Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

SHED HUNTING THREAD - PICs INCLUDED


WalleyeChamp

Recommended Posts

You will want to remove as much as you can by hand with a knife. Take off the hide and remove the lower jaw, eyes, and as much meat and brains as possable without gouging the bone. This alone can take some time if you have not done it before. What you cannot remove at this point will get easier after its in the water for a bit. Do not work to hard on the nasal cavity or the roof of the mouth. That will come out with ease after a while. Like cooking a bone in roast. There will come a point where it just about falls off the bone. Just keep working at it as its in the water and in between the two batches. It would be nice to have another skull near for reference. If you need reference pictures I can provide! A pliers is also nice to have near while doing this!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 703
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • TonkaBass

    79

  • lungdeflator

    49

  • matchset

    44

  • WalleyeChamp

    31

Now that I am back at my computer I thought I would add an "as it was found" photo for my last find on the 3rd. I also took a photo of a large tree that has been utilized for a rub tree for many, many years and shows the scars and healing cycle from the abuse... One of the coolest I have found.

CedarIowashedandultrasound005.jpg

CedarIowashedandultrasound003.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the photos guys keep it up. FYI be carefull with the regs of state parks, you can't remove anything including bone/antler. Just a heads up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dang I wish we had ground cover like that right now! where you at that there is NO snow?

And yes you cannot take anything from a state park. at least don't get caught taking them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeh, if you look at the boot prints in the state parks, there likely is not an antler left by season end! I don't spend much time in state parks do to the competition being so high, I usually can get permission on the majority of the farms where I stop to ask, so areas to shed hunt have never been an issue for me. I found this antler in central Iowa, where all of the south slopes are snow free and only about 2 inches of crusted snow on the north slopes. You go an hour north and there is over a foot of snow, quite a differnce!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pulled a camera off my alfa alfa bale the other day and looked at 500 pics of does and fawns and 3-4 bucks, but they looked like they shed a few weeks ago. I think all my antlers are buried under 3' of snow. Its going to be a long winter....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Went out for a quick hike tonight to an area in the metro. Did not pick up any sheds, but I saw a really nice 10pt right at dark. Anybody seeing shed out deer in the twin cities metro?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seen a few on cam that were shed so we walked a little bit. Found a match set to a small six that I gave to a youngster in the group.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I have been trying to talk mY wife into bow hunting for the past couple of years and finally this winter she said she WOULD like to try it. So for Christmas got her a coat, bibs, and boots. Now I had to try and get her even more interested. What better way then going for a "nature hike" to break in her new hunting clothes and boots. So we went out on Monday and went to a farm where I have trail cam pics of a couple bruisers.. .. So we walked for a while with knee high snow and the wife wasnt to thrilled but I wasn't gonna turn back... so we continued to a picked bean field and I told her we needed to walk to a standing corn field that was 1/2 mile away.. after some looks from the wife we marched over to a side hill next to the standing corn.... I walked the top and she walked along the bottom and half way through the walk I hear " I think I found one",, No you didn't, I said.. " No really I did" I head over to her and shure enough she found the left side to a buck I named "showtime" ( I have 3 yrs of trail cam pics of this buck)... Needless to say I was pumped.... We walked for another 45 minutes looking for the other half in the standing corn and nothing... so we headed back to where she found the first one and She walk the top and I the bottom... About20 yds from the first shed the wife was trying to walk down to me and she got caught in a vine and fell down... she stood up and said" look here are some more deer beds... Wait I think i just found another one" .. are you serious I said....." Yes I really did".. I ran through the snow like it was melted and wouldn't you believe it the matching side to the first one.... I was jacked at this point.... The wife says" If i hunt this year I'm hunting right here!!!!" So the wife goes out for the first time EVER and finds two sheds from a buck i've been trying to kill for 3 yrs... I think she is getting the FEVER and I love it....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow, congrats to your wife on the great find, and congrats to you for gaining a hunting partner for life. It will be awesome for both of you when she scores on her first deer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very Cool Rack. That buck has some character. I think it would be pretty sweet if your wife shot old showtime!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya I agree with you guys on her killing that buck. I wouldn't care if she shot it. I'm half tempted to put those antlers on a cape and hang it on the wall.( my brother does taxidermy) I had this buck at 26yds in the fall of 2009 but didnt have a shot and boy did he grow alot in one year. after measuring the antlers and estimating his spread. He would gross in the low 160s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea of ratteling him in with his own horns and THEN mounting both his sheds and head on the wall!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a set of shed I found last year mounted. It was a really cool feeling hanging him on the wall knowing I could still have the chance to put him next to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice finds Dag! That is an impressive set.

LOTWS, do you have a picture of the sheds you mounted? I always thought that would be a cool way to display them.

Was out yesterday again for a few hours. Came out to a field right at dark, 30+ deer in it, not one with antlers. I did see one small buck on the way home and had a few small bucks on the camera still. I think a lot of the big antlers are buried right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a bunch of mule deer still holding this week in nodak, but as far as locally this snow needs to stop! Driving me up a wall! Wish the temps would raise so I could at least go fishing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Solid find Dag!!!

We were going to go up north for a 2 day antler hunt today and monday. But they get 6 inches of snow Friday night. UNREAL!!! Now another 2-4 more monday. I have this scary feeling I might go empty handed on sheds until march/april when the snow melts. It has been a depressing shed season for me!!

Good luck.

CJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dag, i dunno if you're a spiritual person...but i think God had a hand in your wifes shed hunting experience smile that just doesn't happen smile awesome

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jumbo. I don't think you're alone in getting PO'ed with all this snow. Springtime will produce a lot of numbers all around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in NE Iowa I'm getting mixed reports also. I've seen a couple bucks with antlers yet and have talked to several others that have. Just between yesterday and today 4 people told me they've found sheds, one found 9 already but that was all in one field. I guess I'm a slacker so far this year since I've only been out about an hour and a half. I was hoping to get out this week but woke up to over 3 inches of fresh snow! Also it's really cool that we have a good shed forum here in one spot! It's always a highlight to jump on and see how everybody is doing!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also wanted to toss in that I've found matches to antlers well over a half a mile from where I found the first. It's amazing how few matched sets a person can find. 2 years ago I ended up with 82 antlers and 14 matched sets. Last year I had 63 antlers and 6 matched sets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya bugle thats the way it goes. Ive found matches that were stacked on top of each other. My buddy found one last year 2 days later after I found the other side that was close to a half mile apart.

Walked a little over 6 miles yesterday through 3 feet of snow and came up empty. Probably the hardest walk Ive ever done, snowshoes dont help much when its all powder snow. I havent seen or got pics of an antlered buck since around christmas so I might just stick to fishing til the melt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.