I've (like some others) have not really found your findings to be true Troy. But keep in mine my own terrain. Now.. I have found some of my bigger sets nearby each other.. but I've found way more either far far apart.. or never. In most cases never. But.. shed hunting like actual hunting around me ends with property lines.. so.. you can only go so far. A few years ago I found a match about 1 mile from where I found its first.. like a month apart. Was a neat find.. but I much prefer the match sets to be right on top of each other.. less walking that way.
Last year was my first find of a set, the antlers were touching each other when I found them. I knew the buck from a bowhunting encounter earlier that fall, He was at least a 4.5 year old, The memory still haunts my dreams, 20yds away and froze in a ground blind eye to eye with the giant beast, I think the buck actually ment to attach a note to the sheds saying something like (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,)
We find big sets on top of each other and we have found them as far as 3 miles a part. A 2.5 year buck dropped his sheds almost 5 miles apart. The group of deer moved out of an area to another area once the snow got deep. The bucks were just starting to drop when they made the big move. Troy do you remember Dagger ?? He dropped 3 years worth of sheds within 250 yards. Man I really like him for doing that !!!!! The Strand Buck dropped both sets of sheds a little over a mile a part. His summer/fall core area was right inbetween. One set was 70 yards apart. The next year's set was 100 yards apart. The following year the land owner found him dead that winter not far from where he dropped the last set we found of him. 250 yards or so. The Lewis John buck dropped 4 years of sheds within a mile with the except of one of his shed. It was dropped 1.5 miles from the other side when he was 2.5. The next three years had him dropping each set within yards of each other. The big 4x5 drop his sheds about 200 - 300 yards apart. We found one side and another guy found the other side of the property line. The Split G 2 buck dropped 3 years worth of sheds a little over a mile apart. We found 5 of the 6 sheds. The first set was 200 yards a apart. The 2nd set was 300 yards a part. I have a feeling the shed we didn't find to the 3rd set was close but in the cattails some place where he bedded. My first main frame 6x6 set was laying 3 yards apart. In that area I found another big 5x5 set 100 yards or so a part. Tyler found a good 4x4 set not far apart. Tyler found a heavy, short tined 5 pt shed... another guy found the other side 50 yards from that spot earlier. The 6x6 set that Tyler stole from me last year was laying about 10 yards apart. The real heavy 5 pt set last year was maybe 100 yards apart. Another good 5 pt set that I found in that area was 350 or so yards apart. The raccoon set that Tyler stole from me had one laying on top of the other one. I think that is still his biggest set. Another big 4x5 set that I found in that area was laying within 10 yards. My biggest set was 1/4 mile apart. There was a big 4 pt side within yards of one of those sheds. Tyler found the other 4 pt side a good 1/2 mile away. I could go on but this is getting too windy for even me. It is fun going back down memeory lane though !! LOL If we find a big match set... it is generally within 300 yards of each other. Tim
Tim, with your #s of sheds found being well over a 1000 sheds I was looking forward to hearing about your over all TRENDS... Thanks. I actually thought you might be a little more stretched out than most with your terrain, the deer in your area's willingness to travel a good mile or two just to feed etc. Thanks for the input. Interesting since you and I have about as "different" of habitat and available feed as one could get. The common variable you and I share is pretty much undeniable access to big areas for searching.
Mike, I think my findings are absolutely True.... your just walking by all those as you quoted "In most cases never" matching other sides! in all seriousness Mike... are you finding any big buck verus young buck shedding "trends" to be true in your areas? I wouldn't expect my trends to be true in all areas. That wasn't my intent for the thread. I think some took it that way. Sorry.
dawg, those are some beautys, what do you figure the age class to be on those three matched sets.. do you find many younger buck's matched sets in close proximity or tend to find more older buck matched sets in closer proximity?
Our deer aren't afraid to travel in the winter but I don't think the older bucks travel as far as the younger bucks and does. They tend to stay very close to the best food source in that area with good cover. We tend to find the big sheds from older buck closer to cover or right in cover/shelter from the winds right next to the food source. Staging areas between cover and feeding areas are hot spots. I suspect the older they get... the greater the need to conserve energy. Out of the list of bucks/sheds I rattled off in the last post... only two dropped sheds in the open. Those were the two that dropped their sheds the farthest apart. They only dropped one shed at that in the open. The other sheds were by cover close to their bedding area. The rest of the bucks on the list dropped their sheds in cover or within 100 yards of it. Most of them dropped in cover/staging areas. Edges of cover is your best friend " here " in reguards to hunting older bucks or looking for their sheds. I suspect that will apply almost anywhere... but keep in mind it is very open here. With the brutal winds we get in the winter... the lack of shelter and security cover... edges are very important to older bucks. Also... when older bucks drop one side they tend to drop... kick or rub off the other side in a short period of time compared to " most " younger bucks. Ok... I better quit before I bore you guys to tears. The wife thinks I am obsessed with this stuff. Ya right !! :D Tim
I would say that the three bigger sets are from around a 4 year old and the other is a 3 year old. I have found other sets being anywhere from 20 yards apart to 200 yards apart. This small set was about 30 yards from each other. I think it is just the luck of where they fall. I am sure that when deer lose the heavier ones that the other falls close but then again I seen one that I found, a monster 4 point, and the buck carried the other side for a week longer. It all depends on the deer and the stress they live with in my opinion. We will never know! Here is the 4 point too!
