17 hours of tromping over Sat (10 hours) and Sunday (7 hours) with my buddy Ryan. Sat I picked 11(black zip ties), Ryan picked up 16, Sunday I picked up 15 (orange zip ties) and Ryan picked up 6. So we had a two day total of 48 sheds, almost all whitetail and lots of fresh ones! Ryan and I found one side each to a big set so I traded him a really nice year old set I found (from a buck he as a fresh this years side to) for the other big side and one other scrub shed to keep our #s the same. So a 26 shed weekend for me. Not bad. I am getting in great shape. I have lost 15.5 legit lbs (weighing in weekly on my schools wrestling scale) in 1 month. Feels good. I am at 86 sheds for the season. Had a great time with a good friend. Got lots of pix to share this time, we werent in such a race like last time when there was 3 of us. Plus the weather was very nice. I will post a couple now and then some more later, in a hurry here at work. First pic is of my day "one" pack.. 11 shed total (one little on inside then I found a junker I didnt photo on pack after this pic on walk out...black zip ties holding them on) Pic 2 is of Ryan and I after Day 1.. 27 total on day one. 3rd pic is of my day "two" total of 15, (nothing of any big size on day two) with two tiny ones inside the pack ...they were too small to zip tie on, without a brow tines they can slip out. I took quite a few as they lay photos I will add to this when I get a break at work.. I will lay them all out tonight when I get home and snap a pic.. I got home late last night.. after hiking 7 hours and driving 7 hours.. I was bushed..
I saw a video last week of a Ferrari leaving a Camero in the dust that reminds me of Team 5 and the rest of us...haha! Congrats guys killer seasons...
I'm still looking while mushroom and turkey hunting, but its so green its really hard to see. Nice job fellas, you are tearing it up!
as they lay photos from Mt this past weekend.. there are a couple pix here that if you look really close you will see the sets laying off in the distance..
Thanks guys! I'm having a blast shedding this season. I just snapped a pic of these latest Mt. sheds...and then my current shed table starting to mound up
Congrats on a great weekend Troy !!!!! Not only quanity and quality but no chews to boot. Where are your darn muddy corn fields through ????? I was out slopping around in a corn field tonight after work where I found the 4x4 set last night. Not a shed to be found. I've got 3 more big corn fields to slop through. Hoping they do better then this last one. Congrats again !! Tim
Nice work Tim considering all the snow you are battling! Great looking sheds as well. We got 3 inches of fresh snow this morning at my place.. GRRRR Hoping its gone by tomorrow.. Good luck tromping around in the mucky corn fields.. those are a grind.
Snow burned off fast today... I will get out after work tomorrow.. cant wait to get into some of my best home area spots.. this spring has been a nightmare with the snow.. but its finally about gone in the mountains. Here we go!
I posted this in our team thread, but I figured I'd paste it over here too, for you guys. Troy: Congrats on the truckload of sheds. You are having one of your best years ever, bro. Congrats! Thanks again for the elk shedding tips. They definitely came in handy, and while I didn't find anything, I had a hell of a good time trying. Timmy: I saw your post about the morel mushrooms - if I run into a big patch of morels this spring, I'll dehydrate you a bag and send them out. From time to time, I stumble into some good shrooms. My elk shed hunt: I left home at 5 a.m., and got in the woods at 8:00 on Friday morning. In sum, I hit four separate areas, and was on elk all day. No sheds, but I was in some mega-sheddy looking areas. I have absolutely no doubt that, had I been in there earlier, I'd have found something. I counted at least a half dozen bulls still carrying, and saw probably forty elk, total. It was funny. This place was like an elk carnival. There were tame elk kinda just standing around the yards, and practically every camp had some kind of elk-themed thing going - i.e. pictures of mammoth bulls spraypainted on the side, wooden bull silhouettes in the yard, etc... I racked-up 13.3 miles, probably 80% of which was outside the central elk viewing area in areas that were less likely to have been pounded by other shedders. I did do a short walk on 311, right outside the viewing area, just to complete the tour and see what a really high elk density would look like. I called in 3 nice toms, too. The elk rubs were SICK! Unreal, the power of these animals. I fooled around with this little porcupine for a bit. Here's a look from a ridge on GL 311. Tons of elk in this area, but boot prints everywhere from shed hunters. A few observations: This area is virtually devoid of whitetails. Given the amount of camps, there is no way that the scant deer population could possibly satisfy that kind of hunter saturation. I did a whitetail shed hunt in Warren County yesterday, while I was in town. Same story again. Abyssmally low deer density. Deer hunters should really lay off the does in areas where the population is hurting like that. I know I have, and I told the guys at our camp that if they kill a doe, I'll fill their boots with quikrete next year. Back to the elk shed hunt, the woodlots that I was in were much smaller than I'd anticipated. There are a lot of roads, ATV trails and camp sites that you simply don't see on Google