Shed season 2010 - 2011

[WNY Bowhunter]

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...

[wooly]

Pretty good haul so far WNYB! Great finds in this snow, congrats.

Pulled my cards today  and still getting bucks packing both sides. :

[First-light]

Nice racks, great job!

[Lawdwaz]

Yesterday I was at the house of a well known shed hunter from Lancaster NY.  I have known him for 25 years and got a chance to see some sheds that I remember seeing years ago when he would display them at some of the local Sportsman shows.  One set in particular WEIGHED over 8 pounds!!   MONSTER SHEDS!!

I have a bunch that I have found over the years but most were picked up back in the late 80's before the shooting started in Amherst.  Some real huge bucks walked those grounds back then.

Good luck and keep those pics coming.

Screw the mice!

[Geno C]

nice! that is funny you have all left sides lol.

atleast you know you have quite a few bucks going into next season!

[wjay1552]

This isnt a shed but i thought i would add it to this thread. a couple weeks ago my german shepards brought what was left of this guy home. im gonna put it up in the garage unless someone reconizes them and maybe i will return them haha

[WNY Bowhunter]

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...

[Lawdwaz]

They bleed THAT much when shedding horns?  Hmmm.......

[WNY Bowhunter]

They bleed THAT much when shedding horns?  Hmmm.......

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.

[Lawdwaz]

O.K., I'll buy that ;D

[genesee_mohican]

Great pics

WNY Bowhunter

My trail cams are still showing a lot of bucks with both antlers in place here.

[nyantler]

I've seen bucks hang on to them right to when the new antlers start to push them out

[QB1]

Took a walk with the Mrs. in late December, right around New Years, very warm out great weekend.  Found this shed on top of the snow, not a lot of mass but real long tines.  Very surprised to see one down that early but was happy to scoop it up.

[CNYlungbuster]

Did some spot lighting last night to check for head gear saw a decent 2.5 8pter and either a spike or 4 pter with him both still had there head gear on so I'll be waiting for a lil more snow to melt before I make any trips looking for sheds

Goodluck

CNY

How'd you know he is 2.5 years old?

Body charcteristics and his rack was as wide as his ears which on my farm usually means that thier at least 2.5.  Could of been older could or been younger no way to tell for sure without looking at thier teeth. Hopefully I'll be able to tell ya for sure next fall lol...

UPDATE:

I've spotted one more buck using my field at night on a regualar basis as well..... and boy is he a dandy well outside his ears and tall.  He's pushing 140 gross and im seeing him almost every night i go spotlighting.  I can't wait to see what he turns into I'm pretty sure I know where he's bedding so I'm putting a camera in between the field and bedding to see if I can get some close up shots of him. The medium 8 and small spike/4 are still visiting on a regualar basis as well, and all three were spotted together after the superbowl on sunday.

CNY

[mbucks27]

I went out today.  Looked from 9:30 to 3 and all i found was this weird antler lol.  As i was leaving i saw somebody walking along the field thats private property.  He had a huge 5 point shed and he turned out to be a dec officer.  He said he was just checking to make sure nobody was in the field and he came across the antler.  I knew there were sheds out in that field but i didnt want to get in trouble so i stayed out of there.  Well at least i broke the ice and found my first one of the season.  It was on long island.

[wooly]

  He said he was just checking to make sure nobody was in the field and he came across the antler.

Sure he was...what a co-inky-dink. :

Pretty cool little find mbucks27.

[G-Man]

nice looks like it might of broke off in velvet.... As for dec officer removing an antler from private property..unless he had permission its still theft. He can go on anyones land looking for poaching,ect.  but not remove the horn.. Its a shame that horns have that effect on people....

[Geno C]

going to do ALOT of scouting tomorrow. got alot of places to look into for this years bow season and i am hoping to come across some sheds. i have never found any sheds in the woods to date so hopfully i do tomorrow!

[Geno C]

well, i scouted a few different spots today! got a few trees picked for this coming bow season. i covered an un godly distance of walking today and i came up with NO sheds lol.

well, this was the first time i really paid attention to looking for them so i cant be mad. Its like hunting, cant always kill one the first day out. i will be doing more scouting maybe next weekend, maybe ill find a shed then.

does anyone think its possible that most are still sporting head gear? lol

[WNYBuckHunter]

I saw a buck 3 days ago with its antlers

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I saw two last evening that still had both antlers.

[Geno C]

i saw quite a few deer yesterday, none with antlers... prob mostly does. man i had my eyes peeled for some sheds too

[mbucks27]

Geno,

Glad to hear you found some good spots for this upcoming season.  I did that last year during the winter but the problem was that when i went in the fall to hunt everything was so thick and green that i couldnt get into half of the spots to hunt without walking thorugh a wall of brush lol.  Make sure you mark them spots good now or else you might have a tough time getting back to them in Oct.  As for the sheds i guess most of the deer down here on the island have probalby dropped already but im sure there is still a good amount that are carrying.  Once the snow melts some more it should be a lot easier to find them. Im hoping it all melts this week so i can get back out there next weekend.  Good Luck..

John

[WNY Bowhunter]

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...

[Geno C]

Geno,

Glad to hear you found some good spots for this upcoming season.  I did that last year during the winter but the problem was that when i went in the fall to hunt everything was so thick and green that i couldnt get into half of the spots to hunt without walking thorugh a wall of brush lol.  Make sure you mark them spots good now or else you might have a tough time getting back to them in Oct.  As for the sheds i guess most of the deer down here on the island have probalby dropped already but im sure there is still a good amount that are carrying.  Once the snow melts some more it should be a lot easier to find them. Im hoping it all melts this week so i can get back out there next weekend.  Good Luck..

John

hey john, yeah i got some really nice spots picked... i have a very strange memory, its almost photographic when it comes to hunting i can remember a specific tree, broken branch, pile of brush a plant growing out of the ground or land mark and remember the exact tree or specific object i saw even after only walking past it once 6-8 months prior. lol its funny my buddies always joke about it. i never mark any trees, i love to be stealthy. i dont want anyone to know i was even there or where i am. i can find my way to my stand in the pitch black even after being to it only once on new property. as i continue to go to that tree every so often thoghout the season i paint a picture in my head as the leaves drop, so its not like i go in with out leaves on the trees then go in with the leaves on the trees and get turned around. Nothing worse to me then going in the woods and walking all over trying to find you stand in the dark and spoiling a good spot. ive learned from mistakes when i was younger and developed a pretty neat gift. 

if i need a helping aid i use a natural branch as a marker that i would be the only one to know about that branch. If any other hunters saw he would walk by thinking nothing of it...