J's 2014 shed season

[JGS]

Well after reading others shed hunting 'adventures' for the last couple years, I've decided it was time I started posting mine as well.  I am by no means as good at this game as others on here(you know who you are).  But here goes anyway:

 

First hike of 2014:

With the light snow cover and high winds I decided to give it a shot yesterday at some local public land before the fresh drops were covered in snow or scooped up by others.  So I picked up my bro-in law and off we went around 1030.  We starting seeing deer almost right away, mostly does and fawns(or 1 1/2's that had already dropped).  We did manage to see one buck that had dropped his right side already, his left side was a small 2pt side.  We looked along the ridge were he came from for awhile but had no luck finding his dropped side.  We moved along to a thicket with consisted of pines(mature and young), golden rod, and thorn bushes.  Within two minutes of telling my bro-in law to make sure he looks under every pine tree carefully, I spot #1 of the year under a pine tree(small 3pt side).  We searched high and low through the rest of the thicket but came out with only one find. Called it a day at 1645 after covering nearly eight miles.  

 

In my excitment for my first shed hunt of the seaon I forgot my camera so no pics of the small buck we saw, and only cell pics of our one find.

Edited January 2, 2014 by jgsbucker

[wooly]

Congrats on your first antler of 2014 jgsbucker!

Nice to have another shed journal here to follow along with on the site!

Good luck to you the rest of the season, and hope to see many more finds from you in the comoing months!

[crappyice]

Nice find...congrats on number 1

[sampotter]

Nice work and burn the boot leather!

[JGS]

1/16/14

-Well I finally got a chance to get back out there after two weeks of work and snow.  Started off my five day weekend with a quick trip to my "home" farm that I hunt on to check my cameras quick and do a quick look in the open areas.  I don't like to do too much here until I know that most of the bucks have dropped, so I try to stay out of known bedding areas until at least march.  I only got trail camera pictures of one small year and half old buck that still had antlers(date and time on cam are behind by 10 days and 8 hours), no big boys this time around.  I walked just short of three miles, mainly straight lines to and from my cameras.  I managed to find one deadhead from years ago that someone beat me to before I ever really had a presence on this farm."I hate not knowing what he was"

 

 

 

 I am just getting ready to go out this morning and check out a new farm that I have never stepped foot on to hopefully find some fresh drops or at least signs that the deer are there to make for some finds later in the season.

 

Trips: 2

Miles: 11

Sheds: 1

Deadheads: 1(2nd person to find)

[JGS]

1/17/14

-I just got back from my shed hunt/scouting mission of the day.  Went to a new farm that I haven't been on before and no hunting is allowed.  I had to go about three hours before making a find, other than four or five old leg bones(they still trick me every time).  I was walking along a creek in the woods with a ten to twenty yard opening of tall grass that follows the creek.  I got to a crossing and stopped for a second and caught white tips across the creek sticking up through the grass, four point left side with nice long main beam.  It is not a fresh drop but luckily for me the rodents left it surprisingly chew free. I followed the trail and the creek in all directions but could not find a match, I'm thinking it is probably not in as good a shape as this one.  Called it a day with between four and five hours and a pedometer on my phone that decided to act up but I'd say close to five miles.

 

 

Trips: 3

Miles: 16

Sheds: 2

Deadheads: 1(2nd person to find)

[wooly]

Sweet find! Nothing wrong with that old bone, and it's in really nice shape!

Great to see the new farm is hiding some antlers for ya and hope it produces some nice freshies soon!

Congrats on #2 for the season!

[JGS]

1/20/14

-I went back to the home farm this afternoon to check cameras.  I ended up moving them as there has not been too much action in front of them lately.  What action there has been, has rarely been bucks.  I didn't put any effort into shed hunting today due to the fact that we have about 6-8 inches of fresh snow everywhere except the fields where the wind has blown it around.  I was really looking forward to a long weekend of shed hunting but mother nature struck that plan down.  I spotted a few deer, one young buck still packing both sides of head gear, I can't seem to figure out where the bigger bucks we have go off to during the winter.  My only guess is they leave the farm entirely for the winter months, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

Trips: 3

Miles: 16

Sheds: 2

Deadheads: 1(2nd person to find)

[JGS]

3/02/14

-Cabin fever got the best of us.  I decided that even though we have the snow and got more on saturday night, that I had to go out anyway(its been too long).  Brother in law and I left his house and went for about a 2 mile hike down the hill side across the road from his house.  It was an uneventful hike that I really had no faith in, we just tried to follow tracks and hopefully get lucky.  I had made it back to about 300 yards from the house when my phone starts vibrating, (I found something come on back here!).  So my brother in law made his first find of the year and it is a dandy from 2012, prob road hit as it was only about 75 yards up the hill from the road.

 

 

Trips: 4

Miles: 18

Sheds: 2 (B.I.L.:0)

Deadheads: 1 (B.I.L.:1)

[Nomad]

Great find !

[mbucks27]

Cool Deadhead!! Good luck next time out..

 

John

[JGS]

3/27/14

- I finally got a few days off and the weather is starting to cooperate.  Decided to hit a new spot because I still have about half the ground covered in snow here so if nothing else I could find some good winter trails, feed and bedding.  I did about 6 miles and came out with one dead doe, fairly fresh, and a little bit of knowledge of where I want to start once all the snow is gone.

 

3/28/14

- I decided to go to one of the farms that I hit back in early January and give it a second go around.  I checked the creek bottom where I found an antler in January fairly thoroughly with no luck, but there is still some snow.  I moved out onto some golden rod where the snow had mostly cleared.  About fifteen minutes into the field I spotted a five point side right on the edge of the woods.  I circled the area and ran trails in both directions for a while with no luck on the match.  Then I scouted more area to come back to when I have bare ground.  I can't wait for the rest of this snow to disappear so I can give them a good run.  Took today off to get some work done.  Hopefully the rain all night eats away this snow, my brother and law and I are planning on giving it a try tomorrow. 

 

Trips: 6

Miles: 31

Sheds: 3 (B.I.L.:0)

Deadheads: 1 (B.I.L.:1)

 

Here's another two pics of my b.i.l's deadhead from my camera:

 

 

Edited March 29, 2014 by jgsbucker

[JGS]

3/30/14

- The fog and slushy rain was pretty thick at the house this morning so I decided to drop down into the valley and hit another new spot with my bro in law with me this time.  We walked a creek for a while that had clearly gone over its banks last night so we decided to head up hill into a little less muddy ground.  We were walking some trails in a brush lot when I spotted a first for me.  About 8 inches of broken off main beam thats been in the field a while.  Must have been a good fight there sometime in the past.

 

 

We kept searching the area as there was pretty good buck sign that we couldn't walk away from.  We had made it about 200 yards and my bro in law finds his first ever shed.  It was a decent 4 point side.

 

 

This find was right at the edge of the woods that over looks the creek bottom with an old homestead that only has about half of the stone foundation left standing.  We searched the bottom and trails leading out of it for a match with no luck.  While heading up out of the bottom three does came running down the trail i was on, the first turned off about 5 paces in front of me.  About crapped myself tried to get off the trail but slipped in the mud, almost cleared me out.  We went a couple hours with no luck or finds until I found another oldie, 5 pt side, just off a wheat field in a little opening in an adjoining apple orchard.

 

 

We called it a day after about 6 miles.

 

Trips: 7

Miles: 37

Sheds: 4 (B.I.L.:1)

Deadheads: 1 (B.I.L.:1)

Break Offs: 1

 

[sampotter]

Nice finds!

[burmjohn]

Looks like a job for the moderators Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nuked

[wooly]

Way to build some momentum before green up! Did you guys get snowed on again?

Congrats on your latest!

[JGS]

We got a dusting up in the hills but nothing in the valleys. Just a lot of fog and rain.

[dbHunterNY]

way to go.  looks like you're starting to get a collection.  I haven't made a valiant effort to find sheds but even so I've only found a couple ever.