Sweatin' to the oldies..

[wooly]

Well, since ML season ended Tuesday, that meant to me that opening day of shed season began Wednesday!

I start out looking for dead/unrecovered deer and also like to poke around areas I shed hunted last season, but never got to do a thorough search hoping to find a few antlers I may have missed.

So Wednesday 12-21-11 I find my first antler of the new season. A little oldie 3pt along a browse edge in the creekbottom.

12-22-11

Headto higher ground and searched some blowdowns and briar thickets where the dead deer like to run and die. No deadheads in here, but I did find antler #2.., another oldie 2pt.

The weather has been ideal for some early shedding hikes. It almost feels like spring out there now...well, except for not many freshies laying around out there yet.

Near the end of my hike, I stumbled upon the first dead buck of the year. Unfortunately someone else had beat me to him and stole his hat before I could. Tomorrow we do it all over again. Good post season entertainment until some freshies start hitting the ground.

[132 eight pointer]

Nice finds wooly.Poor buck, some nice steaks wasted there.

[SteveNY]

Very cool wooly, thanks for posting. Post more pics of what you find

[Chenango Dave]

I was expecting to see a picture of Richard Simmons and a work out video...haha. Good finds there Woolster!!!

[Dave]

Nice finds and thanks for including pictures.

[Deerthug]

I was expecting to see a picture of Richard Simmons and a work out video...haha.

Yeah me too especially after eating for two days straight. Lol

[wooly]

Thanks guys....I suppose this is good resistance training with all the thorns that try to hold ya back in here. Spent the day hiking through some more pricker thickets and rescued 2 more horns from the rodents. #3 and #4 for the season was a match set oldie 7pt with the tines chewed off the right antler. Got to these guys just in time.

I'm hoping the snow holds off for a few more days. Gotta few more areas like this I need to get back to.

The 2'nd antler is straight back from the one in the foreground about 10yds towards the top of the pic.

...outta the brush

[wooly]

Well the last few hikes haven't turned up any more antlers, but there's still plenty new to see every time I head out including but not only 1/2doz golfballs, an old broadhead tipped arrow missing it's fletchings burried in the leaves, and plenty of old bones. Here's a few of the more interesting finds from the last few hikes.

I did come across my 2'nd dead deer of this still early shed season. A dead doe that looked like she found her final resting place off a bean field in a drainage leading to the timber.

Next up was a first for me. I found this little pink arrow with a flat nock end. Never found one of these before but I suspect it wont be the last one I find,lol

Every now and then throughout my walkabouts something catches my eye that I spend a little time on photographing. When I came across these old wagon wheels, the shed hunting got put on hold for a little bit. Just something I liked about them.

..and lastly as I was watching a flock of about 20 winter turkeys scratch under a hemlock patch I caught movement off to my right one ridge over. A group of 3 yotes were bedded under a blowdown and began to move away from the birds. One yote broke off from the others and looked like he may be coming closer for some turkey dinner but he never came closer than 60 yds or so before turning to follow the others. I'm guessing they have a free meal waiting in the brush close by that they don't need to waste much energy on trying to catch. I'm not very wise to the way of the k-9's, but I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting a bit closer to them for some better shots. If they continue to use the dens they dug out under the blowdown, it shouldn't be a problem. Of course the turkeys roost on the opposite ridge so at the very least a set up here with the camera will get me some good shots of them. That's all for this installment, if I come across anything else in my wanderings I'll post them up.

[ny hunter]

Great shots as usual.I love your pics Wooly.

[wooly]

Spent some time checking out some brushy fingers that jut out into the fields today. Nothing in there but an old leg hold trap I packed out.

Between fields heading through the open timber I just about stepped on my first freshie of the season. A REAL nice hefty 5pt!

I was a little dissapointed when I picked it up and saw the antler rats had already started chewing the tines. Guessing no snow and where this antler fell in the open woods made it vulnerable to the rodents quick.

Searched for 3 hours for the mate but turned up nadda. I'll be back, but glad to get this one home before the snow hits tomorrow! Antler #5 for the season has a nice warm place to spend the winter!

[CTHunter]

Why do you think they would drop off this early? I don't usually see them until late January and February.

[wooly]

CTHunter- your guess is as good as mine but I suspect more bucks may shed earlier than we think. Last year I kept tabs on a winter bachelor group of bucks that didn't start dropping until Valentines Day, but there always seems to be a few bucks that drop unusually early every year around me.

