nice finds tim, I haven't even set foot out looking yet, most deer are still holding here in illinois.
Other then some fast checks at the farm during dinner break... I won't get out until next weekend. Gotta get my buck back from the Taxi tomorrow !!! Here are the 6 from today... Tim
Awesome outing Tim, my day no where compared to yours but after 5 hours of climbing and hiking.. I did find one.. a tough find at that.. 11 for me. here is a pic of the shed, see if you can find it ! Little 2.5 year old 4x side..burried in the grass..
I can't believe the amount of nice sheds you guys find (Troy and Tim)... Your ratio of nice bone to little bone is off the charts! I find probably 70% yearling sheds, 20% 2.5 y/o's and 10% 3.5 + y/o's.
It is easier to find the larger sheds in the snow then the little sheds. Most the little ones get buried. I won't find a lot of them until it melts. 70 % is high though. We find alot more 2.5 year olds then 1.5 year olds. Even after the snopw is gone... it is harder finding them in the CRP, grass or corn/soybean fields then the bigger sheds. I would have to go through some pictures to get a rough idea on the percentages. Just off the top of my head... 30 % for 1.5 50 % for 2.5 20 % for 3.5 and plus Tim
Sorry for the delay on checking in. I'll be getting out here alot in the next couple months or so. Hoping for my best shed season to date.
Shed and Tim you guys are killing it! I did get out today @ my grandpa's 15 acre farm. No sheds but found some really nice rubs and two buck beds . Ill post pics later.
Sorry for not dropping by sooner but been down with the flu for a few weeks and haven't had a chance to make it out and look for some sheds. I hope to get started soon though, possibly this weekend if I get over the flu. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
Got Out Today Dang am I out of shape,LMAO, I was just trying to do the property line and check the fenceline crossing's. The snow is fenceline high and straight out onto the field's too. The 1st 300 yards was okay and it was easy following the snowmobile tracks.Then I crossed the fence line into the woods. Well I could only take about 15 steps at a time as I sunk with each step to my knees with good snowshoes on. Flipin armpits are going to be sore tomorrow,LOL.I ended up making the whole property which is 45 acres in 3 1/2 hours. Saw one set of tracks ,that being of a moose. Deer have to be yarded up close to some feed. I won't be back out till some of the snow disappers. Sorry Guys. Rocky
Tim does better than I do .. he always seems to be in a lot of 3.5 year olds.. dirty buggar! so far, the 11 of mine.. break down .. my best guestimates.. 1 at 4.5 1 at 3.5 ( I think) could be a 2.5 8 at 2.5 1 at 1.5
I got up at 4 a.m. drove 150 miles to meet up with one of my old football players whom I coached back in the 90s in H.S. .. He, "Buck" runs the family farming operation. He put me on some great looking ground but as soon as I got there I saw immediate red flags. 3 younger college age single guys rent his farm house. There were sheds laying in the yard and a big black lab... I am thinking .. hmmmm.. I get the lay of the 1500 acres from buck and decide to attack the property from the north end, the fruthest from the 3 guys house.. Every stubble field was tracked with quad tracks and pickup tracks.. I am thinking...chit.. After 3 hours of searching the fields I head to the huge canyon below.. I start fiding dog tracks and droppings way over the edges and bluffs. I glassed this open country ( much more open than where I live) for hours. Watched 5 different young mule deer bucks packing still. Saw 3 whitetail bucks shedded.. 1 old mule buck shedded.. Sad to say after busting my butt for 6 hours... I couldnt even find a scrap shed.. Drove the 150 home ... Those guys had that place cleaned up and I was too early for the younger mule bucks to drop! ... Timing.. and competition ...kicked my butt today! Oh well, I got some great excercise side hilling and climbing up and down in that steep sucker! Man I thought I was gonna at least find something!
tough break Troy but that was a great find in the grass. Questions for all - What percentage of 2.5 year old sheds to you find walking rub lines inbetween bedding and feeding areas? I have found nearly all of my 2.5 year old sheds on the rub lines between feed and bed while most of my yearling sheds were on heavly used trails or close to the feeding areas. My older/larger sheds all came from thick nasty bedding areas. Also.... do you have more left sides or more right sides? I have 75 % more left sides! crazy...... Dave
Dave out here in this big moutainous country.. southern slopes up on big mountain sides are where I generally find my younger bucks sheds like 2.5 years olds. For a couple reason. 1. The younger bucks dont tend to drop until Feb/March, by this time the cold winter, hvy snows have pushed bucks to seek the sunniest positions in the mountains and where the best native wild feeds are avaiable. Southern faces hold these attributes. Feed, Water, Sun all in one spot. North faces, just the opposite, deeper snow, realtively little sunlight and little vegetation. From the little bit of North.D., Saskatchewan and K.S. shed hunting I have done (total of about 2 weeks) ALL AG GROUNDS>>> I didnt really notice a rubline/younger buck connection but then again I doubt I was that in tune while out there. I was focusing on food sources in all three of those locals. I did fairly decent in those two weeks in the mid west and Canada though.. I found nearly 50 sheds in two weeks of shed hunting in those places. Trust me, it makes me wish I lived in true whitetail country at times! I've had the pleasure of sharing a week with Tim in ND ... and I can tell you this. That man and his son Tyler know their deer and how to find sheds and where to find them. Just when I thought I was doing good out there they would show me how it was done!
Now this is something I can relate too out here. Big bucks like the "Thick and Nasty" and we have plenty of "Thick and Nasty". I have found the majority of my big sheds in thick security cover, and often on northern faces. Big bucks here shed early, often well before the snow levels and lack of late winter feed force them into the souths. I rarely find big sheds in the souths.. Timing and what big bucks "like" definately dictate where they lay up.. Big bucks also imo travel as little as they need too in the winter. The bigger sheds I found in ND were in corn or near farmyards, but then again I only found 3.5s there. In Kansas the biggest set I found was in the thick timber, security cover and in Canada the hawgs I found up there were almost all in the big bush adjacent to big farm fields..but in the thicker stuff.
