wooly

Here we go folks! Got so many pics these are in no particular order. When I went to grab my cam today to move it, I did a little hike around because of all the sign in there. Just about 100 yds from my cam I spotted the first one. I knew a buck this size was gonna kick off the other side close so I looked for the next hour and found nothing. I hung a ribbon to mark the 1'st location so I could find the site again before heading out.Was thinking maybe it got dragged off or chewed to smithereens......but then I found the match 50 yds away from the first in the dense pricker thicket. I've never found anything like these. They are massive!!! A few quick numbers 20" main beam left antler 18" beam right antler 6 1/4" brow tine right antler 9 1/2 " g2 left antler Bases - I know this is not 100% accurate because I don't know where I'm supposed to take that measurement BUT......between 7 1/2" and 8". I'm telling you guys these things belong in a freak show!! They are an old set with very little damage. I can't believe this is what I have to start the season with......everything else is gonna seem so....well.....small,lol. 8-) Anyhow- random shots.

Will do Ed! I picked up 2 today. A match set with minimum 6 1/2 " + bases. Only a 6 point but what a set! I'll post pics later. I love shed season,lol ;D

I was wondering where all the big does went last week! Congrats, she's a nice one.

Yeah we get all the leftovers the coyotes can't digest while everyones home staying warm by the fire.

What a shame. I see it every year post season, deer that should have absolutely positively been recovered but lay to waste. He sure could have found a better resting place on a more deserving hunters wall with a little follow up. I'm sure your buddy will keep him warm this winter.

He looks great. That pose displays him very nicely!

LOL- ho ho whooooa! ???

Can someone clear this up for me? Would like to do some yote hunting with the smokepole with the same loads I use for deer hunting. Is that ok to legaly do? Not sure what category below that falls in. I think what's confusing me is the whole shotgun loaded with shot.....does that mean no slugs? :-\ For some reason I have a piece of regulations from somewhere stuck in my head from a while back that said nothing larger than #2 or #4 shot????

Looks like that's gonna be the plan. I'm more than OK with just his sheds. I had a great season regaurdless. I'll let yas know when they turn up. ;D

9h. He's been hanging with a group of 6 does and fawns that made an appearance at the blind Sunday afternoon before dark. I'm sure from the timestamps on other pics he wasn't far behind but hung behind for a little while longer untill complete dark. I'll be in the blind this afternoon to try to end his streak of birthdays in the final hours. Very happy to see one like him make it this far and looking forward to finding his sheds if he eludes me today.

Thanks guys! Well, he stopped by again last night. He's better than I first thought he was. Gave me all the angles this time. Didn't see a single deer down there today. One more shot tomorrow. I dumped the last of his favorite buck urine here on my way out.

How 'bout we steal a page from the spring gobbler season..........12 o'clock cut-off. ??? Nobody complains about that. ;D

Agreed Not if ya hit 'em with all 5 warning shots. ;D

My Tractor Supply has a sign up by the corn that says "It is illegal to feed to deer in NY". I could tell Deer-Cane was illegal just by the name. : How 'bout them apples in the produce aisle??? :-\

2 more days to hang in there. If I don't kill him, I hope I can find his antlers. ;D 1'st buck in some time coming to a couple mock scrapes about 150yds apart.

Looks like a good spot. Could be a shed full o' sheds! I'd poke around there for a bit.

She's a nice one- congrats! Now get your own gun.

Tuesday marks the unofficial start to my shed season unless one drops on my way to the blind. ;D

Did Burt say something? « Reply #12 on: Today at 12:56:21 pm » Quote You are ignoring Burt. Show me the post.

Thanks guys- glad it could be usefull.

I've been patiently waiting for my pepperstick to come in for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Well worth the wait....tonight I'll celebrate! Only recipe I have for it is add $5/lb to my processors pocket and wait till he says its done. I usually get 10lbs of it made from one of my deer each year which sometimes lasts me till New Years......but not often. I try not to hang around with the boys for the next few weeks as often as I used to. Call me selfish, but I made that mistake before and woke up the following day to an empty bag where my sticks used to be. :'( Anyone make their own or order them as well?