Earth. Like everywhere else in this state, it seems like ATV abuse is rampant. In all honesty, the high timber canopy in the "big woods" wasn't the best habitat. Like whitetails, elk are edge dwellers, and the best "edges" were in the yards along camps. Lots of new growth vegetation in those areas. If I were a betting man, I'd reckon a lot of elk sheds get scooped right out of the back yards of the cabins. Some landowners are "getting it," and they're following the game commission's lead by hinge-cutting their land to make it more attractive and increase its carrying capacity. I tip my cap to those guys. PGC has done an awesome job in cutting and creating prime habitat around the viewing areas. I'd like to see them do more in other areas, though. I was on one of the most gorgeous trout streams I've ever seen. I almost came back on Saturday, just to fish it, but I already had plans to fish elsewhere with my pops. The people in the area are fantastic. Several landowners let me cut through their land to get into areas that I'd targeted. Great people. The elk range is larger than I'd originally thought. The lottery system has really allowed the PGC to properly manage the harvest, and the elk are flourishing. There is a noticeable difference in elk behavior between the center of the elk carnival and once you get out of town. The elk downtown are virtually tame. About 1/2 mi. from one of the viewing areas, I walked up on a herd of six, and they didn't spook at all. Conversely, I got into a few elk maybe 8 miles out of town, and I pushed them 2 ridges over. They did not like the human presence, which was good to see. I tip my cap to the PGC for their efforts on this. There is a legitimate wild elk population that's slowly spreading through northcentral PA. In an area where they've failed to maintain a solid whitetail density, they have replaced it with a well-managed trophy elk population. Kudos, fellas. I think they're planning on shooting 17 bulls and about 35 cows this year, out of an estimated population of 800, which means that they're really allowing this population to grow. Good times.
Hey Fran, thanks man, I am rolling right now and really enjoying it. Too bad you didnt find an elk antler, man that sucks, I wish you would have found one with all the hard work you put in over there. My hats off for the effort, especially after knowing it was already pounded. Thats a great thing they are doing in PA to include the elk. 800 and growing, thats great news. With no predators like we have out west they should do well as long as they have the habitat which is sounds like they do!
Sounds like we will get mostly rain. They backed off on the snow. Tyler has got tomorrow off from college so he will hit it hard all day while I work. If he still has a bit of energy... we will tromp a bit after I get done with work. Saturday we will both hit it hard. Might even try sneaking out Sunday for a bit if the wife won't kill me. I'll just use the excuse... I can't let the spud from Idaho kick my arse in sheds. LOL Tim
Good luck my brother! I know youre chomping at the bit to get some decent weather... Snowed again last night 3 more inches at my house but suppose to melt by late today or Sat.. I am gonna get out and take Jess turkey hunting Sat morn then try to get some shedding in sat after our hunt.. Having a big family Easter dinner with mom on Sunday..doubt I will get out much.. maybe a bit .. Good luck TIM and TYLER!
Got Out Again Well I finally found a little 4 point in the willows out in the middle of the field in shin deep water. Still way to much snow, all the south side exposed hills were clear of snow but to get to one was hard. With out my snow shoes, filled my Muck boots twice with water above the top of the boot. Soakers are alright when the weather is good and I was delighted with the way the Muck boot kept my foot warm even though cold water entered the boot. I'll venture back out in a few weeks. Can't remember when we had snow still into May . I was swimming in the lake last May long weekend LOL. Go figure. Hopefully with all the snow still on the ground it will bring our water table content up. Hey Troy say Hi to your Mom for me, that was an evening I enjoyed while with Pat and you that one night at her place. Rocky
Congrats on the shed Rocky !! Tyler fought the rain and dizzle all day Friday and came up with four sheds. He took pictures of the two nicer ones... Today was a slow day. We covered a lot of spots but I only managed to pull off finding one... an oldy... Tyler faired a little better and found 3 sheds. He started of small but ended the day with a good one. 69 inch... Not sure if we will make it out tomorrow. Tim
Nice work Tim, those are some nice sheds! Keep after them bud, I know its been a grind for you this year. You did better than I did today. (sun) I got skunked for the 2nd time this season....grrrr
Maybe not a grind... just not as spoiled as we use to be in years past. :D We did make it out Sunday for a few hours. Tyler wanted to look for the other side of the big shed he found on Saturday. About an hour into the walk he found this shed... We figured if it wasn't in this corn field there one one other likely spot. He wasted not time leaving the old man in the dust... eeeerrrrrr... sloppy mud to head over to it. He found it... Shed scored 68. We now have 3 complete sets of sheds off this buck. I'll post some better pictures of the sets later. Next area... I finally found one... Tyler found the mate... Tim
