The 9 Year Mystery - SOLVED!!!

Of all the deer stories I've come up with, heard about, and especially cared about, this one could top the list! So I have to start back 13 months ago. On March 30th, 2012, mom and dad and I went out for a perfect shed hunt day. Traces of snow remaining in the cedars, but cool enough to walk for hours on end - even for dad. We were reaching the end of a fairly long hike, when I heard my dad yell, "Hey Mitchell, come and look at this."As I hurdle-walked through the crazy cedars in a B-line for my dad's voice, he said again as I got closer, "I figured you'd want to see this." There in a little cedar hole (made by the void of cedar roots) lay what was left of a very hefty antler.
Dad's Monster Dinosaur - 3-30-12 from Mitch Haaby on Vimeo.

My mind was stretched in many directions at the same time; I know I had walked this area several times over the last few years, what the heck deer could this be from, and way to go, dad! He left it as it lay so I could get some pictures and a video, which I am now even more grateful for. He picked it up and we did some ooo-ing and aaahhh-ing. The thing that was so unsettling was the length of this giant browtine! The thing had to be 8 inches.
So that was where the story began. I was staring at the antler and I was trying to figure out where this buck could have went to. How long had it been laying there? Could I remember any bucks with huge brows being shot? That's when it hit me. This G2 had a very even fork up at the top, which reminded me of a buck a neighbor had shot back in 2004. I rifled through the pictures on my phone and was able to locate one of the mount of the buck. I showed it to dad and he said, "Oh yeah. No doubt."

So then I had to show the neighbor as I know he'd be thrilled to see it. If this shed was in fact off the same buck, it would've been from a 2003 or earlier rack - most likely 2003. That means that if it fell in the spring of 2004, it had been laying somewhere in these woods for 8 years! After closer examination, we concluded that there was no doubt it was a shed from the same buck. The main beams curled in really tight and weren't exceptionally long. That was the first twist in the story. Fast forward to this May, 2013. I had arranged to go for a walk in the woods with an outdoor writer for the Grand Forks newspaper. He owned a cabin up west of Pinecreek, closer to the Refuge. I knew the place, but had never been inside. I met him out there on a Monday morning - May 6th to be exact. He welcomed me and said, "Come on in." As I entered the little mobile home, I noticed a pretty respectable antler mounted to the wall and buried under blaze orange hats and vests right next to the door. Without even asking a word about it, I found myself compulsively removing the debris from this buried treasure. It was large enough, I thought it might be a cut-off. I glanced down to see that it was in fact a cleanly shed antler.

Simultaneously, I noticed a large fork on the G2 and lastly revealed a giant browtine. I thought wow, that's a pretty nice shed!

Too bad they just put screws through the mainbeam to secure it to a board. Because of our location, I was kind of assuming that it was found locally, but in the refuge somewhere. As I circled the desecrated treasure, I was able to look at the antler from a straight on angle and as usual, thousands of trail camera and other photos were filing through my mind when BAM!

