2017 Sheds

They are definitely dropping, so lets see some antlers!

This is my third one for the year. I found it tonight on a short hike in a massive bedding area. It was extremely fresh with blood in the snow and wet blood on the base. Any ideas what would stain the end of the antler so dark? I’ve never seen one this dark… almost black staining.

Cool shed, congrats. I have no idea why it is stained that dark, have not seen that before either.

Two more for the year! The big one is a year old but zero chewing on it. This is my biggest shed ever!

Well the big shed ended up being the year old shed from the deer my friend shot this year. It’s kind of a bummer to see it go, but it belongs on the wall next to his buck! Happy to add to the story of his once in a life time deer.

I found the shed 2-3 miles from where he shot the buck, but this was known to be the home range in winter.

Any pics of the deer?
DT

Yes, but my friend would have a heart attack if it was posted on the internet.

Well another couple miles in the books and another shed for the pile. Similar frame and heavy base as the big one from Friday.

Here are a couple of the nicer finds from the last few weeks. I believe I’m up to 15 sheds, and I would say I’m well over 100 miles for the year. Training for Montana is officially underway now that the bag of salt is loaded in the new pack!

First pic is the year old shed from the last shed I posted… pretty cool to find.

Last weekends find.

One more year old shed and something I hate finding.

…and the dead head.

hillhiker wrote:

One more year old shed and something I hate finding.

Why do you finding the year old shed?

That’s a bummer. Any idea how it died? Sure looks like a very nice buck.

The year old shed was just buried in some CRP… just missed it last year.

Tough to tell how it died. There wasn’t much left when I got to it. It’s been reported to the authorities, and the site was well documented with photos if they decide to pursue it. It was a young buck with a lot of potential that’s for sure, but at least I won’t be wondering about him this year.

Saw a decent 8 tonight still holding one side in Alexandria.
DT

hillhiker wrote:

The year old shed was just buried in some CRP… just missed it last year.

Tough to tell how it died. There wasn’t much left when I got to it. It’s been reported to the authorities, and the site was well documented with photos if they decide to pursue it. It was a young buck with a lot of potential that’s for sure, but at least I won’t be wondering about him this year.

Man that hurts, if he was a young buck and already had that tine length and the great mass all around, he could have been something really special Hopefully he got to pass on those genetics before his demise.

I found a small fork last night that had fresh blood on it. I haven’t seen a buck with antlers in a couple weeks now, but I have all of my cameras pulled now till after turkey season.

Doing my best to age the buck by tooth wear(gotta love youtube) the buck looks to be 2.5, but I am by no means an expert. It’s close to falling into the 3.5 range also so who knows. Either way I would have rather seen him walking through the woods this year even if I did decide to let him walk one more year.

Been hunting / scouting for a few weeks now. Found this nice 4 of 8 last night 25′ of my property line!!! I cannot get my hand around the base.

Sweet find!!! Any history with that buck?

Well I live on the edge of big woods all public. It is different hunting than what I am used to – hunting farmland. I have found in the couple years I have lived here that the nice bucks are here but they are pretty elusive because of the immense amount of cover. That being said I am scouting now while everything is naked in nature and walking the miles of trails slowly learning the movements of the deer. We don’t feed but the deer like my grass, my back yard is covered in “wood pellets ” With that both my wife and I have seen some large animals, now I have to catch one! I am thinking its time to put a mineral block out and pick up a few cameras!!

Here is a better picture, meybe a nice 10 next year. It has a sticker between the two outer points.