunkers, and tire towers on one ridge of my hiking grounds. I was expecting to be abducted by a colony of "bush babes" any minute, but it turned out to be some kids paintball course! Bring on the antlers! My camera didn't come out today either.... we 're having a mini blizzard here today.

Looking forward to following along again this season Sam! Good luck and stay safe out there! Don't hang them deadheads too high in the trees..... I don't wanna have to climb for them!

Food kills my buzz... I just drink all day and night,lol

Way to scoop one up before the new year WNYB!

A few years ago I was hiking for antlers and making my way through a stand of mature pines. It was raining and I was soaked to the bone. The wind started to pick up quite a bit, so I started to head out towards a less mature woods. Before I could escape the pines, it started hailing sideways, thundering and lightning, and about a 15 minute spurt of straighline winds started gusting through the pines at 90mph. Visability dropped to ABSOLUTE ZERO and I could hear the treetops snapping off like gunfire all around me..... and close! I had no idea which way was out, so I hunkered down right where I was, hugged a tree trunk, and said a prayer untill the storm blew through. I thought for sure I was stuck in a freak tornado and wouldn't make it out alive,lol

Why so negative Sam? I was really excited to have the whole day to hike today but still don't have any antlers to show for my efforts. I shot down to the park where I immediately started seeing lots of coyote tracks. I figured there had to be a deadhead around there somewhere so I started following them. It didn't take long before I found their kill. I think this is the 3'rd or 4'th coon kill I've found already this year. Looked like they got this guy last night some time. He was in "perfect condition" besides the fact he was dead. I kept on the yote tracks for a while since I wasn't seeing much deer sign. Over in another thicket, I found where they had been snacking on the first dead doe of the year. Not sure what would kill her in here other than them. She was deep within the no hunting zone..... my guess is the yotes probably got her when we had all that snow. The dead deer continue to pile up.... I hiked untill sunset and that was all I found for the day. We melted out a good bit by the end of my hike, so I may try again tomorrow on the opposite end of the park. On my way out, I stopped for a minute to listen to the water flow under the ice down at the creek before I made my way home. Antlers- 0 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 3 Dead doe/fawns- 1

HBD BJ!

That's usually the first thing I look for but for some reason it slipped my mind this time,lol I have no clue if an antlered doe would even shed it's antlers to tell ya the truth...... but if it does, I'll find them!

Well this may not come as a real shocker.., but this my favorite thread too,lol I still haven't found any antlers, but I did stumble across my first antler note that's worthy of posting today. I had to go downtown Buffalo this morning and saw a really nice buck bedded along Rt 400 northbound. Nice tall heavy rack! I did an afternoon hike when I got home. Some of you guys might remember this buck I called Whopper Jr from this fall. It looked like he was still in velvet on October 11'th in this trail cam pic. All other bucks here had shed long before this point. I saw him for the first time today 12/27/13 while hiking across the road! Still got both those antlers and it almost looks like he's still in velvet. Not the best pics, but I'm pretty sure I know what I saw with my own two eyes when he took off. In the first shot you can see the fuzzy tips of his/her antlers sticking up above that limb. I'm curious to see what he/she sheds first....the antlers or the velvet... or neither.

Hey, thanks guys! Just stopped back from my morning hike and I'll be heading back out after cake! Thanks again!

The jolly ol' fella brought me a new camera to take pictures of all this years shed antlers with!

Great to see he made it another year! When did he drop last years set? I would make it my mission to pick up his antlers AND find that broken off droptine if that's the way he wants to play! Good luck!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Outstanding Dave! What a sweet encounter!

I've never even been temted to try it with the bow. You'd have to be pretty darn desperate to consider taking that kind of chance on purpose.

Pretty sure they didn't die of old age,lol First two I believe were archery season casualties, and this one likely from sometime around the end of gun season.

12-23-13 Did a little hiking today hoping to find my first antler before Christmas. Unfortunately all I found was dead buck #3 for the season. I hate starting out like this with all the deadheads building such a fast lead over the antlers. Hoping to narrow the gap next hike! Antlers- 0 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 3 Dead doe/fawns- 0

I just gave mine a good whiff and they don't smell like anything. Maybe I need to grind a few up and snort 'em for the full effect!

I just made that part up....lol

Have you "horn dogs" seen this stuff? I might get some just for the bottle of antler scented aftershave alone! I can't wait to burn a few of their aromatic antler scented candles around the house for the holidays,lol http://dogbonehunter.com/antler/products

Great looking buck man, congrats! He looks wide.... got any more flattering pics of the rack from a different angle?

Not really Water Rat. I'm not the craftiest guy to ever carry an antler out of the woods. I have traded a few cut offs for different things. I've also sold a few too many over the years, but for the most part, I just like to stack them up. Now that I think of it, I lied..... I did use two fresh sheds as a base for a deadhead buck I found a few years back and I made a toilet paper holder out of another! I did a 4 hour hike today in the rain. Still a lot of snow here, but I got into an area that looks like it's seeing some heavy traffic right now. I slapped two cams up and will try to post any buck pics I get in here. Saw a great big flock of turkey as well, but I had my camera stuffed in my pack to keep it dry. Antler #1 is still out there and he's elluded me yet another day....... but I'm getting closer, I can feel it!

Sweet- but I think cheetahs could have got the job done a lot quicker.