Freshy on the ground

[wooly]

Lace up your hiking boots boyz- shed season's here.

If we don't get too much snow I'll look harder for it tomorrow in that area.

[NYBowhunter]

what you have growing there that the deer are digging?

[wooly]

Nuthin'....just kick up the leaves and dump some scent. Now just out of this frame there's a bunch of some sort of crawling ground ivy growing in the creekbottom. It's tore up right now like any other year but usually they don't scratch it up this early into the winter. Might be a long winter for them already hitting that stuff.

[WNY Bowhunter]

I moved a couple of cams last week to do some post-season scouting.  Checked it x-mas morning and ended up getting several bucks, including one that is shed out already that I believe to be a 2.5 year old 8-pt that I got pics off all summer/fall.

There was a nice, wide buck in the alfalfa field across the road from the house that I saw several times last week too.  On monday he had both sides, on tuesday the left antler was gone. I looked for it around the field with no luck.  So, there are sheds on the ground but I think that I'll wait a few more weeks before I go looking for some...

[wooly]

Now that's a beautiful sight right there! I think I actually like these pics better than full racks of fall.

Good luck with those guys.

[MuzzyLoader]

I've never done any type of shed hunting.  I think I'd like to get out and look for some.  What's the best place to scout... cut corn fields, bedding areas, etc...?

[wooly]

MuzzyLoader- a good food source is key to holding bucks about to shed but that's not the only places to check out. I've gotten pics of the same bucks night after night at the same feeding location only to find their antlers 2 miles away the night after they dropped.

Food sources are a great starting point, but if sheds don't show up there, it's time to hunt the antlers in the same places you'd expect to find the bucks themselves. I know this is very generalized information but the randomness of where they'll show up is part of what makes it so much fun. After hiking 8 hrs a day for a week straight it's pretty rewarding to finally catch up with one.

Once you find a few you'll be able to start to form some good techniques that work well for your area. My point is, if you're not looking for them, you wont find any. Sometimes that antler will be laying there waiting for you with tines stretched skyward, while others you'd swear the bucks intentionally hid from you in places you would never imagine.

[Geno C]

wow dropping them already, pretty neat!

[MuzzyLoader]

MuzzyLoader- a good food source is key to holding bucks about to shed but that's not the only places to check out. I've gotten pics of the same bucks night after night at the same feeding location only to find their antlers 2 miles away the night after they dropped.

Food sources are a great starting point, but if sheds don't show up there, it's time to hunt the antlers in the same places you'd expect to find the bucks themselves. I know this is very generalized information but the randomness of where they'll show up is part of what makes it so much fun. After hiking 8 hrs a day for a week straight it's pretty rewarding to finally catch up with one.

Once you find a few you'll be able to start to form some good techniques that work well for your area. My point is, if you're not looking for them, you wont find any. Sometimes that antler will be laying there waiting for you with tines stretched skyward, while others you'd swear the bucks intentionally hid from you in places you would never imagine.

WOW... thanks for the info Wooly.  2 miles - whoda' thought.  I'm going out this weekend with my hunting buddy (and his children) shed hunting.  Oughta' be a good time.

[First-light]

Wooly is the grand master of the shed antler. He finds them in spots that you never think to look!

Some say he was a great 12 point of the northern woods years ago, legend has it!

Just look at his birthday cake, he is hiding in the brush while the small bucks get taken. Don't you think his sister knows something?

[wooly]

Some say he was a great 12 point of the northern woods years ago, legend has it!

Oh my.......them's just stories Burt,lmao. Was actually just a 10 point.

Good luck this weekend Muzzy! You'll sleep good afterwards if you do it right.

[First-light]

My Father-in-law insists that there was a great big buck up by Indian lake that they nicknamed Wooly.

It was a long time ago but he said that buck could give you the slip, here today gone tomorrow.

His best story was when Wooly jumped clear over the hood of the truck they were driving into hunting camp. Half the guys didn't want to get out to hunt! You are a legend!