shed hunting

[Musky Buck]

Been getting deer reports from the reli's and cousin walked nearly right up to a big old wolf recently, the hair on it's neck stood up and at 20 yards he was a bit concerned, he just threw his jacket over his head and started retreating, he said my neck hair was standing on end as well. He is carrying an axe handle from now on as he claims there are lots of wolves and a possible big cat in the river bottom, OT county. He was surprised the wolf wasn't afraid of him really. Changed his outlook on shed hunting that area. My area the wait is on, very few have shed according to my T-cam. Good luck and be careful or should I say aware guys.

[james_walleye]

My friend and I went out today for a few hours. Man i can't believe the beat down trails. I really thought we would come across something but we didnt. On the positive i went and checked out an area on the property that i wanted to get a stand into. We walked 30 yards into the woods from the inside corner where i want to get a stand and there was a huge rub. It looks pretty promising. We will hit it again in a couple weeks when the snow recedes more.

[Monkster]

Same here. My son and I went out for a couple hours last night. Lots of sign, heavy packed down trails, no luck. Driving away from the area we drove past a homeowner that feeds the deer and found the deer that we pushed out of the area! 10-15 feeding on his shelled corn, at least 3 still had headgear.

[Tim_Anderson]

Gotta say the sign I saw yesterday was the heaviest I have seen in my entire life.

We (or at least I have) thought about deer as these beautiful, dainty animals - especially does and fawns. Well, I found a spruce and balsam swamp yesterday where they have been spending so much time, the smell reminded me of a cattle lot or a pig yard. Feces, urine, beds and trails everywhere. Looked like they were packed in there and had over run the place kind of like the inner city. And with nobody forcing them to do it, they still did. What a bunch of slobs!

Anyway, I was "on point" in there for about two hours as I searched every nook and cranny of the swamp, and then all around the outskirts. I did sort of round up 11 deer, and when I got too close, they ran by. The first 9 looked like does and fawns. The last two hung back, and took a different trail. They were BIG, and without head gear. Pretty sure they were mature bucks.

It was an gorgeous day for a walk, but unfortunately, I struck out again.

Last night I was over to a friends for dinner, and there was a 2.5 year old 8 pointer at his feeder. I will keep at it.

[Musky Buck]

Agreed, sign is decent, but seems like from my tcam it's about 25 deer walking these same trails over and over and over and not having any precip for awhile is really making it look more heavily used. I have to wait a few more weeks, 2 weeks ago I had bucks fighting on Tcam and the same 2 came by on Feb. 28th with full racks plus others. I always thought if a buck dropped 1 antler it was fairly soon until the other dropped. Feb. 3rd, 2 one horned bucks were on film, 3 weeks later the same 2 are on film again with 1 side, the pedicles look like they shed 1, not that it got broken off or anything, maybe just a rare occurrence.

[ratherbefishn]

Here is a picture of my best find this year so far. Took almost 5 weeks to match up the set. I found the left side january 12th and the right side feb 17th. I did bump this guy with another nice 8 pt about 2 weeks after I found the left and couldnt believe it still was holding the other! This is in pretty open country with small areas of good sunny exposed cover. I found the match about 150 yards away from the 1st side and they both looked no more than a week old (still pink with small amounts of blood). This was a little ways off the main winter area of the deer but just enough sunny cover to hold a small group of bucks.

Still hearing of quite a few still holding all around. Seems like quite a few dropped early this year though. Should be some good finds out there when this snow melts off. I have a couple zeros here lately but hope to change that before the boat hits the river

[buglefever]

To make you guys feel better, I've been out for 8+ hours since I found the last antler on Friday and havn't found anything more. The snow is starting to settle, but in most places I've been it's still well over a foot deep! I climbed a bluff sunday to check out some remote public land just to find X-country ski tracks and 3 sets of boot prints.

I guess my theory on finding sheds is time + miles = sheds. I've always figured if I find a shed for every 3 hours looking I'm doing pretty good on an average. The last few years I keep track on a calender of where I go, the hours I look, and obviously what I find. Last year from the last week of jan to the first week of april I put in 135 hours. Though it was my best year with 82 antlers, 14 of which were matched sets and my biggest set ever.

