sampotter's 2015 Shed Thread

[sampotter]

Well, like the rest of you, I've had a really slow shed season.

 

I went to southern OH to my friend's place to get away from the snow a few weeks ago. It has been getting logged since 12/1, so the deer were along the fringes of the property for the most part. We walked pretty hard and managed to find two, which is better than none I suppose. One is off an old acquaintance of mine, a buck I call "The Challenger". I now have a matched set off him from 2012, and singles from 2014 and this year. He should be 6 years old this year. He would've scored about 140" last fall, but most of is in gnarly 6" bases and nearly 8" brow tines. 

 

As it lay:

 

 

Ruby bringing it in:

 

 

Tired girls:

 

 

I spotted this forkie in the mouth of a ravine the next day:

 

 

A week later I headed towards my in-law's farm in Iowa. I got in the area early morning, and because my friend was flying into an airport in Western WI that afternoon, I killed some time by shed hunting on a WI farm. Towards the end of the day I spotted my first ever WI shed. Ruby was quick to scoop it up so I didn't get a good ATL:

 

 

About an hour later I spotted a 14" shiv in the leaves...

 

 

It proved to be a match to the first one:

 

 

When my friend Jake and I finally arrived at my in-law's house, this was the sight that greeted us. My mother-in-law and her friend spotted this mint set in the grass below my in-law's grain bins while on their daily walk. They are about 65" each. I'm pretty confident the buck will only be 4 this year. Jake and I drooled over them all week.

 

 

The first morning we stopped at a neighbor's house to fondle this 178" rack he found last fall. I had this deer on my trailcam one night in November...

 

 

 

All amped up, we walked for 2 days straight without finding a shed... We did find lots of boot and ATV tracks (all private land). Most of the landowners were surprised when we told them what we found. On Day 3 I finally spotted some bone!

 

 

Later that same day we circled back into a thick area we had been near the day before. We just found more ATV tracks, so we popped back out onto a field edge and followed it back towards the truck. I had walked this same edge following ATV tracks the day before. As we discussed and cussed our luck and the trespassers that poached our spot, I glanced across Jake's line of travel and spotted golden tines at the top of the field! Jake was some sad.. he actually was closer to the shed than me by a couple of feet.

 

 

I proved to be a big fatty that measured 58". It ended up being the biggest of the trip.

 

 

 

[ny hunter]

Very cool pics...........That buck is awesome.

[sampotter]

We headed to a different farm that afternoon. The neighbor told my father in-law that he and his family picked up 26 sheds a couple of weeks before. Jake found 1, I found zero. The farmer called another landowner and got permission for us in another spot. I found this dink 3 point side right in the yard. Jake ended up finding the matching side 1/2 a mile away.

 

 

On to new ground the next day, I found this decent 4 point side:

 

 

We moved on to another farm where I got skunked, but Jake had a hot streak and picked up 5! I was supposed to follow a field edge and he was going to come up through a ravine. Well, he beat me to the top and poached one along the field edge about 5 minutes before I got there,  a touché if you will to me spotting the one in front of him 2 days before. 

 

The next day I saw this one in a hayfield:

 

 

Fleur bringing it in. A 5 point yearling side, that buck has a ton of potential!

 

 

Jake had to leave but I kept at it for a couple more days. The last day, while I stopped to get my sandwich out, I spotted this little forkie right under my nose. We all almost missed this one.

 

 

With 1.5 hours left before I had to pack up to drive back to NY, I took a half-hearted walk in some thick CRP across the road from my in-law's house. Reuben Cary, an old Adirondack guide once said, "Don't curse yer luck til yer git home!" AKA- don't give up! Tines amongst the grass were an awesome sight in that sea of grass and weeds in the last 1/2 hour of my trip!

 

 

 

Ruby and Fleur with my finds:

 

 

Mine and Jake's together:

 

 

I went out here in NY a few days ago on some public land and managed to come up with 4...

 

I found my 2nd hanger ever in an apple tree!

 

 

I found a ton of feeding sign under an apple tree and thought, "Geez, there has to be a shed around here somewhere."  There was:

 

 

 

There was a ton of sign under the hemlocks. I knew it was just a matter of time...

 

 

Fleur bringing it in:

 

 

About 20 yards away I spotted this oldie:

 

 

 

I didn't expect to see a porkie in my area. They are the only thing worse than squirrels when it comes to sheds.

 

 

We found 10 dead fawns that day and one dead buck that had already shed. The deer we saw that were alive looked like death warmed over. This winter was a killer here in the NE.

 

Miles: 126.2

Sheds: 15  (OH-2, WI-2, MN-0, IA-7, NY-4)

[WNY Bowhunter]

I've been waiting for this thread to appear. Congrats on the finds so far!

[Red]

Very nice sheds that's a lot of miles some great exercise while flinwg something you enjoy.

[wooly]

Cool- if your pooches ever disappear, I sell you one that looks just like them and answers to the same name,lol.... or you could let me borrow them for a weekend or two.

Some fine finds there Sam-bone!

 

[NYhuntingdogs]

The deer we saw that were alive looked like death warmed over. 

  

 What do you mean? I saw some the other day with patches of hair missing.

[sampotter]

It looked like some may still die. Really thin with hollow, empty guts.

[NYhuntingdogs]

Oh dang. Nice pics I like how you bring the dogs out with you.

[sampotter]

The dogs are supposed  to find sheds. They do find some, but the black one (Fleur) has been in heat for the last week and a half, so she is more interested in coyote and dog smells than antlers at the moment...

[phade]

Nice job Sam.

 

Iowa has treated you well on many levels. So has Ohio. 

 

I'm collecting my 3rd point for IA next month.

[sampotter]

Heck with that, I'm just going to move there... someday!

[MountainHunter]

Very nice! 

[gjs4]

Way to go bud!

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[sampotter]

I'm still at it... Although it's definitely been a tough year for shed hunting.

 

I took the dogs out to some state land on 4/24/15 and it snowed a couple of inches while we were there. The only thing we found was another porky!

 

 

Last weekend I took the girls to the Adirondacks to look for moose sheds. On the way in we hit up a known deer yard and hit pay dirt! In fact, I spotted the first one from the truck while getting rid of the morning's coffee...

 

(Dead center of the photo to the left of the largest spruce)

 

 

 

Fleur found a little one after I walked right past it. As always, Ruby tried to steal it:

 

 

 

A little while later I found another small one:

 

 

And one more jackalope-sized shed to round out the day:

 

 

 

We also came across this balsam that must have been struck by lightning. I have never seen a tree so completely obliterated.

 

 

A view from a nearby stump.

 

 

Most of the splinters of the tree were within a 30 yard radius of the stump, but I was still finding pieces over 100 yards away.

 

 

We didn't find any moose sheds but I did get a photo of a bull already growing his new set in the end of January:

 

 

It was still a good trip.

 

 

Sheds: 19-  OH: 2, WI: 2, IA: 7, CT: 0, NY: 8

Miles: 187.86

Time: 135 hours, 24 minutes, 7 seconds (according to Trimble GPS app)

 

 

Edited May 7, 2015 by sampotter