WNY Bowhunter

The DEC doesn't need to be contacted in this situation. There are no laws against the possession of antlers from a deer that was found dead in this state.

Apparently, none of the neighbors had known of the deer. It was found lying in a creek with one if the hind legs tangled up in an old fence.

Dang, 176 5/8 gross local Steuben County deadhead I scored tonight for a buddy of mine. Heck of a buck.

This will probably be my end of the pic...we'll see.

50-52...

It's got it's moments of frustration I PROMISE you. I've gotten 23 heads mounted up and put the door since deer season ended...still have 20 more to go.

As a matter of fact, I am exactly 40.

If I did, there wouldn't be so many baby sheds in the pile this year! Biggest one was 61" from a stud 3.5 year old, he's one of the only good bucks that I have to look forward to this year. The local buck herd got demolished last gun season so I went into the shedding season knowing that there wasn't going to be many big antlers laying around.

Alot of places to shed hunt but none that are close to being great. I've put many, many miles on the boots this winter/spring that's for sure!

This guy is the second blind eyed buck that I mounted up from this past season...

Only one to go till I hit my goal of 50 for the season...

I also live in the 8R and 8P area. This year our oaos got completely devastated the Gypsy moths, as did the apple trees a lot of maples. A lot of the spots I hunt by Keuka lake literally the oak tree had no foliage during the summer they grew secondary leaves back but there were no acorns whatsoever. Hopefully they'll bounce back this year.

#47 & 48 My cousin killed this buck last gun season. He made a heck of a jump.

Tough conditions this afternoon, especially for looking in the timber. Stumbled on to a little oldie...#46 down...4 more until I can call it a season.

I haven't posted on here in a while, but I have been pretty busy in the taxidermy shop. Currently, just over halfway done with the '21 season mounts. These two Steuben County bruisers went home this afternoon.

No sheds tonight, but another decent deadhead...

I shot a gobbler in May of 2012 that had been banded in 2007 a mile away. I killed a bird with the consecutive band number in 2008 on the same property. The 2012 bird had 1 3/16 spurs when captured/banded in '07, making him likely 9 yrs old when I tagged him five years later. He had a 1.25" spur on one leg and his other was broken off at an inch. He was a healthy 22.5#. He had a $100 reward band that had expired in '09. According to the research leader that I talked to at Penn State, he was the oldest bird reported in the tri-state study for NY, PA and OH!!!

A real shed magnet wouldn't have missed the other side laying there. Don't find too many nice side by side sets like this. LOL

Update, just got home from Rochester in time to rescue it. They were spreading manure out in the field today and it probably would have been covered tomorrow. Sometimes it's good to be lucky!

This is kind of embarrassing, was just looking at this ATL of a shed I found the other day and now I noticed the other side sitting there a few feet away. I have to go back and get it tonight LOL

Only find from Saturday's walk...

I initial each one and write the year that I found it. My son has antler OCD, he likes to organize and sort them as long as they're not chewed on or have too many points. He likes a good typical antler...lol

I do shed hunt alot of areas that I don't actually hunt, but several properties that I do hunt also. Those deer that you acquire history with definitely mean more to pick up than the random deer (unless the random one is really big). I mount local deer every season that I will have the sheds to. The worse part to having a big stack of sheds is when you have to dig through them to find one particular shed of interest as was the case with this pic from a couple weeks ago...lol

I throw them in a big pile...lol. Yes, many miles covered over many different local properties. All private but none are overly great or exclusive.

Trying to hit 50; #42-44...