Hit 100 sheds for 2012 today

[moondoondude]

Well I came home today and did a count of my antlers that I have found recently. Added them up to all the antlers from 2012 and I got 100 on the dot so far.

I will do a day-by-day review of the past few days.


Saturday started off fast. I did a powerwalk over to a field planted in winter wheat and I picked up a very fresh 4 point right off the bat.




I decided to cut over to another field and on the way, I came across a pretty barred owl - been seeing a lot of them this year. I picked up another nice antler in that field.




I decided to keep moving at a pretty quick pace and I picked up a very fresh antler that still had blood, puss, and some other nasty stuff at the base. Not a very clean shed.








After buzzing over to another field, I spotted a nice 5 point from a long distance. I went over and scooped it up.




I did some zig and some zags and ended up picking up a couple more, including a year old shape with no chews under a cedar, and another old antler right along a road at a fence crossing.







I got a late start Sunday and didn't make it out until about 2. It took me a while to find the deer but I ended up getting a couple small antlers they dropped as they were eating out in some new growth.




Not much longer after that I hit a big section of hardwoods. I must have missed this set last year.




But, I didn't miss him this year. Only managed to find one of his antlers, about 150 yards away from the previous year's match.




On the way back, I picked up a year old antler that I have the match of from last year. I am bummed I missed this antler last year - but it was in a real goofy spot and it has a broken brow.




Since I had the week off, I decided I would meet up with a buddy on Monday and check one of his hot spots. He had already hit some of it, but we walked for about 4 or 5 hours and managed to pick up 6 - quite a few antlers still hiding in there. A big 10 point set he knew well and a huge ancient antler in the mix.




After that, I had about an hour to burn before another buddy got off work so I headed out to a tiny little hole where I knew 2 big ones were hanging, I didn't find their antlers from this year, but I found one of their sets from last year.






I ended up meeting up with my buddy and we kicked up a group of deer that watched us at a distance for a while.




After walking for a bit, I found the antler I was looking for, a big 8 that I had seen with two other big ones in late January. Here is the antler (detached and also attached).










I ended up finding a big old one later on as well. Tuesday I searched for the match for a while but called it quits after a few hours. I couldn't turn up his buddy's antlers either. Here is the dog with an antler I did turn up.




Today started off slow - real slow. I walked a couple big winter wheat fields that were loaded with deer. I saw a ton of deer in them walking in - none with antlers - and deer were bumping up along the edge all day. The fields were loaded with sign - but people sign too. Someone had been in there since the last rain and they covered the fields really well - I would bet they picked up a lot of antlers.

I ended up picking up shop and decided to go check a couple other fields. After looking for several hours and finding nothing early, I was pretty bitter. After making it out to the first field, I picked up a big 3 point.



Right around the corner, I spot a big shed off the bat about 200 yards away.





As I get closer, I see it's a great 5 point side.



Before I pick the antler up, I can see another big chocolate horned set in the field a couple hundred yards away.



As I get closer, I see this is a great deer.



All 4 from the field.






The pile since Saturday- I plan to add the rest of the week.

[Swampthing]

Unbeleivable, do you live on a deer refuge closed to hunting ? Do you have much competition in the land your shed hunting ? Could you give a little insight on your areas ?

[moondoondude]

Unbeleivable, do you live on a deer refuge closed to hunting ? Do you have much competition in the land your shed hunting ? Could you give a little insight on your areas ?

No, yes, and yes.

There is heavy hunting pressure everywhere around here. It is rivaled only by shed hunting pressure. Some would argue that the number of deer also rival hunting pressure and shed hunting pressure. I talk to an avid shed hunter from SK, Canada, and he finds around 40 antlers a year. Of those 40, about 30-40% are over 70 inches. I found 133 sheds last year, I think one or two were right around 70, not even over. That's about 1% here over 70 inches. This year, I got probably 6 fresh that are over 70 inches. The deer don't get age often because they get shot. They get hammered from hunting pressure but they'll figure there way around the bullets, arrows, and front bumpers of cars every now and then. I found the big sheds which were pictured last all in the same field. It is a field that was planted in beans this past year. I picked up 4 antlers in the field. From the point where I picked up each shed, there were probably 6 or 7 stands within 300 yards, most of them were visible. I could see at least one stand within gun range from where I picked up each antler.

