SHED HUNTING THREAD - PICs INCLUDED

[Mojoe]

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!

[jkcmj]

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.

[ANYFISH2]

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.

[sticknstring]

Nice finds jk - you're on a roll this season! Where was that taken sans snow?

[pureinsanity]

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.

[jkcmj]

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!

[lungdeflator]

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....

[shedaddict]

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?

[HooknHorns]

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.

[dag_1980]

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....

[dag_1980]

here are some pics of the sheds I talked about in the previous post. What do you guys/gals think?

[jkcmj]

That's what keeps ya going! Holy Shiit

[walleyehunter80]

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

[paceman]

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

[sticknstring]

For sure, it only seems fitting now. Great finds & way to get her hooked!

[lovebigbluegills]

That's awesome!!! Hopefully she'll have that kind of luck every time out.

[WalleyeChamp]

Awesome finds and story! Now she just needs to rattle him in next year with his OWN antlers!

[JBone]

Money!!!!

[archerystud]

Great story and no offense but I hope your wife gets that one!

[dag_1980]

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.

[walleyehunter80]

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

[LOTWSvirgin]

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.

[shedaddict]

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.

[TonkaBass]

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!

[certified jumbo]

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

[matchset]

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

[WalleyeChamp]

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.

[buglefever]

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!!

[buglefever]

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.

[lungdeflator]

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.