SHED HUNTING THREAD - PICs INCLUDED

[leech~~]

Leech-- Do you know when deer started dropping around you? If they started before christmas, like around my cabin, then they are probably in post rut areas, mainly food sources. After you get some good snows like we did around Bemidji this year, the deer yarded up in coniferous areas(thermal cover for when its cold and snow depth). Ive walked a lot of cedar swamps this winter, that seems to be a common place where deer yard up. Depending on the number of deer and size of the cedar swamp, the area they are in can be pretty big. Concentrate more around the edges of these swamps, preferably south facing edges.

Theres one spot where a guy had a 6 acre plot with sugar beets in it where the deer have been hitting it hard all winter. These deer were traveling at least a half mile from thermal cover to the field. I have heard that deer will travel a long ways to find good thermal cover, so in a mostly mature hardwoods area, find a stand of pines or cedar swamp and with a year like this there should be deer there.

Lungde, the areas I have been checking are public land and there are beding areas and crisscrossing trails everywhere. I have seen some bucks with very white antlers still on? But I had seen some with only one or none on in very late fall, early winter also? I do see other guys tracks from time to time so I maybe just checking areas that have already been picked over by others already?

[matchset]

leech! don't be discouraged by boot tracks... i shed hunt with a lot of guys and we Rarely pick up all the bone in the woods. each year we find old sheds that we "shoulda" found, or walked right by.

the best story i can give ya, last year i was admiring a new apple tree i found. sat down beneath and cracked open a mt dew. ten min later i spotted a 3 year old shed big 4 pt, twenty yards from the apple tree in an area that gets walked heavily.

here's what i found yesterday....

[lungdeflator]

Leech---

Just like MatchSet says, keep after it even though there are boot tracks. Maybe some of the obvious ones got picked up, but theres no way to find them all. If those trails are all going toward the same food source then check that food source over good. Also focus on the south facing slopes and if theres any "edges" focus on those and the south facing sides of those.

MatchSet---Was that a buck you know?

[shedaddict]

Went out after work on Friday for two hours and had one of the best days shed hunting I've ever had. I got a little pic heavy here, but it's not every day I personally have a day like this.

Shed 1--3pt found right along a thicket edge

Shed 2-- 3 pt found next to a cedar tree

Shed 3-- 4pt I could see standing next to the 2nd shed; about 100 yards away.

Shed 4-- 5pt spotted along a creek. Great mass to this antler.

Shed 5-- 7pt The match to the previous shed laying 30 yards away. This one is awesome with the little crab claw brow. I walked within 30 yards of these sheds back in February.

Another shot of the last antler.

Matched Up

Stringer Shot

[leech~~]

Thanks match and lung, I'm sure I wouldn't give up looking. It's just that it seems like I do better at finding little 3 inch" high shrooms but can't see a 200 class 10 point rack laying right out in the open!

[birdswacker]

Leech,

Eat the sshhrrrooooommmmsss after you find the sheds not before!!

[matchset]

in the fall of 2009 i was fortunate to harvest a great buck that scored 151 with my bow.... now, in the spring of 2011 my buddy was walking the same area i hunted then. he happened upon on the right side off my bucks 2008 rack.

after talking, we decided to trade a neat flyer shed i had for a few sheds he had....

so today i got a great birthday present! i got a big 72 inch brow tine shed.... chewed (but sweet looking) shed off my 2009 buck.

FRESH side found in the spring 2009...

and a fresh 60 inch shed off my Christmas 2010 buck!

what's neat is that he found two sheds off my two biggest bucks!

christmas buck shed from 2009 scored 60....his right side scored 73 this year!

keep walking!!! you never know what you'll find!!!!!

[matchset]

Leech---

MatchSet---Was that a buck you know?

no, it was a new property for me. but its so "sheddy" i have to go back!

[leech~~]

so today i got a great birthday present!

That is great have racks from past and present of the same deer!

[bety0108]

Found an old shed of this buck which was shot this year near St. Cloud. kind of neat that you can see the different years of mouse/squirrel chewings. The G-4 was broken.

[sticknstring]

Cool finds! I'd love to have sheds from a buck I shot.

bety - Please check-in in the turkey forum contest. I belive you're on my team - The Bearded Hens.

[shedaddict]

Found a dead head and a few more small sheds on Sunday.

3pt Deadhead

3pt Shed--Match to the shed Mala found last week; what the heck does she need me for?

4pt shed--Match to one of the sheds found earlier this year.

Stringer Shot

Couple Misc Pics

Shed out buck

Not sure what kind of animal this was. Skull was th size of an orange. Racoon?

[surewood]

First find yesterday. Fourth shed I've found from this deer since 2006.

[bmc]

Here's one I found today. Couldn't find the other half, but plan on getting back out there to look for it. I've also enclosed the pic of what he looked like when he had his antlers on his head this past winter when he was visiting my dad's feeders. What was odd is that this shed was found 600-800 yds away from the feeders. I'm suprised he'd travel that far from the feeders w/ the deep snow.

Brian

[JBone]

Awesome BMC!

[sticknstring]

Nice find Brian! He really bleached out quick. Find that match and put an arrow through him next fall!

[lungdeflator]

Wow nice finds guys! I am up to 5 in MN so far this year. I went out to ND last weekend and found 9 whitetail and 1 moose shed in 2 days. A couple nice ones and a bunch of small ones. Hopefully these pics work out...

[lungdeflator]

[shedaddict]

Nice going in ND Lung! Are the two whitetail sheds at the end a match?

Nice moose paddle as well! That gets me excited to start heading up northern MN to start looking for paddles there. I was up for a scouting mission two weeks ago and found some really good sign; now we just need the snow to melt.

[shedaddict]

Found this tiny one before work this morning.

[lungdeflator]

Thanks. No I dont think they are, just to many differences. I searched for another 1.5 hours and couldnt find the matches to either one.

I found the match to the first antler I found this year tonight. Pretty cool to match up an antler a month later!

Good luck in the search for moose antlers there Shedaddict. There are just tiny patches of snow around Bemidji here, even in the low cedar swamps.

[tcumd]

found this one and 3 ticks thursday night

[BEAST]

TCUMD your on a streak ")

[TonkaBass]

Hey lung, what part of nd did you go to? I have been working south of bismarck and did some walking there. Me and a buddy of mine got 45 in one weekend and 4 dead heads. Now there is snow out here again though. I was on some nice mulies but this snow is really putting a damper on them. I got a match moose out here in december, but they are rare where I am. There is also a small herd of elk out here, but I haven't looked for them. Quite the variety pack in a small area.

[lungdeflator]

Tonka that sounds like shed hunters dream. We are northwest of Grand Forks. We see moose droppings and tracks everywhere and got a few trail cam pics of them last summer, but we have only seen 2 in all the time we spend around there. Finding the shed was a real surprise.

We are heading up north on Thursday! New rule says we can bring back as many antlers as we want!