WNY Bowhunter

Well, here's a little update on my most wanted sheds this year... I had his antlers in my hands yesterday, but not exactly the way that I wanted to see them. This landowner had allowed me to shed hunt his property for the past two years. When I approached him about looking for this deer's sheds a few weeks ago he threw me a major curveball by saying that he was going to try to find them this year. I was crushed!!! This deer was so patternable from late November though December that I just knew that his antlers were going to be easy to find this year. I was right. He found them last weekend laying out in one of the cloverfields where I had videoed this guy on x-mas eve within five minutes of searching. It's the only 5 minutes that he's ever looked for shed antlers too. I'm still sick about it. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. ] Most of the tines had chipped tips and several small abnormals were broken off too... This year's antlers compared to the previous two years...

Shed #11: I wish I would have picked this one up last year!!! On the hoof... 2010 antler compared to 2011... Shed #12: Would have been another 60 incher if the G2 wasn't busted...

I know how you feel. A flooded creek kept me from hitting up the spot that I wanted to check this morning...

This little spiker from yesterday makes #10. Hit up a new spot today with TONS of deer sign but couldn't get out to where I really wanted to look due to the creek being so high. There's supposed to be a monster droptine buck that was seen here around x-mas time...

Just sent mine in...

That's a cute little antler...lol.

Honestly, I don't even bother to search cornfields any more (unless they have a TON of sign)...just too much work for the returns that I've gottten in the past. The series of fields where I was searching yesterday is a little honeyhole...I've snagged 20 sheds from them in the past three seasons. There are probably some more little ones buried under the snow right now, but I won't bother with them until the snow melts off. Good luck.

Set #3: Lots of wierd stuff going on here... Comparison to last year's set... Versus the big 6-pt...

Few more pics... . Set #1: It's kind of hard to see, but they have a cool double row of G3 tines... Set #2:

The day wasn't over yet... I headed up to the upper end of the field. The deer usually hit this area up pretty good too. I saw what appeared to be a nice row of tines sticking up. Upon closer inspection I was shocked to see that the antler was bigger than I initially thought and better yet, the match was laying right next to it!!! It's my largest set to date. These babies weren't here when I last checked on thursday either. There was actually still drops of blood on the snow in the vicinity... Last February, I found this same buck's sheds laying together in the same field. There was a little less snow at the time...

1/6/13: Sheds #6-9... I would probably have to say that today ranks as my best day of shed hunting ever... !!! After all, this is NY...not the mid-west. Started the day off looking for the other side to the big 6-pt. I started scanning all of the fresh deer sign in the field. The deer have definately been spending time out here... It didn't take very long and I spotted what I was looking for laying on top of the snow!!! I know it wasn't there when I last checked on thursday... Shed #6: A few minutes later I spied more tines sticking up... Shed #7 was the match to #5 from thursday:

Just got in from trying to match up yesterday's big 3-pt shed. Didn't find it...but, I did pull two more out of the snow. They gotta fall just right to be able to see them. If they go tines down you are screwed!!! Number 4... Dinker#5...

Found #3 today while checking some deer sign on the way to work. This baby was laying out in a hayfield half buried in the snow 20 yds off of the road. I had to bust through a snow drift in sneakers and jeans to get it but it was well worth it. Gotta love those road sheds!!! I'm gonna see if I can match it up in the morning. It's my biggest 3-pt shed to date, the G2 was 10 inches. Sorry, no ATL as I didn't have my camera in the truck with me... I believe that it had been on the ground for less than 12 hours... On the hoof...

I took offense to this photo as it appeared that this guy was flipping me the bird turkey style. I took note of his two short tail feathers and put him at the top of the hitlist... I ended up shooting him in the face and getting my revenge...lol.

A few years back I did set a camera up exclusively for turkeys and ended up withe some awesome pics...

The best way to scout turkeys in the spring is to get out there at daylight and listen for gobbles...

All I have to say is bears have weird looking gut piles...lol!!!

A couple of pics of the calf killer...

The story is true. It happened on my uncle's brother-in-laws farm in Wheeler. The bear was a 300 lb male...it was radio collared and monitored as part of a study by Cornell University. Over 3 weeks in mid-October through early November this guy broke into the barn 4 times and killed 3 pigs and 5 calves (not full grown cows) in the 150-250 lbs range. The DEC sent a guy with bear dogs down to try to kill it but the bear eluded them. They placed a barrel trap outside of the barn...this is where the bear was ultimately captured and destroyed. I've got pics. but my photobucket account isn't working at the moment...

He's the buck in post #5 that I videoed on monday...

Based on all the deer that we took in at the family butchershop this year I didn't see where they were in any worse shape than in previous seasons. Actually, all of the does were loaded with fat...

Went to check trailcams today before the big snow storm that we are supposed to be getting hits. This nice little 8-pt has been a regular visitor for the past few weeks. Here he is on x-mas eve with both antlers... Few hours later... I started checking around all of the tracks in the snow thinking maybe I'd get lucky and find it. An hour later I'd pretty much given up all hope...there was just too much sign to check over for one little dinky shed. I followed some tracks back towards me truck scanning the ground as I went along until I felt something under my foot...I looked down and saw....shed #2 for the season!!! Sometimes it's far better to lucky than good. I'll take it either way. The circle is where I got the pics of him earlier... This is the beginning of my 6th season of serious shed hunting and this little 4-pt antler makes shed #80 for me!!!

Got a little bit of crappy video of my "Most Wanted" sheds on the hoof earlier this afternoon...

While it's still a bit early yet to do any serious shedding, I did a little scouting at one of my best spots today to see what kind of deer sign was in the snow. Lots of tracks and two dead deer. The first one appeared to be a smaller doe (head was gone) and 70 yds away laid this little 7-pt. Tried to pop his antlers off but they were firmly attached. Too small to deal with so I left him out in the field as I found him...