finally found a couple today. had to adjust my style a bit and it paid off. dang tree rats got to them before I did. still have a foot or more of snow. I'm still battling! it can't last forever!
Nice job, that's a great find. I have been out hunting several times, no luck yet, but it's not over yet.
well, I was looking on south facing slopes and brush not having any luck, even in the heavy feeding areas. I've been checking bedding areas as well with no results. I'm primarily looking in big oak flats since that is the prime food source that kept these deer through the winter. our winter here was really bad so I decided to look on the ridge tops and on the leeward side of the hill. it made sense to me that the deer would be seeking refuge from the driving winds. and since deer are browsers I switched from looking only in acorns to start looking under hemlock trees. the reason for looking under hemlocks is because deer eat hemlock for tons of energy, the snow is not as deep, and for protection from the elements. every time I found a single hemlock tree I found tons of sign where deer were staging up or seeking protection from the weather. I was told years ago that in the pines and hemlocks it is 10 degrees warmer in the winter and 10 degrees cooler in the summer. so I put all of this together and as I was cruising through the acorns every time I seen a pine or hemlock I went out of my way to check under them and it paid dividends for me. I found the pictures of these deer in my trail cam photos from last fall and I will post them later after work. Note: these aren't my big hit list bucks I was after. I am still trying to find those sheds. with still over a foot of snow in the woods it is going to take time. if I can get pennarcher away from work i'll use his help to find more since it is 10,000 acres of continuous woods.
here is another one from yesterday the guy with me found. bummed I didn't find any but I found an unbelievable scrape. it was 30' long and 12' wide. I haven't ever seen a scrape this big not even out west. this could possibly be the missing link to my puzzle. I can't wait to get a camera on that this year.
i'll get one next time I go in there with a tape measure to be exact. the dang liking branch is like 1" dia. all twisted up and busted. it just didn't look real it was so big. I did get out yesterday and found three more sheds and one dead head spike. the guy with me found two as well. I'm at 6 sheds and two dead heads so far and our shed hunting is just starting. more in there going to try and go back today if possible. post pics later.
found four sheds today at same spot as yesterday. put me at 10 sheds and 2 dead bucks. going out on a bigger shed trip on sunday
found match set today post pics tomorrow. and had a strange encounter with a buck. I walked up on him in his bed at 16 feet away. he just stood up and looked at me like he didn't even care if I was even there. at one point he gave me a stomp like charge mode. I honestly believe that I could have took a stick and touched him if I wanted to. he looked like he was either still half asleep, sick, blind, or something weird. the strangest thing is that both of his ears were split in the same location on each ear. the splits looked exactly like cow ears look when they have tags that rip out. I guess he could have done it when fighting but they looked too perfect. I think he was just an old buck that is clinging to his last years of life and just didn't care anymore. it was just a weird encounter to say the least. I will post pics of him tomorrow as well. anyone ever have this happen to them before?
