Whitey's Left and Mom's Dinosaur

Steph had a track meet on Friday, so after I got some things checked off the list, I headed up to the hill. I called a friend to see if he was busy and if he wanted to go with. I picked him up at his house and was able to take a peek at the mount he did of Inside CrabClaw. It looked pretty nice considering it was a September hide. We took off about two o'clock and started lookin' about 2:30pm. We decided to comb the state-side of the swamp next to a standing bean field that had several young bucks going to it in december and january. This area probably has the most deer per capita around The Hill, but as we ventured into the swamp, we realized it just became a maze of trails - very difficult to navigate. Anyway, while we were nearing the heaviest trail where I had a camera in December/January, I was following a trail that was running north and south right in the brushline. It started out really nasty and then opened up enough so there could be decent deer traffic in there. I looked up ahead and just like magic, there was the unmistakable sight of an antler. At first I thought it was a year old because of how pushed down into the ground it was and how white it was. Then I recognized what buck it was from. I knew that this buck, "Whitey" as we called him, was by far the first buck on camera to have shed both sides. I yelled, "found one!" to my friend. "Nice one?" he asked. "Not really." I said as I pulled out the camera. I took a few pictures of it as it laid while my friend was trying to cross this ditch between us within the brushline. "Just pick it up", he said as he gave up on the idea of crossing. I through it over to him and told him a bit about the story.

Whitey's left side was laying less than 50 yards from where the pictures of him were taken. I'd be willing to be that had I known he had shed when I was out there to swap cards, I could've found it nice 'n' brown. I walked that little trail he dropped on afterwards and I'm sure I walked right over or on top of it. Oh well. I still found it. It measured 42 5/8. Which would only put him a hair over 103 inches with an 18 inch spread. Sad.

After that, we kept going north until we were almost even with a house to the west. We turned around and came south again until we started crossing the heaviest trails. We headed east-southeast into the swamp and found where there had been plenty of deer traffic. Plenty of rubs confirmed the deers' use of those beans throughout the fall and into winter. This was the primo spot. I need to make a mental note that depending on what gets seeded in that same pasture, a person might need to hunt it accordingly. After a three hour walk I dropped my friend off and returned to The Hill. I met mom and dad on their way up to the cabin to do some more looking. I drove to the landing and went southwest and west cutting parallel to the trail on the edge of the cedars towards the bus. Once I got near the bus, I followed the traffic south to the stand I put Zach Johnson up in during rifle season. There was a decent amount of sign in there, but not enough droppings to comb the area. I walked straight east until I hit the strip south of the landing and walked back up it to my truck. I met mom and dad at the cabin and mom said, "Do you want to see what I found?" "Yes." I said. Dad said that it was big, and that it was a set. I didn't believe him. I walked to dad's endgate and sure enough, they pulled out a big set. Too bad it was about 10 years old. Mom found it laying in a pile of tailings from when they cleared the woods after the '97 tornado. It's amazing how much that area has grown up. The antlers were definitely nice - especially for Minnesota Hill. They would've been either an 8 or 9 point set that would've went in the 140s gross. Good mass, nice brows and beams. The tines would have leaned in quite a bit at the top. Too bad it took somebody that many years to find it. All in all it was a great day. Too bad we only have about two weeks max until the green grass will bury everything. Endeavor To Persevere.