Shed hunting pressure is brutal. I have run into quite a few people shed hunting this year. On president's day, I ran into 3 different people all in one day. Just this week, I have seen people on saturday, monday, and today. There are a lot of shed hunters and hunters because there are a ton of people out here- it's highly populated. For example, today I was checking a couple big wheat fields that were loaded with deer - and deer sign. There were a bunch of deer out there while I was walking in. There were fresh bootprints all over the fields as well as horsetracks - I have no doubt that someone was checking the fields from horseback and someone else by foot - not a bad idea, you could definitely save your legs and save lots of time. I spent 3 hours there and turned up nothing.

If you can get access to lots and lots of continuous ground, which this is very little of here, you can find some good antlers. There will be stands and hunters everywhere, but if the deer have enough land they will find there way around if they do somehow luckily slip into the older age class. This is the land I prefer.

Then there are small, I mean very, very small pockets of woods that hold big deer. These 5 or so acres of woods/thicket are hit or miss. If someone is hunting in them, which is almost always the case, you won't find any antlers in them. If you get lucky, you can find one of these pockets and you can bet on a big one being in there, and you can go back year after year and pick up his antlers. He knows he's safe and with no pressure and some age, they can get big. I have a couple small pockets like this but liek I said, just about everywhere around here gets hunted and shed hunted. I got a big group of buddies that I talk to and we coordinate about where we have shed hunted and what's where so we can save a little bit of time and effort by not walking on top of each other.

[DEERSLAYER]

That's amazing. You sure do have incredible deer hunting over there. Most guys around here never find a shed during there lifetime. There are far more hunters for bucks and they just don't make it through their first season with antlers. There is a lot of Michigan like this.

[PLB]

Freaking unreal dude!!

[ Post made via Android ]

[jlh42581]

what do you do with all of those, keeping that many would never fly at my house

[whitetail007]

thats awesome. do you sell your sheds?

[Black Squirrel]

More questions for you, Moondoondude. How many acres did you search to find these sheds? How many times do you reserch an area? Do you worry about pushing the deer to differnt areas, befor e they shed? Thanks.

[moondoondude]

JLH- The sheds sit in a pile in the garage, for now. I pretty much give them out to people. A lot of people know that I have quite a few and I give them to people for lamps, chandeliers, and so forth. I keep the big ones for myself though.

No, I do not sell antlers. It is illegal here I believe.

Blacksquirrel- I hit thousands of acres through the year. I couldn't tell you how many miles I walk per shed - but I think it's probably around 4. I do a lot of 20 mile days, some more, most a little less. Like I said earlier, I do 10 hour days on the weekends, and I'm pretty beat by the end of the weekend. There are plenty of times when I will walk 10-15 miles in between finding antlers and I have been skunked more times than I can count this year. I walk very, very fast also. When I walk I'm looking for big antlers, if I pick one up that's when I usually slow down and start looking for a match. About half of my time is spent looking for big matches - if I didn't stop to look for matches I know that I could find a lot more antlers, but it kills me to have to have a single big antler.

Also, it usually only takes me one trip to figure an area out - that means finding out if there are good deer there, if there are a lot of deer there, if it is over hunted, and if it is shed hunted hard. All of these things affect whether or not I will return. I don't worry about pushing deer to different areas before they shed - in the areas that I hunt I don't go in until I know that they big ones have dropped. In the areas I don't hunt, I go in and if they haven't dropped, oh well, I move on to the next spot.

[DEERSLAYER]

Moondoondude, do you walk a specific type of pattern when shed hunting? I can't say that I have ever walked anywhere close to 400 miles! You certainly put down a lot of boot leather looking for sheds!

[oneflag]

Good job! Does your dog in the picture find any? You must be in great physical shape.

[moondoondude]

DEERSLAYER- The pattern I walk depends completely on where I'm looking. You got to have two things to find antlers - legs and eyes. A lot of times I let my legs find antlers, which shouldn't be the case. I prefer to walk big, open areas where I can see them from a way off. When I have to grid search areas to find a match, or when I walk big bedding areas or thicker areas, it's a huge pain and it takes a long time - however, it is extremely rewarding when you find one. Usually I can just take a peak at an aerial and I get an idea of a route pretty quickly. Once the boots are on the ground I just go and the route adjusts accordingly.

Oneflag - The dog doesn't find any. He is great company though.

[addisonlee]

That's amazing moondoondude. Keep the pics coming.

[ah110]

There is heavy hunting pressure everywhere around here.

to what extent? because i find that very hard to believe lol

the sheer quantity of big deer and other nice deer are insane.

if you could, take a look at westchester county NY on google and let me know if thats comparable to the areas your in

[Brad]

Wow! You have found 100 more this year than I have ever found in my lifetime. Maybe someday!