It clicked. "Where did you find this antler?", I asked. "That's a funny story.", he said. "A couple of friends of mine were up grouse hunting from the cities and they found that thing over by Minnesota Hill."
"Seriously?" I asked as I saw the pieces coming together and began locking in on the reality of this mind-blower. "You know where that old overturned bus is?", he asked me. "Yeah!" I was getting closer. Now it was my turn to fine tune the questions. "2004 about?" "You know that sounds really close.", he added. "My dad has the other side!", I nearly shouted. I was sure of it! "You gotta be kidding me.", said.
I pulled out my phone and rifled through pictures until I came to the video of dad picking up the weathered side just over a year prior. I paused it on the frame where you can really see the browtine. "Boy that looks like a match alright!" He said amazed. I oo-ed and ah-ed for a while and we got to talking about life and how my folks were. I tried not to fixate on the antler hanging right above my head. We went out walking for sheds in three spots - two of them were great spots, with no luck. The entire time we were looking for antlers, I was trying to talk myself through how in the world I could come to possess this antler that for the last 9 years has been preserved in safe keeping only 7 miles from where dad found his side.
As we approached his cabin at the end of our time together, I figured it was now or never. "Ok, Brad, I've gotta ask ya - Is there any way you'd be willing to part with that antler, whether by sale or by trade?" He said he wasn't sure since he didn't find it and that it made a nice coat rack by the door. I told him that I had lots of antlers that could make really nice coat racks. I told him to think about it and that he didn't have to answer me right then and there. We took some more pictures when we got back to his place and I mentioned it one more time before I left, just casually. The whole drive back to town I was contemplating which antlers I had that I'd be willing to part with. I took a picture of three that I could think of and sent it to him and said, "Here are some possible trades." By this time, he knew that I was going to be persistent and that the antler obviously meant way more to me than it did to him. HE WAS RIGHT! He said, "I'll tell you what, you give me two of those three and you've got yourself a deal." "Done." I texted back. "Which ones." He chose the Chicago shed (measuring 63") and the Skime shed (measuring 58"). Two nice antlers, but to have the biggest shed ever found at Minnesota Hill was worth it. Id've given him all three. I figured as it hung on his wall that it had to break 70", maybe upwards of 74" or so. After we finally were able to make the trade one week later, I taped it right as I hopped in my truck: 78 7/8"!! This was an 80" antler if it hadn't been chipped. This was 20" bigger than the ones I gave up. There was even some remnants of cedar boughs on the backside of the mainbeam to confirm why this thing was able to be picked up in September/October and not be faded. Thank You CEDARS!

The unfortunate part was that I knew I would have to break the news to the guy who shot the buck in 2004. Of course he wanted the set really badly, but I told him I didn't think I'd be able to give them up. Having the set reunited was a pretty exciting experience. We really set dad up to for the big surprise. We got to talking about his antler and how great it would've been to see what it looked like when it was fresh. We went on and on about how massive and chocolate it probably was. I quickly ran out of the room and ran back and without saying a word just handed him the dark one. The suspense was thick! It only took him between 5 and 10 seconds before he locked in. This is the other side to the one I found! I helped him hold them side by side because he was just staring at the dark one.

After keeping them in suspense to the remainder of the story, I told them all about it and how there was a much bigger reward to the GF paper article than the actual article - although that turned out really well, too. What a tremendous story that I don't know how we'll top it. Maybe if I had shot the buck and then all this unfolded. Maybe someday the neighbor will find sheds of a buck that I shoot and it will be a complete story, where everybody gets what everybody wants, but as for now, it will remain a little lopsided. I'm ok with that.

Busy Week! -

So on Monday, the 6th, I got permission to look through a grove of trees that I've daydreamed too many times about what I might find out there - either sheds or the remains of Skyscraper. I had an outdoor writer from the Grand Forks paper with me to write an article about shed hunting. We first walked through one of his woods up near the refuge, then we walked through this pasture with high hopes and lastly we walked through a long east and west woods that thought might produce as well. We walked away empty handed! There was one turn of events that was very unexpected, but we'll discuss that in another blog!
Then on Wednesday, I checked on a few things and on a short walk I was able to find a set of spike sheds and a dead buck from several years ago.

The spikes were sheds 20 & 21 for the year. Thursday offered a short amount of time so Zach and I headed up to walk through the ridge and comb through the bowls and see if we couldn't find a little antler or two. We came up empty handed, but we saw lots of good sign and it seemed that the deer were definitely comfortable staging and criss-crossing through the bowls.

We found a good late fall-late rut bow stand site. On Friday I was stopping by my office to get a few things done and I found laying on my desk, two antlers that I couldn't recognize for the life of me. A few minutes later I found a note that read: "We kept the big ones. - Randy". Are you kidding me? I knew that every year the DNR does a dead deer search and they must've finally found some antlers! But bigger ones? How big were they? Where'd they find them? I needed answers!
On Saturday, Zach and I took a 5th grader and a 7th grader out for their first real shed hunting expedition. We hiked a long, long ways and tired those boys right out.