No need to photoshop a buck like that from IL.....he's a nice one for sure. I'm not sure where the doubt lies in this pic oother than it's pretty good quality for a cell phone.

It's only when you start to disagree with yourself and make personal attacks that this is an issue. :'(

Rivers Edge Antler Mounting Kit I figured this may be of some help to anyone on a budget and limited in taxidermy skills such as myself. To others, it may be a no brainer but there are some usefull pointers in here for the first timer I thought to share.This is the first one I've done myself with this kit and I'm pretty pleased with the results and quality of it. I picked this up online from Gander Mountain for $50. Taxidermist quality without the pricetag. Ok, finally getting rolling on this thing. Here's everything that comes with the kit.....well, minus the rack of course. You supply that! 1)Solid oak plaque 2)skull form 3)rope trim 4)screws and mounting hardware 5)putty 6)leather piece In the above pic you can see I needed to trim off some more of the skull below the antler bases so that's what I did here. There's a goofy ridge in there on the right side I had to wack out as well. Must be deer brains are one size fits all. Sucker fits like a glove after I got it trimmed up right. So you just get it lined up and drill a couple of 3/16 holes through the skull and screw it down into the form. I'm cruizing right along here with no problems so far. ;D Uhhhhg...spoke too soon and the screws popped through the back of the form. A quick check back to the instructions tells me this is normal and this will be filed or cut off later. Pheeeew! Next up the playdough! We use this to smooth the transition between the skull plate and the form. You don't want to build it up.....just make it smoooooooooth! I rolled a few dough worms that worked nicely for this. By wetting your finger you can spread this stuff around like butter in a hot pan. Real easy to work with and good fun making a mess. After this pic was taken I also blended the ridge between the antlers as it made for quite the lump under the leather durring the trial run. And this is where I'm at right now.....waiting the mandatory 24 hr drying period on the putty before applying the leather cover. Probably have enough putty left over to do 5 more of these things. This is much simpler than I expected....knock on wood. :-X With a little luck and spare time after the hunt, she might make it on the wall by tomorrow night. Where was I......? ;D Oh yeah, finally got the leather stretched over it right. For my fabric template (per Seans suggestion) I cut up and tried a few paper towels before cutting the leather. These were almost the exact same size as the piece they gave me. Took about 4 paper towels before I thought I had it cut close enough to attempt the leather. This turned out to be a super tip and the results were better than I expected. The instructions and illustration provided were rather useless and confusing at this point. I wrestled with that long enough and kept getting some pretty noticeable bunching of the leather. That's where my buddy flints advice to staple and cut close to the edge of the form came into play. Next up....the simplest step.....and of course this is where I effed-up. : Super-glueing the rope around the antler bases a sudden squirt shot out and spooged him right in the center of his dome. I'll consider this my signature screw up. ;D Rolling right along. Flip the plaque over and drilled a couple pilot holes then just screw the placque to the form and hammer in the supplied hanger. All that's left at this point is to glue the rope around the skull base and clear a spot on the wall. I am really happy with choosing this kit over some less expensive ones I concidered. I hope the pics show it does have a proffesional look to it at a fraction of the cost......as long as you can see past the glue spooge. ;D (it's high enough on the wall it's unoticeable) In case y'all couldn't tell, I really don't have the patience for this kinda stuff so when I finished there was a sence of relief, accomplishment, and satisfaction of doing it myself. I felt that was an appropriate ending that mirrored how I felt when I walked up on this buck piled up in the woods after the shot. He now hangs above my desk as I sit here. Kinda dark and gloomy in here so I snapped these earlier outside at my parents place. Hope this may help someone who's considering a "Do-It-Yourself" antler display for their buck but may be intimidated by the whole process.

Easy now pardner, I'll have to ask you the same question.......CAN YOU READ? Here's a bit of information from the DEC website you might find helpfull. Let me know if you need a translater.