Finally - Some Antlers!

So there are a few updates since my last post. First of all, the shed that I found in my last post was in fact from the buck we call Whitey, but it turns out it's his left side from 2009. It looks identical. The beam was short and obviously it was faded, but I thought that since it was shed in December, it might have had a chance to bleach out. I'm hoping to confirm with a neighboring farmer that said he picked up an 8 point set. I'm guessing it's Whitey from 2010. So that's one update.
Secondly, I was out on Monday morning and decided to scout through John's piece by the creek. There was some sign, but not much. While I was trying to film a woodchuck, I glanced around a willow and there was the white backside of a small antler. No doubt at least one year old. The funny thing was that I walked right through here last spring. It's crazy how easily antlers can disappear.

Next, Mom went out on Wednesday afternoon without telling me. I text dad about going out on Thursday (the three of us) and he text me back "maybe". In a matter of a minute later he text me again with a picture text. A nice antler appeared on my screen and at first I thought it might be from Mr. 140. It had some chews on the tip of the G4 and the mainbeam. At this point I figured mom and dad were both out there and dad just text it to me. We were on our way in to the band concert and man was I jealous. I learned that it was mom and she was out there on her own.  After the band concert we stopped by their place and examined the antler. It measured 57" and was definitely at least one year old and was not from Mr. 140. Two theories arose from this shed. Mom found it not far from the gravel pit by the border. Either I made the mistake in 2008 in assuming the buck that crossed the shack field in December was the same buck I got in January at the Cedar Stump, or we had two different bucks. The shed mom found was definitely NOT from the buck at the Cedar Stump, but it looked an awful lot like the buck that crossed the shack field behind the decoy. Hard to say. Regardless, it is a great find and better for her to have it than those stupid squirrels.

Lastly, Yesterday, Thursday, Mom, Dad, and I parked on the crossing by Pete's and walked North. Our objective was to walk the south facing edges of the clearing they did last winter. It would certainly allow new sunlight in and new vegetation to browse on. I knew it would also be a very valuable lesson in where the deer spent the fall/winter of 2010-2011. It was very slow to begin with until we reached the spruce peninsula that extends south from the three corner SW of the bus. That point had several trails running out of it across to the next point. Since the contour of their clearing was quite irregular, it created pockets or horseshoe-type openings within the bigger opening. If you connected the points by straight lines, you typically found most of your sign in these pockets. Good to note for the end of October/early November 2011. As we approached the second point of tamaracks, the trails got a lot heavier. I came into the point from one of the horseshoes and decided to make my way to the outside of the point again. When I did, I got around a few trees and right there in front of me was laying the unmistakable 3 point side of Pencil 7. The shed still had beautiful color. I'm 99% sure that a neighboring hunter has the other side. He said he found it 'under a cedar tree'. Not to be specific. Haha. I snapped some photos and got a quick video (in which I say the wrong date) and picked it up. That finally got the excitement bubbling in mom and dad. That second point turned out to be just as good as the first, if not better.
Here's the story of Pencil 7 (formerly Pencil 8):
2008 (yearling) :

2009 (2.5 years) :

And in 2010 (3.5 years) :

We took a breather and decided to keep doing what we were doing, because it was working. We continued to skirt the edge and by the time I connected with Mom and Dad again, Dad was standing over another antler. It was an antler that looked familiar. It suddenly came to me that it was the left side of a buck we began to know well...WideWeb. This deer was and remains a mystery. We had just a few photos of him in 2008 (3.5 years):

And then in the spring of 2009 (4.5) :

After June 2009 he totally disappeared. There's thought that he may have reappeared two miles west in 2010. I'm not convinced, but with that much time in between, we will probably never know for sure. Good to find evidence of his existence anyhow. The shed dad picked up measured 49 3/8", which would have put him at about 117" gross in 2008.

After we made it all the way down the edge of the scrubby cedars to the road, we took another breather and headed back attempting to parallel our first expedition to the north. That was harder than it seemed, especially with no snow. After we got out of the cedars and back into the willows, I walked right into another nice antler. It was a 4 point that I didn't recognize. I was stumped for a good minute. I got some photos and while I was taking a video, I realized which buck it was. We don't have a name for him yet as there are really no unique characteristics yet. I found his shed in 2010 from his 2009 rack. He was a two year old then and this would be his 3 year old right side. In the video, I guessed him two be four because of his mass, but after I picked it up I realized he was just a 3 year old 8 point.

It's so neat to find the same bucks antlers in consecutive years. Hopefully I can get a shot at either of these bucks this coming year. They both should be around Pope & Young. The heavier 4 point I found measured 48 3/8". That would put him grossing about 115" as a 3 year old. My hopes were high. The three sheds we found were actually fairly close together.

That was a good area to go back to and spend more time. Since we were still so far from the vehicle we kinda wanted to get out of there. It was a long walk that was not very easy walking, but it was so worth it. If I can, I'm going to get back out there before the weekend is over.

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.

No Dice... For Me

Well, Monday morning I was able to get out and finally spend some time out in the woods. I started the day off kinda crappy though. I was going to film myself broadcasting clover into a newly logged clearing for Midwest Whitetail, but when I got the camera on the tripod and turned it on I learned that there was no battery in it. IDIOT! Instead of waiting until I could film myself, I just opted to seed it anyway. So I got 10 lbs of Frigid Forage clover mix down into about a 1/2 acre strip. We'll see what comes of that. After that adventure, I walked over to the cedar stump to see what had been using it so far. I kicked up a lone big deer not far from the stump, so my hopes are high. The only camera I had out was going to produce for me early on. Not so. Zero images. Batteries died immediately after I left it. I guess that's what you get for using last year's used batteries. Trying to save money. After that, I drove down to the bus and took out the plastic sled I brought and through a 50 lb sack of trace mineral salt and a small brick of Deer CoCaine onto it and drug it the 1/2 mile over water and trees. I got the stump all salted up for this year and I gotta be honest, my hopes are high for these spots.

After my morning chores, I was able to take a hike in the swamp near the beans that were left standing this last fall. I looked in a few spots that I had imagined finding antlers on several occasions to no avail. I found one old yearling buck skull and one winter kill doe. Either someone had been through there or I'm really losing my touch as to where these antlers should be... probably both. I had to get back to town to work at Cenex so I left the woods about noon. Mom and Dad came up after I went home and asked where they should go that was dry. By the time I got back to them they were already walking around by the pits. I got a picture text from dad and I thought he might have found one and sure enough, he found a nice 57" 4 point shed. This has to be the darkest shed we've ever found/seen from around the hill. He found it points down right on a trail.After a few texts back and forth, mom text me with a picture. She found herself a cool little three point from the road. Good eyes.

At least this brings some hope to the spots I've been using salt. I hope to see more evidence of Dad's buck. It had a 21" main beam. I'm guessing him @ 5 1/2, going be 6 years old in a month.

It'll be interesting to see what turns up before green up.

Snow's Finally Gone

Mom and I went out for a bit in the morning on Saturday the 9th. At that point, there was still quite a bit of snow throughout the cedars. Today, there's probably none. We parked north of the landing and walked to the stump and set up a camera and some salt. We walked west through the cedars toward where dad picked up Scabby 10's 4point side from last year. We were getting close to that area when we came to a forked trail. I sent mom ahead on the heavier branch of it and about 50 ft later she said, "I found one!". I made my way over to her and told her to leave it lay until we got some pictures of it. At first glance, I thought it was a side from Whitey, but I soon realized it was much smaller than that. This was definitely off a 2 year old buck. Nothing super special about it other than it had no brow tine. The odd part of it all was that I could not place this buck, proving that there still are deer that do not show up on camera.

Anyway. I'm glad mom was able to find something. We've been so busy with photography lately, I don't know when the next time I could go out would even be. I chose to stay home and sleep in with Steph this morning, but it's stays fairly busy from here through the next couple weeks. We'll see. There's several bucks whose antlers are just waiting to be found. Somewhere deep within the swamp. The season isn't over yet.