Nearing the end of our walk, the older of the two boys shouted, "There's one! I found one!" I shouted back, "Don't touch it!" Haha. In hindsight, he would've had no idea why in the world I would've ever told him to not touch it. A person's first and only instinct at that age is to scoop it up and celebrate! We got a few pictures of it and then had him tell the story. The shed actually turned out to be a broken part of a yearlings left antler.

I was able to track down a couple pics of what buck I thought it must be. Shortly after we picked up that antler, we continued heading east. We were south of the west slough (near the spring) and all of a sudden several trails began to emerge that I'm not even sure if I've ever been on them before. We didn't spend much time there, but the next time I go check that camera, I'm going to have to walk through that area again. There definitely was good sign and that is very near Pencil's core area.
Earlier that afternoon I called Randy at the Bog and he had to confess that he was pulling my leg. He gave me the only two that they found. That was cool. He did say in church the next day that Stuart Rice may have the other side to the better of the two.
Lastly, Yesterday (Tuesday the 14th) Zach and I tried to walk south around the outside of the stuff the cut south of Steve's stand last winter. We went all the way down to the point where the old stand in the tamarack is. We cut in to the west and then stayed northwest of our track all the way back to the truck. We found good sign, pulled my crazy 8 stand down, but never found any antlers. I dropped him off and mom, dad and I headed right back out. We walked south of the cabin and tucked into the cedars behind dad's stand and walked south - 3 wide. When we got to the south end of the shack field we started to curl south west towards dad's SW ladder stand. Dad found a little 3 point yearling shed right before we got to his ladder.

That was honestly some of the best sign around. It was mostly rut sign, with lots of trails and rubs. It was a very educational trip to say the least. We pulled off about 20 ticks between the three of us and I absolutely destroyed a pair of jeans. It was an exhausting day. I have less than one week to find Pencil's antlers. Down to the wire.

Another Good Day! - Sheds 17, 18, & 19

Spring has been a long time coming! Now that it's here, It won't be long at all before these antlers disappear under fresh new grass. We've combed through some of the areas that I was anticipating would produce for us. There's still some areas that I'll need to go through this week, but we're definitely running out of time.

On Saturday, a friend and I went out to two spot that I had never been. The fresh deer sign wasn't very good at all, but somehow after walking for about 10 minutes, I walked right into a buried set from a 2.5 year old buck.

It probably has laid there for at least 1 year, maybe two. The funny part was that when I spotted it, I only saw the one antler - even when I was right up to it. Then my buddy said, "Well don't you want it's mate?" I said, "Are you messing with me?" The match was literally ONE FOOT away from the other and I just couldn't see it. He could see from where he was standing and I couldn't. I offered it to him and he said no thanks... "just wouldn't be right". I would have eventually seen the other antler when I pulled the first one out of the leaves, but it just goes to show how tough it can be to see an antler. I've drastically slowed down how fast I walk and it's paying off. We saw tons of rut sign, but the food sources nearby just got pounded this fall and so they didn't winter around there. 

Next, we headed to Malung to a spot that I've had my eye on and just recently got permission to walk through. Same thing - tons of summer and fall sign, but nothing for winter sign. I managed to kick a couple geese off their nests. One goose only had one egg and the second goose had six magical omelets waiting to be cooked up!

 After we had combed most of the property and started thinking of heading to the truck, I came up a ridge away from the river bottom and looked to my right. BAM! Tines! Right as I saw it, my phone started ringing, it was my friend who was with, but I hadn't seen him for a little while. He was calling to tell me that he just found a little fork antler. I told him about mine and he came right over to take a look. The closer I got to it, the better the mass looked. It is a little bit different when you have no clue the history or life of a particular buck. Still exciting, but not as exciting as knowing the buck. This antler looked like it also had laid there for at least one year, probably two. It measured 58 6/8", which is not only my best shed of the year, but I believe it's my best Minnesota shed ever! Kinda sad, but I'll take it!

