Sam's Shed Thread

[sampotter]

I had not had any luck this year until I went to visit a friend at his property in the Hocking Hills of Ohio the weekend of March 10th. Part of the problem is there are still a lot of bucks wearing their antlers including 2 big guys I saw near Rochester on the way back from Ohio on March 11th.

We pulled into his camp and there was a decent 4 point in the yard. I went around the corner and there was the other side along with a 3 pt side from a different deer. I worked my girlfriend's yellow lab pup Ruby on them and she "found" them and retrieved them with glee. I had to hold my black lab Fleur so the pup could get a chance. I'll take the easy ones any day.

We started hiking up and down those hills and the dogs found a 10pt 3yrold deadhead. Nuts. A few hours later I found another 4pt which Fleur brought in for me. Towards the end the day Fleur found 2 older chewed antlers down in the hollow about 10 minutes apart. Ruby helped Fleur carry them in. I also found a box turtle shell. All action shots are as they happened.

[sampotter]

Yesterday the 16th we searched near my parent's house in Skaneatles. A lond day and lots of mud. I did manage to find 3 different oldie moldies, one of which was buried in the mud. The dogs didn't find any of their own. Most of the time if I am finding antlers before they do its because I see them from a lot farther off before the dogs can get downwind of them and catch their scent.

On Monday the 19th we head to my girlfriend's parents farm in Iowa for our 2nd annual shed hunt.

[mbucks27]

Great finds!!!

John

[sampotter]

We drove 15.5 hours through the night to get to my girlfriend's parent's in Iowa and arrived at 5am. For her it is a good excuse to visit her them, for me a good excuse to stretch my legs and find some antlers! I was out the door by 9am and headed to a neighbor's farm that gave me permission to look. Unfortunately they also gave another guy permission too and I saw his boot tracks in the mud. Despite this, Fleur, Ruby, and I managed to tie my single day record by finding 8 sheds while covering 12 miles according to my GPS. I suspect the dogs covered even more. We found 2 matched, fresh 8-point sets and 4 singles, 2 of which were old, chewed, and big. I found the first 7 with the dogs helping bring them in and Ruby found #8, HER FIRST (girlfriend is very proud). That antler matched the one I found less than a minute and 20 feet earlier on the same trail. Hot, tired, sunburnt, and raring for day 2.

[sampotter]

Went to one of the girlfriend's friend's farms today. Jumped a buck that had lost his antlers- "BINGO" I thought. Found small a 4pt side w/a sticker shortly after. It was a good 2 hours and several miles later when I spotted an old, chewed 4pt across a ravine. After jumping a group of bucks that had all lost their antlers except for one 6pt that was still packing, Ruby dropped the match to the first antler I found at my heels. I missed the whole thing, but I heard the unmistakable "clink" of an antler hitting a rock and there she stood with a small 4pt at her feet. Her finds have not been as glamorous as Fleur's, but nonetheless are appreciated. An hour or so later we were crawling through some multiflora rose along a steep hillside when I heard Ruby mouthing something right behind me. I told her "drop" thinking it was some dead animal part, but realized it was a remnant of a decent antler dropped many, many years ago. Fleur had a similar find last spring. So far this year: Sam-16, Ruby-3, Fleur-2. Miles today: 11.5

[trophy taker]

Congrats to some hardworking folks, & dogs too.Nice pics,& finds.

[sampotter]

Thanks Trophy taker.

[Pav2704]

Great finds and pictures. I can't even imagine how much work it must be to train your dogs??? Definately worth the hard work!!!

[sampotter]

Training them is almost as fun as working them in the woods.

[sampotter]

Day 3 was nearly a bust. Covered over 11 miles on 2 different southern MN farms and all I found was a broken off 3 pt antler despite donating blood courtesy of cat's claw, gooseberry, buckthorn, blackberry brambles, and multiflora rose. Day 4 went quite a bit better. Went to one of the Paus family friend's farms and Fleur started it off by finding a nice, fresh 4 pt. Shortly after, Ruby sniffed out another old artifact from many years past. She has quite the nose for old bone. A while later I spotted a huge 4pt antler that was from this year but had been mauled by the squirrels. Even with no brow tine it scores 63" and is one of my best ever. We spent some time looking for the match, but the neighbor had a few hundred acres of CRP ground just over the fence. Later on I found another on a different farm. This was an older forkhorn antler. Unfortunately there were ATV tracks all over that particular farm, so it was picked pretty clean before I got there. If we found antlers like we found ticks yesterday I wouldn't have been able to walk. I know I flattened over 100 of them on my pants with my Leatherman.

[sampotter]

The fifth and final day yielded one more 4pt antler, bringing the trip total to 18 and 27 for the year. Sam-20, Ruby- 4, Fleur-3.

The dogs really have different styles; Fleur covers a lot of ground and sometimes runs right by an old antler that the slower moving Ruby finds instead. Together they make a pretty good team. I still spot most of the antlers before they get downwind of them, but they found 4 on this trip that I had already walked by at less than 10 feet.

[sampotter]

Also- saw a group of 7 deer in Ohio along 90 today on the way back- one was a darn nice 8pt- still packing antlers!