Whitewater Strikes Again! - #5 & #6

We took a trip down to Red Wing this last weekend to see our new niece - Hailey Jo. She's so precious and it was good to see Andrea and the family and spend some time helping out where we could. Donny and I took off down to Whitewater after they were done with Hailey's two week check up. We got down there around 11:15am and noticed two vehicles where we were going to park. We decided to haul up to the top of the bluff and walk our way down. There were a few fields in the bottoms that made it good a likely place for deer to feed while feeling quite safe. Right out of the truck we came across a carcass of a young buck, probably a yearling. After a little discussion, Donny brought up the new antler point restriction and that these people are shooting young bucks only to get up close, count the points and then leave it for fear of getting busted. It's sad. People who don't understand the purpose of the antler point restriction will likely never understand deer management. I am completely in favor of an antler point restriction. I'd like it to be statewide. More than that, I'd like to see Minnesota become and "earn-a-buck" state. This would mean when you purchase your tag (of any season) you need to kill a doe first before you are even given a buck tag. This would accomplish several things, but most importantly, it would create a better buck to doe ratio. That's a whole other blog post.
As we walked to the north towards the end of the top of the bluff, we started finding some decent trails and deer sign. It wasn't 25 minutes in and I walked right up to the first antler of the day - a fresh yearling 3 point. Boone (Donny's Beagle) walked right by it. I called him back to see if he'd pick it up. Nope.

We were optimistic. The terrain looked good and we had lots of time ahead of us. We walked out to the point of the bluff and decided we needed to go down and head east. We came across a bench of sorts, like an old cattle trail which was fairly steep and pretty icy. We figured we'd just make our way to the bottom and see if we could pick up on some better deer sign near a feeding area. On our way down we were talking about this and that and I made a comment the deer were using a 'shortcut' that was even steeper than what we were using and we laughed because these deer are capable of outrageous things. It wasn't 50 yards further when I looked back and below us a bit and spotted tines sticking through the grass.

 

At first glance it looked to be a real nice antler - probably a 3 or 4 year old buck, but as we closed the distance, it shrunk up. It was nice and heavy, but it was definitely from a 2 year old buck. It had also been laying there a year. The only reason I probably saw it was because of how white the antler tips were. Once again Boone followed us down, but had no interest in the antler. It was pretty funny having him along. He kept up the whole day, but took the nap of all naps when we got back home.

We celebrated and thought we were doing really well having found the first two within the first hour of being there - if that. As we made our way to the bottom and around the grassy fields and creek drainage, we started to get the feeling that people had been through those parts. There were lots of trails, lots of sign, and statistically there should have been an antler or two laying where we walked. We hiked up and through a big corn field and above it, which had some of the best sign. I came across a bone laying on a stump, which I couldn't identify. A little further I picked up a skull that at first glance resembled that of a northern or a muskie because of how light and hallow the bone was. It suddenly dawned on me that this kind of looks like a bird's skull. Maybe an eagle. It was big. It was the same size as Boone's head.

After doing some research when I got home, it turns out it was a pelvic girdle from a wild turkey. Shows how much I know. I walked through lots of gnarly thorns and some great bedding area, but no luck. I did come across a few boot prints in the mud, which tells me there were probably people out there a week before. We began working our way back across the south side of the ravine. We got into two more cornfields before we headed back up the bluff. As we huffed and puffed our way up the bluff, we found a couple unreal scrape sites. There was so much sign around the food sources, it's just too bad you can't leave a camera out there. There's huge deer and too many hunters to dare leave it more than a few days. At the top of the bluff we came back out to the same field that we started in, except on the opposite side. This field had definitely had deer feeding in it. There were lots of tracks and icy trails, so you know the deer were there this winter. We were both pretty tired, but looking back I wish we would've spent just a little more time on that north edge. There was great buck sign and although I'm sure the fields had been walked through, the woods probably had not.
It's simply a tough place to shed hunt because of the population of hunters that are interested in that area. There are two photo boards that attract people from all around. Enormous deer are posted on the boards showcasing what caliber of bucks are roaming the bluffs. Avid shed hunters spend every weekend out there - rain, snow, sleet, or hail - they're pounding the food sources and the easier accessed bedding areas. It's not easy to find a shed when you wait until the second weekend of March. I'd like to look again around mid-February. Spend a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday out there. Regardless, I picked up two more. So that makes 6 for the year. The new 'father of two' took the ride home to catch up on some well-earned sleep.