First Sheds of the Year - Now Just To Find Them!

Joe and I went out with the bows yesterday afternoon and before I got settled in I decided to check the trail camera I had out there. After several does, fawns and yearling bucks, I got two pictures of a buck that had shed both sides! I'm almost positive that it's a buck I nicknamed Whitey. In the picture, he's leaving a field and coming back through the swamp. His pedicles are still pink, so I'm lead to believe that his antlers are just out in the field behind him less than a couple hundred yards. The funny part is that the first time I laid eyes on this buck, he was out in this same field. I got pictures of him west a mile, south east about 3/4 mile, and now here he is again. It would be very interesting to see what his antlers score. I'm sure they're around 52 and 48 or so. He was a very aggressive buck this late summer. There were bucks that were four and five and they were all shying away from this big bodied three year old. I'm pretty sure he is three because of his short main beams. He's a very stocky deer and should grow into something good next year. I gotta scoop up those antlers. I also got another picture of Contender and one of another buck I had pictures of late summer, but haven't seen until this month. I'll give him until next year to name himself.

I also was able to get out to the camera that's been on the creek. My hopes were high and when I opened the lid and saw that the batteries weren't dead after 18 days, my hopes were even higher. I rifled through the 50 some pictures on there only to see 1 yearling buck and a coyote and everything else does and fawns. Needless to say, I moved that camera. I also made it northwest of the bus with the snowmobile and checked that camera. Those batteries died on the 15th. I debated leaving that one, but I figured I'd bring it back in a week or two. It was good to see a few pictures of Contender and I also got some pics of the buck I let walk on the 18th of November. I'm glad I did. He wouldn't score more than 105. He's got nice potential. He has a big body, but I can't see how he's more than 2 years old. Here they are: