WNY Bowhunter

The carcass wasn't laying too far from the road in a swampy area. It could be a car kill...who knows? I haven't even talked to my uncle about it yet.

Just thought that I'd share a few pics of this dead buck that my uncle found a few days ago...

I prefer the more serious look in my photos (sun was in my eyes too). Believe me, I was pumped!!!

Got home from KY yesterday afternoon. Despite tons of hunting pressure and severly henned up birds, I did manage to kill a decent gobbler monday morning (the only one taken out of the 5 of us). Dad and I should have killed two more on weds. but things just didn't work out. Oh well, that's turkey hunting. I'm very happy to have killed a bird on my first out of state hunt on heavily pressured public ground. Stats: 21#, 10" beard and 7/8" spurs.

They are right on schedule and will continue to gobble, strut and breed all through the entire month of May just like always.

Nice job, John!!! I spent over 75 hours in the field from January-March and ended up with a meager 13 sheds (20 less than last year). While I am kinda dissapointed in my numbers, I did manage to find a few nice ones. Here are my last few for the season... Here are #'s 11 & 12 an oldie set. You can see both in the photo: #13:

There is no reason to get bent outta shape. They are right on schedule and are still gonna do their thing this spring just as they always have and the hunting in May will be just fine just as it is every year. In my area, I see strutters with hens every season clear through the end of May. The hunting actually can get better near the end of the season when most of the hens are nesting. IMHO most people believe that the turkeys are done breeding after the first few days of hunting season because they amount of gobbling tends to go down. What is really happening is that the woods have been hammered with hunting pressure and the birds are reacting to that. The mouthy ones don't last too long. It should be a great season, there were a ton of jakes around last spring. Here are some strutters in early March a few years back...

http://davidhalloranturkeycalls.com/default.aspx

The good news is that the clover/alfalfa fields are really sprouting up too. All of that new succulent high protein growth is just what the bucks need right now to come out the gates strong to show their maximum antler potential!!!

I almost stepped on this monster while stopping to take a quick bathroom break yesterday. It's my new smallest shed to date. Makes #10 for the season. My mission for the weekend is to find the other half to this guy's rack... I may go looking for this beast's antlers too...

I'm up to 54 hours now...don't even know how many miles that figures out to!!!

Today, I got permission to check out some fields on the backside of where I've been looking for the sheds from my #1 most wanted buck that I call "Big Boy." I wasn't even there for 10 minutes and saw this baby from 70 yds away. I confirmed with my binos that it was actually an antler and took off running to get my hand on it! Couldn't match it up today but I'll definately be back trying. I hate walking cornfields but you gotta do what you gotta do... He put on some good inches from last year... I can't wait to see what he's going to do this summer @ 5 years old. He should be a STUD!!!

Found #9 today...the smaller right side half to my avatar buck!!!

Nice finds mbucks!!! Went out for a couple of hours on yesterday and found an ancient old dead-head 7-pt that I left in the woods...

I'm no good at finding the oldies. Last year I came up with 26 freshies / 7 oldies. This year all freshies so far.

This buck dissappeared from my buddy's farm in mid-October after being a regular visitor to my cameras since late June. I got trail cam pics of him in early January back on the farm after he was already shed. Two miles isn't really all that far but this two miles is mostly wooded/brush with a lot of cover in between to two locations. I was just pretty surprised to pick up his antler so far from home. He 'll be a 3 year old this year and should be a pretty nice one. Good luck with your shedding.

This one from 3/8 is the latest addition... Interestingly, I have two years of history with this deer...but on a farm 2 miles from where I picked this shed up!!!

It's been a tough shedding season so far. Here are my finds to date:

One from yesterday...

Congrats!!! It's been a tough shedding season so far...

This antler hadn't been on the ground for very long...

Took the past couple of weeks off but decided to hit up a spot today that I've been saving. Didn't find the sheds I was hoping to but I did manage to bring home #6 for the season. It hadn't been laying there too long as the base was still pink colored. The previous owner of this antler is the buck in the background of these photos. The buck up front is the one who's antlers I was looking for... I think this rub was made by big boy...

I bet 80% of my sheds have been found out in hayfields with their times sticking up. I'd probably be sick if I actually knew how many I've walked right by in the past couple of years.

Houston, we have strutters!!!

Decided to hit up a farm that I checked two week agos to see if anything had dropped since then. Ended up bringing home #4 and #5 for the season off of a decent 2.5 year old 8-pt with broken brows. Found the left one first... Circled around and located the match about 20 yds further out into the field...