I've also started to form a few theories on the big guys. I've found big antlers both away from where many deer are, and also in areas where there's tons of other deer. Like somone mentioned earlier they had pics of a couple big guys on the same trails as others. I don't think they necessarily avoid other deer and crowded areas, especially when the winter is tough like it is here this year. The one thing that most of mine have in common is that they are in more secluded patches or out in the middle of fields. In other words, they still try to stay away from people as much as possible.

Sorry to be long winded, but I love this forum and sharing ideas!!

[jkcmj]

Ditto to Bugle Feaver! I find at around the same rate, but don't get a chance to put in the time you do. I rough figure it, but average 1 antler every 3 to 4 hours. I would do much better if I stuck to the known antler areas that produce each year, but I am always hoping to crack a new great area, so kill many hours looking in poor areas which kills my average.

[Monkster]

Ratherbefishin - that's a nice set.

I was on my way for a shopping excursion yesterday (late afternoon) with my wife and kids and drove by the homeowner that feeds the deer near an area we search. Sure enough, the nice 8 pointer we had seen a few days ago now only has one side! It's frustrating knowing that it's out there and we can't get out until Saturday morning.

[shedaddict]

Ratherbefishin, great match. I might have missed it, but did you find those in the metro?

I finally made it back up to my hunting land yesterday near Cumberland, Wisconsin. I wanted to walk all the land and a few neighboring properties to check for sign. I walked a total of 9.5 miles and located a lot of areas that I will come back to once the snow is melted. I was mainly scouting for areas that I will come back to and do a grid search of later. The shed below was found towards the outside of a pine grove. Not a huge shed, but still happy I found it. I have never found a shed with as much left below the base; must have hurt falling off. It still had blood and hair on it, so it was pretty fresh. The deer have been bedding down in this area. The area was very similar to what Tim described above; the trails were so full of [PoorWordUsage] it was unbelievable. I located one other 2 acre cornfield that the deer had been feeding in, and when I left for the night, there were 14 deer in it. I did find one dead doe and saw 11 other deer while hiking, no visible antlers.

[certified jumbo]

wow, shed addict!!! i always find some every year with extra garbage on the base, but i have to say i've never seen that much extra stuff. i think a see brain matter:)

[Monkster]

Yeah, that doesn't seem to be too healthy to have that much tissue attached. Their skulls aren't that thick...but maybe.

Cool find though!

[Musky Buck]

I have found several over the years something like that, always was a yearling shed for some reason ?

[ratherbefishn]

shedaddict, that is an odd find there. Intresting to see what he looks like in the fall?? Ouch!!

The set I posted was a metro deer. This is the 1st year I have started to put alot of time looking and slowly learning the metro really gets pounded. Sometimes I think we ran into more on accident in the past than we do looking some days if but you put your miles on they do show up. Also plan to put some good time in at my inlaws up by Rice Lake. Lots of nice deer up there and they group up pretty good. Wanted to give them some time before we stated pushing them around but this weather is helping out.

[shedaddict]

I was worried about pushing the deer around as well which is part of the reason I was mainly scouting. Once the snow melts a little bit more, I will definitely be hitting up some bedding areas.

I've gotten a little frustrated with looking in the metro. This is my first year looking here, and I've come up with nothing so far. I've found a lot of promising spots, but not all the deer have dropped yet. I'm hoping all the time I've put in looking here will pay off in a few weeks when the snow has melted. I have 3 peices of private land that I have been waiting to walk, so I'm pretty pumped about that.

[Tim_Anderson]

It almost looks from your photo like you and I were searching the same spot yesterday! I was in stuff like that for over two hours - was "on point" the whole time, and still came up empty. I saw a bunch of deer, including two big loners that were baldies. Made me wonder about going back again? There wasn't much snow under the spruce, so I feel pretty good about not missing much. What's your thoughts?

That shed is an interesting find and I gotta say I have not seen one like that. Looks like more bone than tissue? Is that right?

