Sweatin' to the oldies..

[trophy taker]

You are the champ wooly! Congrats and happy easter to you and yours.

[Red]

congrats you have some really nice finds this year

[wooly]

Thanks guys! Season's just about over for me. I'll continue to get off the beaten path and maybe find a few more but it's time to move on to other things.

Obviously I wont be doing any complaining about the way this season has gone for me... and the weather wasn't bad either!

So I'm getting rolling on my season ending pics and thought I'd start with the skulls and deadheads.

Picked up 15 skulls, I believe only 4 were fresh and and the other 11 oldies. Five other fresh dead buck finds already had their hats removed by someone else before I got to them.

I got a little bit of cleaning to do on some of them yet but I don't get too carried away...just skin the heads and let the elements take care of the rest.

I didn't take home as many non antler items as I usually do. Only brought home 7 broadhead tipped arrows and one foothold trap.

Anyhow, here's my little tribute to the unrecovered bucks from the last 2 years. I like to get these outta the woods so no other antler pickers find all that bone laying around to turn them on to some of my spots. Some of my sheds this year were found only because I had to take another look around after finding all the skulls in some areas, so that's kinda my logic behind it too.

.

[erussell]

Either you get bad winters around there or you have some really bad shots. I did a ton of criscrossing my properties and found one skull that was so old the antlers were almost gone. If I find a dead deer its quite a suprise.

[wooly]

Either you get bad winters around there or you have some really bad shots.

Lol, shots look like they worked pretty good to me, I'm thinking the tracking may be the bigger problem. A lot of these bucks turned up in some pretty nasty thickets. Add a little foliage to the mix and it's probably easiest to just go shoot yourself another one.

It does give you a good idea of where these bucks run to die...info that has come in handy on some of my own recover efforts.

[erussell]

Thats to bad, There is a lot of wasted meat feeding yotes right there. I would be in the sausage all winter and summer with that many deer.

[ny hunter]

I have yet to find an antler in the woods,you guys make it look so easy.

[Red]

very nice pic. some of those skulls have some really nice racks.

[wooly]

Thanks folks! Time to find something besides antlers to take pictures of!

Here's the seasons horn total. Thanks for following along on my hikes everybody!

Lefties...

Righties...

Sets...

...and the whole antler army together..

[erussell]

Holl crap I dont think there are that many bucks within a 10 mile radius of my house.

[wooly]

Holl crap I dont think there are that many bucks within a 10 mile radius of my house.

Same here erussell, that's why my range covers about 30miles.

I know I said I was done looking, but that's just how I trick the rest of the antlers to come out of hiding. Went to do a little mountain biking in the park today and I found this little guy. Ok, maybe I locked the bike to a tree and took a little stroll. I'll do a little more biking tomorrow.

#32!

[erussell]

Your an animal Wooly. I havent gotten out lately been to busy preping a new food plot and repainting my tree stands. Im starting to get the itch though.

[wooly]

Take your time erussell, I'll take care of woodland clean-up for ya,lol.

No luck with sheds today but I did find another fresh dead buck. Not a massive rack but he's a real nice 8pt with a 20" spread.

Off to the wall of shame for this guy!

I've come to the conclusion I need to get a bigger pac too,lol.

[CTHunter]

I can't get over the numbers of dead bucks you find? I am sure I don't cover as much ground as you wooly ( then who could?) but the number of dead bucks is really sad to see. Makes me wonder about how many are lost in my area that we miss. Keep posting them Wooly, kind of a final tribute to them!

Edited April 15, 2012 by CTHunter

[Pav2704]

Hey Wooly,

Your making me want to go out and get a mountain bike. lol Looks like you had an incredible shed season. Are you building a garage this spring to store all those sheds???

[ny hunter]

Nice looking deer,what a shame.

[erussell]

Wow another one, wierd with the nice winter we had this yr. Wonder why?

[wooly]

Thanks guys!

I've given up on my thicket searches as it's gotten too thick now. Decided to look for some horns behind the house today in the open woods. I already covered the top of the hill pretty good where it flattens out so I switched tactics today and began to cover the bottom 3'rd closer to the road.

Went the better part of the day without a find when I came across another little old skull. Further up the same ridge I walked right up antler #33 sitting beside a scrape! I didn't get it in my ATL. This guy still has the wax ring. I wonder how long it's been off.

No luck with the mate.

The days finds. Looks like somebody tried to cut the rack off the little deadhead but decided it wasn't worth the effort,lol!

[ny hunter]

Wooly this has been a great year for buddy thanks for sharing.......

[wooly]

Wooly this has been a great year for buddy thanks for sharing.......

Thanks ny hunter, it's been my pleasure...beginners luck had a lot to do with it,lol!

[wooly]

Sorry guys if this seems like the post that wont go away but I got #34 today!

Still picking through the lower section of the hill today when I spotted a little oldie laying in an island hemlock patch in the open woods. The recent snow had him covering up in the leaves to keep warm. We still got about 3" up at the top of the hill...it's not quite the elevation change some of you see in the mountains, but it's definately a steep hard hike to the top.

I'm pretty pumped to still be turning up antlers pretty regular this time of year but I sure don't want season to end with an oldie.

[wooly]

I'm retracting my statement that this horn doesn't match antler #2 for the season. Took a closer look today and I'm gonna call them a match set.

Not sure if it's the chewed tines that make them "unbalanced" or the slightly longer main beam...part of why I questioned it. Add the missing brow tine on the left side and the color difference for more scrutiny. Granted, one was on top of the leaves while the other was burried. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention they were found about 150 yds apart.

....but then I look at the similarities in the bases. Almost a carbon copy how they deteriorated around the burr.

...and a view from behind just to confirm my thoughts. Curious what you guys think. Match or no? This could be my 7'th set on the year.

[t_barb]

Match!! You are amazing and extremely dedicated.. I look forward to your posts..

I have to imagine that a lot of people read your posts and say "that guy is lucky"... I have always figured it is not luck at all.. Any idea how many hours you have spent looking this year? I am sure it is a number that will shock a lot of people on this board.

[erussell]

Def a match!!!

[wooly]

Guess I gotta go with match now!

Thank you t_barb for your kind comments. I'd love to give you an estimated # of hours or miles but I honestly have no clue....let's just say not enough to find 40 yet, but I'm working on it,lol. There weren't too many days I didn't find some time to get out for a hike.

Luck is probably 50% of it for me and the other 50% is just being persistant and enjoying my alone time outdoors whether I get lucky or not....it keeps me coming back for more!