Maybe all them "candy apples" they were vacuuming up this fall have little nutritional value to support holding headgear any longer then need be. Just a thought.

[wooly]

Spent the day hiking the 2 mile block around home but couldn't get on any more sheds. This little guy was my only find for the day so I gave him a lift home and tossed him in the skull box.

[First-light]

You must go through a few pair of boots per year. No wonder you stay so thin! lol Great picts and I really love the wagon wheels. Nothing like seeing your pictures when I'm up 17 floors in Manhattan, your a world away but you bring it right to me! Thanks Wooly

[fasteddie]

Great pics Wooly , especially the pic of the Yote .

[wooly]

Thanks guys!

Burt- you would have to put an antler on the 18'th floor to get me up to the 17'th every day,lol!

I'd probably take the elevator too so I wouldn't strain my lanky hiking legs.

Glad you all enjoy the pics. I'll have to start snapping more of the other things I see out there.

[Dave]

Great Wooly thanks for sharing. Took a Polar Bear dip in the ocean yesterday felt great.

Dave

[wooly]

1-5-12

Finally got around to getting fresh batteries for the cams so went to hang them today. Wanted to put one on the corn field so away I went after 3 days stuck at home with the flu bug.

When I got there debating what fence post to hang one on I saw this little fella in the stubble along the edge.

#6 is a little freshie 2/3/4 pt...my first fresh snow shed of the year!

I made a few passes looking for the mate when I noticed someone already had a cam hung on the field edge. I'd walked right by it about 5 x's. I don't like my picture taken so I deleted the pics of me and moved on like a ghost erasing my footprints in the snow behind me as I left. Turkey scratch style,lol.

[ny hunter]

Wooley you are behind the camera so much.you should get on the other side once in a while. LOL

[wooly]

Wooley you are behind the camera so much.you should get on the other side once in a while. LOL

Nah...at least on this side I know I'm staying outta trouble,lol.

[ny hunter]

Wooly I just spent the last half hour or so looking at your gallery.There some amazing pics there buddy.

[wooly]

Wooly I just spent the last half hour or so looking at your gallery.There some amazing pics there buddy.

Hey, thanks a lot ny hunter. Glad you enjoyed your visit!

Now back to the sheds! #7 and #8 are in the books! Eventually I need to rename this post "franticly finding freshies"! It's on now!

Crazy day kept me locked up at home and only left me 3 hrs to hike. Just thought I'd make the rounds and check the cams pulling one that was in a scary high traffic area.

Before I could reach that last cam I came across this dead shedhead. Looking closer there were 3 spent shells right next to his skull, a set of quad tracks that ran through the fields, and fresh foot prints the last few days. I hope nothin' screwy is going on here. Bad guys beware, very few folks have ever seen me shedding and I have a decent zoom on my cam to catch any funny stuff you may be doing.

This area is very thick and the perfect place for someone to hide something thinking it will never be found. This is so true that even the deer use it to hide their horns. In a little 5x5 clearing, my eyes about popped outta my sockets when I saw these guys! Touching!!!

This is the actual ATL from above!

I also saw 3 bucks still packing both sides today. Got a good one on cam still packing. And got a shed head on cam. It's getting contageous now. There really starting to drop steady already!

[WNY Bowhunter]

Congrats, you're on a roll now!!! I've been out for maybe 7 hours so far in the past week and a half just checking out a few clover/alfalfa/hayfields. So far no luck. I think that most are still packing. It'll be a few weeks before I get too serious.

[wooly]

I think that most are still packing. It'll be a few weeks before I get too serious.

Absolutely- the best is yet to come but this weather is hard to beat for some early January shed hunts!

Where I bumped antlered bucks from today I hope they don't go back into. If they drop in these brushy fields it's gonna take a lot of luck to stumble upon them with any consistancy, but that's a good piece of info to keep handy when things get slow.

Good luck next hike WNYB!

[wooly]

After yesterdays match set, I immediately knew I had this bucks antler from last year back at home too. I thought this was a pretty interesting comparison of just how little it is possable for a buck to add to his rack size with another year under his belt. If I didn't have the antler from last year, I would have guessed yesterdays set as another 2-1/2 yo when in reality he's 3-1/2 yo now. Pretty good example of just how inaccurate it can be to judge a bucks age by antler characteristics alone. Makes me wonder how many other horns in the box that may be much older than I first expected.