[Musky Buck]

They haven't shed in the metro area a lot yet like is Fridley metro ? Friends bird feeder in Fridley he has 2 tens and a 12 he's waiting for to drop along with others. My area best guess is about 20% have shed although it's game on from here on out, but if it thaws rapidly between now and the end of the month I won't have much of a chance as they'll move out of the wet wet stuff with headgear still attached, but since 83' this is what has been normal, mid-march is when the majority drop in the metro and my pocket of the state in OT county. It stinks actually. That above horn with the extra's, would that be a more common occurrence if people used like horn traps etc. ? It looks like it was pulled away, but I have found 1 like it and knowing there was no horn trap where I found it so who knows.

[ratherbefishn]

I bet it happend from sparing than anything else. The pedicle from a year old deer is usually pretty soft yet. Looks like he split his somehow and it finally broke free. Might wreck his potental for the years to follow..... or make for one unique buck ?? Much blood in the area?? doesnt look to bad in the picture witch is a good thing!

[jkcmj]

A friend of mine found a nice set in the Metro on Tuesday. We were up there for a conferance and he went out for a couple hours in a park area before heading back to SE MN.

[shedaddict]

MB, my first thought when I picked it up was it looked like someone whacked it off, but where I found it, that would not be possible. The other thing that I thought about was that the deer caught it on a fence and then it fell off from there. The base is pretty bloody and there is hair on it still, so it has to be pretty fresh. The area I found this is close to a pasture. I've got a buddy in the DNR that I'm going to email a picture and see if he has ever seen anything like it.

MB, do you think the deer in the metro hold their antlers so long because of all the people feeding them. There are quite a few more coyotes now, but the deer in the metro really don't have many predators.

Tim, I typically do a grid search of this area once a year and usually find at least one shed. This area is a sanctuary for the deer; the only time anyone goes into it is to track a deer, or when I go in and look for sheds. It may be worth going back one more time and walk everything the opposite of how you walked it this past time. Just my two cents, but it might make a difference. Good luck.

[buglefever]

I look areas over several times as the snow goes down. Last year was a prime example why as I found a matched set in the 170's laying on a trail I walked the week before. It's a spot close to home with a lot of deer. If I had time I would have went someplace else, but when time permits it doesn't hurt to re-walk areas.

On a sad note: After work today I went out on about 20 acres of public land around a pond where the deer were rather thick. There is about 2 acres of standing corn, but what I found reinforces my thoughts that standing corn isn't a save all for deer. The first dead deer I found was a phenomonal basic 8 with a bunch of junk. He has what appears to be a start to a 2nd main beam or a cool drop tine. His bases are huge and he has 25+ inche main beams. In addition to finding him, I found 5 other small deer dead in that small of an area. Scares me to think what I will find when I really get out into my other areas.

Shedaddict: Interesting find indeed! I've found a few with some extra stuff below the base. One of the most memorable was yellow and smelled really bad as if it were infected. But I've never found one with that much. Actually, about 10 years ago, when I was leaving the tree stand I heard brakes screech and a crunch from the hiway. When I left the property I turned down the road in the direction I heard the commotion from and found an antler laying in the middle of the road with a chunk of skull attached about the size of a quarter. Sure enough there was a buck in the ditch with blood on his head and stunned. To my surprise he got up, jumped the fence, and ran away and I can't say I ever seen him again. Even that chunk of skull didn't look as nasty as the one you found. Still amazes me how an antler can hold on so tight for part of the year and then just drop off.

[scsavre]

The metro is still giving me nothing. It is time to be carefull out there though. thought I was gonna have to call a chopper in when i sank up to my waste in muck and water today. I didnt think it would be that melted. I am on their trails, and tracking their droppings everywhere, but nothing yet.

[gonefishing70]

I put on a few miles today with nothing to show for it but stronger legs, It was so nice out there today not much snow left. going to look again on sat.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

shedaddict,

was it's eye lying there too!!

Thats a big chunk of bone.

[bobbymalone]

The metro is still giving me nothing. It is time to be carefull out there though. thought I was gonna have to call a chopper in when i sank up to my waste in muck and water today. I didnt think it would be that melted. I am on their trails, and tracking their droppings everywhere, but nothing yet.

Just a couple days ago I saw a couple deer still antlered up on the other side of river from bloomington.