Well, I spend 2 1/2 hours in snow up to my knees following deer trails and found nothing but an old stand in a big old Oak tree. I am beat and ready for lunch and thinking about heading to the Raceway to shed hunt a little later if I can muster the energy
It's still very early Race.. but you can learn alot in the snow about where they're hanging out and feeding. But 95% of the bucks are still holdin' strong. The big drop is still another 3 weeks out or so. It's those 5% that have shed that keep me looking...
I wasn't expecting to find anything but wanted to explore an area that is a cattail swamp on a forest preserve edge by my home. I had the pleasure of breaking through ice under the snow twice and getting my boots soaked I was hearing the coyotes have been bad as well and wanted to see if I could find a den in the area but didn't find anything worth mentioning. I really just wanted exercise and shed hunting was a better excuse than a treadmill at the gym.
I logged my first 4 hours this weekend too. I was actually feeling lucky but came out empty handed. All that was found was a snail shell, an old bone and a corn husk, which is completely odd cause the closest cornfield is well over a mile away. I did find a new bedding area and an important trail leading from that bedding area to a food plot we first planted this fall. We are going to re-establish that food plot again so finding this trail sure will help me out next fall. Ahhh, what can be learned while shed hunting!
I read something that lungbuster typed that kind of got my ol noggin thinking. He stated don't start shedding yet you don't want to bump the bucks because then they will shed on someone else's property. I found this very interesting any thoughts?
He's dead on and that reason alone is why I am not going full bore every chance I get right now. It's still early and the only sheddin I have done are for bucks that I know have dropped their antlers. We've gotten several pictures of 2 or 3 or 4 decent bucks that have already dropped and I have spent 4 hours scanning for theirs. However, in those 4 hours I've walked several miles but no covering much ground, just grid checking areas where I think they have been traveling, not necessarily bedding. I'll wait another week or so till I hit those bedding areas hard.
This is why im waiting another couple of weeks to go out. I did hang a cam the other day and got to read there travels in the snow. I had to act quick, it was the first real snow of the year for up, A whole 2" :d At least you tried Raceway
IMO you would need to bump a buck multiple times, and really, really harass them a lot, to get them to move completely out of an area they feel safe in. Just because you enter that area once, maybe even twice, doesn't mean that buck is going to vacate that spot forever. Every spot has human intrusion at one point or another, that's just how things are. I think a lot of guys are too afraid of getting into a buck's bedroom, apparently before AND after the season.
I have to agree with my chum here on this one. I can take you into a piece of ground I shed hunt.. show you a buck.. bump him out.. ... and return 1 day later and he'll likely be in the same general area. Sometimes even the same thicket or deadfall. If they escaped.. then their master plan of avoiding predators worked. They return. As long as the same conditions exist.. they return IMO. I just don't go busting into bedding areas until I know the big numbers of antler have fallen. Cause quite frankly.. it's a pain to get into alot of those rooms.. and I hate doing it too often.