Na.. Troy.. no need to apologize.. my response to yours had no intentions. I don't know why everyone reads my replies so negatively.. there not meant that way. As far as my findings.. sure I find some trends.. but not with bigger antlers.. who knows why.. because I would think they would do just as you say they do (bigger sheds falling closer together).. but they just don't when I'm in the woods sheddin' Bastard deer!
True. My bigger sheds are usually only about 60". But.. Dan.. those are the bucks I'm typically killing too.
350 acres, 80 sheds in a big woods environment, wow and like you said it hadnt been shed hunted. Amazing Dan. I have a friend here that is a shed hunting scientist, I swear. He and his 3 man shed crew pull over 100 sheds each and every season. They focus on google earth, southern slopes that are ridiculously secluded, hard to get to areas that hold huge numbers of sheds as well. Often several hundred acres up to a 1000 acre areas. Often they find years of sheds, matched sets etc that have never been picked up. They are also very guarded about the info they share with anyone! My question is, in your experience once you disturbed that MEGA area and picked up those 80.. since then have you went back, do you still pull good numbers?
I just went on Google Earth and measured the area, as I just guessed at its size before. Its actually only 150 acres. A lot smaller than I thought. There's a number of reasons there were so many sheds. The biggest were record deer populations and no access. We were in there the spring of 2006 and they had just put a logging road up to the edge of the area. After that, the natives shot piles off deer off the roads and cuts at night with spot lights, hunters were able to access it, record wolf populations and a couple hard winters. The next spring I went back and found 1 fresh shed and a couple I had missed the year before. Now, when I go by there in the summer bear baiting, I hardly see a deer track. Sad really. I do have a few more spots I would like to get to, but have to do it soon as most of the sheds laying there have probably been dropped from 2000-2007. They'll be bleached and cracked, but still fun to find.
I've got at least 4 pretty good sets in the past two years, and every one of them have been stacked-up within 100 yards. Most of them are within 5 feet. Pair that with what my shed hunting partner finds, and you can double it. Now, these aren't giant bucks. Hell, they're lucky to hit 150, but that's the top of the food chain in my neck of the woods. In the past 3 shed seasons, I've been lucky enough to walk into a fair amount of top-end sheds, and my rule of thumb has become - the bigger they are, the closer they are. Obviously, that's a rule that's made to be broken. I've got a 65" 4x side that I'd LOVE to find the match to, and my buddy has a 69" 5x side that we scoured the mountain in search of the match, to no avail. Both of those were oldies, so anything could've happened in the past year to the match. Shed hunting often divulges the answers to key secrets in decoding your deerwoods, but the sword cuts both ways, and sometimes, more questions are raised and many left unanswered. Like you, I believe it has little or nothing to do with antler weight, and more to do with a deer that's naturally programmed (or trained) spend a lot of time on his ass, inside a VERY small home range. Right or wrong, if I find a big side, and can't find the other side in the immediate, obvious area, I'll convince myself that either the shed in my hand or its match has traveled on its own - a life after death, if you will - in the hand of a hunter or in the mouth of a canine. Sheds can and do travel. Sometimes they just wind up getting toted to another area in the woods, and sometimes they wind up on some lucky shed hunter's mantle.
I concur with this way of thinking, especially if he had everything he needs in that immediate habitat to meet his needs.. Hey Fran on another note... Same buck imo.. Camera angle etc.. gives a bit of an illusion on those browtines.. I could be completely wrong.. wouldnt be the first time.. but if I had to bet I'd bet same buck.
Here is kind of an example: This little buck is still holding his 3 pt side, the other side a little 5pt I found on 1-22 at around 1pm where these pics were takin....it'll be interesting to see when he drops his other side! Date and Times are correct on the pics: Now this next guy, who I call J.R. shed within the same night and hopefully friday I find out in the same spot! I have around 50 pics of him, some from even earlier in the year...and I have around 10 that I'm almost positive are him after he dropped. I think I know where he is bedded so I hope I can pick them up.