April Showers Bring May Shhhheds?

May is finally here! Although this is less than the ideal month to be looking for shed antlers, none-the-less, that is all we have left. I was approached by a local writer for the Grand Forks newspaper and he wanted to talk about looking for shed antlers. He was pointed my direction by my friend Zach a month or two ago now. At first I thought how cool that would be, but the more I thought about it, the riskier I thought it could be. First of all, now more than ever, people are beginning to see value in antlers and shed hunting has gotten pretty big across the US. This is fun to watch, yet means less antlers for the individual who grew up enjoying the time in the woods. After some careful deliberation, I decided to go through with the article and have the writer join me on a shed hunt this spring. We are going to approach the article from a deer management standpoint, not a tips and tricks article. Hopefully.
Anyway, I went out yesterday to see how much snow was left in the woods in order to make it worth it for the writer to drive up from Grand Forks. I got my chores done and headed out of town around 11:30am. This trip was dual purpose: I wanted to put out some of my trail cameras to begin tracking down the survivors of last years long winter. Hopefully Pencil among others is still doing fine. The antler growth should be well under way by now - at least an inch or three. I hung cameras over three mineral sites and tried to walk where I thought I might find an antler. I saw some decent sign as expected, but it wasn't until I returned to the Little Hill that the action picked up. As I was walking through where the snow had been packed down pretty good, I saw a little smooth curve that always makes me stop in my tracks. Sure enough it was a little skinny spike.

After I reviewed the trail camera pictures, it looks to have been shed after the 22nd of January. Number 13 for the year! I moved along the south edge of the cedars as usual, debating whether that was worth it or not, since I've walked through them about 15 times in the last 4 years or more. This particular time, I was walking slower than normal when suddenly a white stick caught my eye. Could it be an antler? As I walked a few steps closer, it began to look exactly like an antler. From that distance away, I thought it might be from that bully 2 year old 8. As I got up to it, I could clearly see that it was not from this year. I figured maybe 1 or 2 years old. As I unearthed the antler, it pulled the sod and moss right with it. It had been frozen in the ground for some time. After I pulled some of the sod off it, I saw a double G4 on it! Hanger! This was shocking and amazing at the same time! I knew the buck, so I knew the year. He grew this antler in 2008. So if he shed this in 2009, this thing had been laying there for 4 years! Not bad shape for four years.

After I had my personal little celebration, I moved on keeping a slower than normal pace. I worked my way along the south edge until I got to the stump where I planned to hang my trail camera. Upon walking up to the stump, I noticed a little antler blatantly resting against the base of the stump.

Thats cool in and of itself, but here's the real kicker: Mom and I were just at this stump not too long ago and I don't recall there being snow then either. So, either this shed was there two weeks ago and was under snow, or it just dropped it within the last two weeks, which is possible. Either are crazy possibilities. So that makes three on the day for a year total of 15!
I was thinking it was time to be done and start my journey back to the truck. Right before I reached the turnaround point, I spotted a distorted shape lying next to the base of the big cedar tree. It was an antler. A really really old, chewed to crap, antler.

This thing had probably been laying here for years and years and years and how we missed it I'll never know. This does make me think that there are an awful lot of antlers that must get picked up by fox, coyote, wolf and carried around for short distances. Odd. So, even though I walked through some good sign on the way back to the truck, I wasn't able to pick up any more. Oh well. A four-shed day is great! I haven't had one that good in many years! I had a three-shed day earlier this year (January 10), but this was just great! All of this was to find out the answer to my snow question - and the answer was no, there's no snow left in the woods. We are officially underway!