Managed to finally find some sheds. Still plenty early but felt good getting out. Found this 5 pt Friday to kick start my shed season off.... Found this match set today. Pretty nice 5x5 set... Tyler found a smaller 4 pt shed with a busted off G3 but didn't take a picture. The 4-wheeling idiot step on it when he was out Wednesday. It wasn't buried in the snow that bad and how he missed it... I've got no idea. Tines were sticking out of the snow and you would have thought he should have felt it if nothing else. I wished Tyler would have took a picture of his foot print and the shed ... but he grabbed the shed before I could holler at him to snap a picture. Got a good laugh out of that anyways !! LOL 3 sheds for me... 1 for Tyler Tim
Good finds there Tim, I'd be ecstatic with those!! Yesterday I went for 2 hours with my black lab on some state land that Is loaded with deer, didn't find a thing. Too early I hope here. My brother was watching a thing on TV the other day (can't remember what he said the show was) and they guy on there Is big Into shed hunting like you are and he says once Valentine's Day hits that's when he finds most of his sheds. I think he lives In the northern part of Wisconsin (not sure on that though either). Anyhow great sheds there Tim and Tyler, congratulation's guys!!
Timmy, those are some solid 5x sides. Not a bad way to start off the season. Are you and Tyler shed hunting your usual haunts, or trying out some new stomping grounds this spring? I can't find anything in my areas with anything past the G-3. Lots of 4x4's... Nothing worth writing home about though. I picked up 3 more 4-pointers today in a driving rainstorm. Soaked to the bone. Troy, Tim: What type of year are you guys expecting? Lots of time to get out, or are your personal/work schedules going to keep you out of the woods? Weird thing here in PA/Ohio - there was about a two-week coldsnap when (my guesstimate) 60-80% of our bucks dropped antlers. It snowed like hell for about 10 days straight, with weather fronts constantly moving in and out. As a result, during that time when they were really stressed (getting pounded with snow and single-digit weather), most of our bucks shedded in their beds. Last year, we picked about 40 sheds between my buddy and I - with only 4 sets. We've already picked up 5 sets this year in 14 sheds. Weird how the weather affects things...
Steve It is pretty early and we wouldn't be tromping too much but with the other guy roaring around... we are hitting most of the really good areas to beat him. We are still staying out of bedding areas as we don't want to pressure the deer as it isn't good for the deer if winter turns really ugly. I wish the other guy would do the same but there just isn't any common sense with him. Mid Febuary is usually when we get real serious about tromping. This year will be different and we will start hitting it hard next weekend. Fran It is hard to say how our year will go. I am thinking not as good as in the past. Last year we found around 200 sheds... the year before was 250. Keep in mind Tyler found around 130 -140 sheds per year both years. The deer numbers are down and competition is getting worse. I'll be happy if we find 100 - 150 between the two of us but I think it will be tough to do. We will be hitting mostly old tromping ground but usually get in on a few new areas. Just depends on where the deer winter and what we can get access too in reguards to new areas. We will probably get in as much time as we normal do. Competition, where the deer winter and lower deer numbers are the big factors for us. Congrats on the sheds. You are off to a great start !! Tim
Fran nice work so far! as for me- Gonna be slow for me till my basketball season is over. Taking up all my time, that and my boys are both playing hoops on teams right now. But then again I found all my sheds last year from late Feb to June. My numbers will be greatly enhanced if I get to hop on a Jet boat and hit some of my mule deer and elk areas. Whitetails, I hope to find 50 ish.. Tim, nice buddy nice, I can just cruise this year and let you pack this team. hopefully I will find at least 50 or more.. time is not on my side right now but will be later this spring.
Picked up a 4 pt shed today on dinner break. No pictures as we forgot to take the camera in from the truck last weekend. The camera just doesn't like below zero temps. LOL I'll get a picture of it tomorrow night. Still seeing a lot of bucks carrying as of last weekend. Hopefully we get in a good day of tromping Saturday. Probably sneak a few short walks in during my dinner breaks Thursday and Friday. Tim me - 4 sheds Tyler - 1
Troy - I'd LOVE to tag along for one of your muley shed hunting trips sometime. That looks like a blast. I know you'll find time to get out there. Are your shed hunting areas subject to competition? I mean, if you wait until March'ish, will the areas be picked clean? I keep all my "off the beaten path" spots on layaway until March/April. I never thought I'd develop "Shed Hunting Strategy." LOL Tim - It won't be long before Tyler puts the old geezer in the rear-view mirror! LOL Just kiddin buddy. Once you give yourself the green light, I'm expecting a steady barrage of production. Don't be too patient though - and let the competition cherrypick all the easy ones! The weather here may be uncooperative for the foreseeable future. Snow is on the way, and mother nature seems hell-bent on burying all the sheds and putting the Quikkiemeister back in the on-deck circle.
