It's not very common to be able to leave cameras out year round up here, but this year was one of those rare years. I chose to take my cameras down even though temperatures are warming up into the 40s again. I figure that 95% of bucks have shed and the ones that haven't are probably not of any interest to me.
It won't be easy to find these bucks' antlers throughout the vast tamarack swamp, but it's a goal of mine to find at least one of PegLeg's, Chippy's, or Bullwinkle's. That's six antlers somewhere out there that are just laying in the moss. It's all about picking the right trails and spending lots of time out there. It's the type of mission that will need more than two people wandering the never-ending swamp. Besides the west side, there's really only one buck that I have my sights on finding and that's Pencil. He's been given no attention after Christmas, which is too bad. I really think we could have kept closer tabs on him and given ourselves more clues as to the whereabouts of his 4 year old antlers. He will be king of the SE part of Minnesota Hill next year. He probably won't break 130 as a 5 year old, but he'll definitely be a big deer that will be a trophy for any of us to take. If some of his pattern stays the same, he should be right in our laps come November. It would be nice to find at least one of his antlers this year. That would give us his set as a 2 year old, his right side as a 3 year old and hopefully both sides as a four year old. A neighbor up there has his 3 year old left side, so we could probably do some kind of swap or trade for the antlers.
As the camera season winds down, I realize that I was very focused on monitoring Bullwinkle was excited to track down Chippy after he disappeared in 2010. I think I should have kept one camera up over on Pencil and in the rare chance that Mr. 140 is still alive. With Scabby dead, it will be interesting to see what bucks will spend time out near the Tweeten woods this summer. Hopefully the State will plant something in those fields this year. Crop rotation determines everything by the end of June. I'm going to try to spread my cameras out a little further this year. Hopefully I can pick up another camera or two (even if they're cheap) in order to cover more hunches. We've gotten permission on a few great places that I've never really explored yet. I'll do a walk through on each and see if there's any potential.
The hitlist for 2012 will be down from years past. Here are the dominant bucks that will headline the list if they can be located next year: Bullwinkle, Chippy, Pencil, Whitey, Twigs, HighRise, and PegLeg. There are a few up and comers that will stay off the list - Black Nose, Wide 9, and the 8 by the hill. I'll be trying to get a camera or two over by the Dike again. I might even get one out in the Refuge again. We'll see. Bear season makes scouting the Refuge difficult. A lot of people like to bear hunt out there. I should get a stand out to the West Popple Island. That place could be dynamite. Here was a really neat thing I came across while pulling my cameras down. After examining it, it could only be from one thing/event: A mouse ran across the top of the snow and something swooped in and caught it. There were no more tracks beyond that point. It was really cool, I thought.
Steph and I are leaving for Red Wing tomorrow morning to see the newly arrived Hailey Jo DeMars. It will be a great time of hanging out with family and hopefully we can get out to Whitewater and scout around while looking for sheds. I have a few places I'd really like to explore out there.
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