WNY Bowhunter

I skinned the head out today. Upon closer inspection it appears that the bullet went through the jaw on the one side and between the back of the jaw and spinal column on the other. It's hard to tell if the hole in the jawbone is an entrance or an exit hole. Either way, it appears that it wasn't a fatal hit and this poor guy probably ended up starving a few weeks later... . Couple more pics:

A buddy of mine found this guy while out snowmobiling this afternoon. I watched this buck grow all summer. He grossed 130" but would have been around 145" if he hadn't been all busted up. There appears to be a bullet hole going through the jaw. I'll know for sure when I skin the head out...

X2!!!

Just keep at it. Shed hunting (esp. here in NY) means a lot of walking/looking and not much finding. You'll come home empty handed more times than not. When you finally do stumble on one it makes it all worth it... .

I think that I need to get me a shed hunting dog!!! Congrats on the finds wooly, you're on a roll.

Well, I made it out for a couple of hours today and found two dinkers that resurfaced within the past couple of days. They were located in the same field as the previous three sheds and are #6 and #7 for the season. Honestly, I am kind of disappointed that this is all that I came up with today. Approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of this field is still covered with ice, snow, water and slush so maybe a few more will surface once spring gets here. There were a crapload of deer out here last night and some really big bodied ones too. I know that there are some big bucks hanging around this farm. Now, I just gotta figure out where their antlers are laying. There's still way too much snow in the woods to do any looking around. Don't know if I'll make it back out tomorrow or not; I went up to my thighs in water while crossing a ditch to get back to the truck. My boots are friggen soaked and my other pair have a big hole in them...

I saw a nice little buck on the way to work yesterday afternoon that was still carrying his antlers. He was sparring with another buck that was already shed out...

I can't wait to get back out and do some looking around this coming weekend. I've got a pretty good idea where there might be some sheds buried in the snow. Hopefully, they will resurface...

About 7-8 years ago I was hunting with my dad and I called a hen in that started strutting and even gobbled several times too.

Bearded hens are pretty common in my neck of the woods. I typically see 3 or 4 every spring while scouting/hunting. I have killed two of them, one in the fall several years ago and this one during the Spring '09 season. She came in and assaulted my decoy. Typically, I wouldn't even consider shooting a bearded hen in the spring, but it was the last morning, it was about to start pouring out and this particully hen screwed me up several times that season so I decided to get a little payback... Here's another one that I've been watching for several years on a friends farm. I killed her boyfriend in the bottom pic...

It depends: a bigger base = bigger hole in the head... The blood was only this heavy in a few spots where it first started. Most of the time it was just a few scattered specks, but enough to where I knew I was following the right set of tracks. There was a post on another site recently where a guy had been watching a 160 class buck on his trailcams. He went to check the cams one day and noticed a heavy blood trail in the snow (a lot more than in my pics). He ended up followed it back to a bed in the snow with both sheds laying in it. Later, after checking his cams, he had pics of the buck carrying both sides the previous night and then again a couple hours later with his antlers missing and blood streaming down his face.

Yesterday, I headed back to the field where I found the sheds last weekend to see if I could scoop up any more. There was plenty of sign from the past few days... I hadn't been walking around for very long when I started to find fresh blood in the snow. It had to be from a buck that just shed one of his antlers. So, I starting backtracking a really big set of tracks with a light bloodtrail thinking that I was for sure going to find one of his antlers laying in the snow. I followed the tracks back to where the blood started, but I couldn't come up with a shed. Maybe I'll find it after the snow melts...

Did some looking around on a new farm yesterday...lots of deer sign but came home empty handed. Today, I decided to head back to the farm that I've been stomping around on to check out a couple of fields that I haven't hit yet. I drove up a snowed in seasonal road to see if there were any deer tracks out in the field. There were, so I pulled out the old binos and scanned the sign looking for an antler laying on top of the snow. Much to my surprise I spot tines sticking up about 80 yds out! Shed #1: Shed #2 laying 40 yds from the first one: Shed #3 found less than 15 minutes later: Found this arrow stuck in the ground. Apparently, some moron was launching arrows at deer from the road... These babies haven't been on the ground very long!!! Here are my 2011 sheds so far. Kinda wierd that they're all left sides. I guess that means that there's at least 5 right sides laying out there in the snow somewhere. I've never really looked for sheds in the past until March, so I'm well on my way to fulfilling my goal of 15 sheds...

I saw several bucks last night that were still carrying antlers too.

I use a Browning BPS with either a Pure Gold or Indian Creek BDS choke and 3.5" Hevi-13 Magnum Blend loads. Works for me...

According to the Penn State researchers, my turkey was banded in Feb. 2007 along with nine other toms/jakes on a neighboring farm approximately a mile and half from where I killed him. He originally had two bands but one apparently came loose. Here's the story behind the band:

Scored on shed #2 today...not much size to it but its definately my freshest ever. I believe that it was dropped last night. You can see blood in the snow around it and a spot of frozen blood on one of the tines in the photos. Finally, I broke the camera curse too, whenever I carry it I don't find squat. Hopefully, the bigger ones are yet to come!

Here's a couple more that are kind of unique: After catching this dude mooning my trail camera back in '09, it became my mission to get some revenge on this guy!!! Due to the two short tail feathers near the center of his fan, I dubbed him "Shortie".. . Justice was served!!! I chased this one for a few days back in '08... I was pretty pumped/shocked when I went to tag him and discovered this $100 reward band on his leg!!!

Needless to say, I'm sick and tired of seeing snow!!! I'm hoping that thoughts of warmer times ahead and chasing longbeards this spring will get me through the next few frigid weeks. Last spring was a pretty good one overall. There were lots of longbeards around but a majority of them remained henned up all season long and it made the hunting pretty tough. I managed to fill my tags with a couple of nice gobblers: Bird #1... Bird #2... Dad's second of the year, big ole late season limbhanger... Uncle's monster...1 5/8" spurs!!!

Went out for a little stroll this morning and found the hard, crusted snow way too much of a hassle to get around in. Came across this little buttonbuck laying out in a field. I actually found him frozen in the hedgerow in the background during my first shed hunt of the year on January 2nd. Looks like the coyotes finally sniffed him out too...

Dang it, now I'm gonna have to go check that field out again!

Well, spent a couple of hours this morning scouring the alfalfa field where I saw all of the bucks last night. Got there around 10:30 and the wind was really starting to pick up. There were tons of tracks and beds all over the place. I crisscrossed the field from end to end but didn't find a single shed out there so I ventured off just inside the woods in the background. There were a bunch of beds in there, but again, I didn't come up with any sheds. By the time that I left @ 12:30 all the sign was erased. I couldn't even see my tracks from an hour earlier any more!!! Oh well, I got some good exercise. Think that I'll leave it alone until next weekend and try my luck again. The bucks are here, now it's just a matter of waiting for them to loose their headgear...

I'm heading out the door in a few minutes to do some looking around. This snow has really made the deer yard up on the food sources. I saw over 50 deer (around 20 or so bucks still packing antlers) feeding out in two small fields the other night on a farm that I shed hunt. There were 12-15 bucks together last night out in the one little field that I'm going to check out today, including several really nice ones. There may have been more that have already shed but it's kinda hard to get a good look at them this time of the year; they don't stick around very long once the spotlight hits them. Anyways, I've got my fingers crossed that they all dropped their racks overnight in a big pile out in the middle of the field. That would sure make it alot easier on me... .

Love those brows!!!

Well, I've been out a few more times since breaking the ice on my first shed of the year on 1/2. Currently, I'm only checking out food sources and haven't added any more antlers to the collection despite plenty of deer sign. On the way home from work last night I spotlighted the alfalfa/cornfield where I've concentrated my efforts thus far...there were a bunch of deer out there. They didn't hang around very long but I could make out at least two big bucks and a small buck that were still packing. I also checked another field on the other end of the farm and there were 20 deer or so out there too. Again, they quickly hauled tail for the woods but I had enough time to make out one really nice buck, another nice one that looked like he was missing one side and several smaller ones. Based on these sightings and recent trail cam pics, I think that I'm gonna have to be patient and give it a few more weeks before I get into the shed hunting hot and heavy. At least this snow is making the deer congregate on the food sources which is always a plus when looking for sheds. The good new is that there should be some nice antlers laying around in the near future...