I had it much easier when he was small. I could run him down and push him down into a snow bank and get the shed before him. Now I can't catch him and if I did... he would hurt me and then push me down in the snow bank. Sucks to get old and your kids knows all your dirty tricks and has pick up some new ones. He was a fast learner. LOL His best one was quite a few years back. We were just getting into a good spot when he hollers buck and starts pointing. I pull up the bonics and check the buck out for a couple minutes to see where he goes. I lower the binocs and turn around to tell him it is a really good buck. The only thing is... Tyler isn't there. The turd took off running while I was glassing the buck and disappeared behind the tree belt about a 150 yards away. I start walking down towards him and hear him holler... " Dad, I found one !! Hey Dad, I found another one !! Here's another one !! " By the time I get there only to find him holding the 4th shed... I am looking for a big snow bank to shove him head first in. He is smiling like a manic and took off running. He wasn't smiling just because he found 4 sheds in under a minute. He knew he pulled a good one over on me. I start taking pictures and he finds 2 more sheds. He became the camera man after that. I knew my days of being top dog where coming to an end with the little man. The kid just doesn't have any mercy for his old man !!! LOL Tim
Shed-a-holics Sheddin Manics Shed Trompers Squirrel Starvers Shed Seekers Good luck this weekend !! Tim
Put another 4 hours In today. Nothing but lots and lots of tracks. Total hours shedding so far- 9 Total sheds- 0
Had a good dinner break today and picked up a good 5 pt shed. It scored 61. Tyler and I will be hitting it hard tomorrow. Tim
I picked up 3 sheds today. Started off with this sticking out of the snow... 2nd shed of the day 3rd shed there was no picture. I was giving Tyler chit and asked him why he didn't check out a trail going down a road ditch. He hadn't found any sheds which isn't the norm when we shed hunt. I had to walk in some fairly deep snow to get over to the trail and kick a 4 pt shed out of the snow. It was buried and it was just pure arsed luck I hit it with my boot. I gave Tyler more chit. He refused to take a picture because I had " moved" the shed by kicking it. It wouldn't have been a true ATL picture. LOL Here are the 3 sheds... Tim
Congrats Tim! I'd love to be able to shed hunt in an area where I felt confident finding sheds, it'd be a blast! I put in plenty of hours, I'm just convinced bucks don't winter on the property I hunt.
Great pix TIM! well I didnt find chit this weekend... grrrr no snow .. no congregation of deer anywhere.. El Nino winter ...very warm out here compared to norms.. gonna be a tough year of shedding these mountains, stuff is gonna be spread out all over... oh well the good thing is many bucks will make this winter! TIM I LIKE THE SQUIRREL STARVERS! LMAO thats a good one! or the TROMP TROOP!
Cody... Nows the time to go get permission for other land with bucks wintering on it. Just ask for shed hunting and get to know the landowner. By getting to know the landowner you may get to hunt it next year or later on. It has worked well for me... epsecially late season hunting when the bucks move off my normal hunting grounds to these areas. The landowner... if he only just hunts with rifle/shotgun/muzzle load might let you in for late season bowhunting. If he doesn't hunt... he may let you in for all of hunting season. Get your foot in the door with shedhunting and go from there. Troy... I had high hopes you would have a good weekend. Darn near called you tonight to see how you did. I promised the wife I would take the day off so we could go see her side since the Xmas blizzard wrecked the big get together. Now that the bucks are started to drop... I really wanted to go tromping but knew I would be a dead man if I tried to weeny out of it. Woke up to a leaking water pressure guage so I " had " to make a trip out to the farm to get a plug to fix it. Found a little 3 pt shed to get my shed fix !! The trip to the farm and a bit of walking took about an hour. Took a minute to fix the leak once I got back home. LOL Then we spent the day visiting. Being a slease bag and still getting brownie pts out of the deal... gotta love it !! Here's the little 3 pt... Tim
