Velvitis

I'm still playing catch up with this blog since the triple fracture and dislocation of my ankle. But I am making progress in both areas. One key note that I don't think I mentioned was that I got drawn to hunt the UND property along the Forest River in North Dakota. That was cool, but I later learned that I would have to pay $215 for a non-resident ANTLERLESS tag! Then if I filled it, I would be eligible for a second either-sex tag for an additional $215! Luckily, in the process, I wrote a letter to the neighboring landowner and asked about hanging trail cameras, and even hunting his property, which they said, "Sure." to. So now I bought an either-sex over the county tag for $215 and I'm getting excited to hunt over there. Now the only thing slowing me down is my leg. I need it to heal well, so I probably won't be hunting there during the opening weekend. I need to get a camera over a food source quickly so I can take inventory of the deer that are in the area - before the beans start to yellow. So that's exciting.
It's been 6 weeks since I broke my leg and although it left me hardly moving initially, I've been able to get into the woods a few times over that last two weeks. Enough to move and check cameras a couple times. I've contracted the help of my friend Zach to do most of my walking and checking, but it's just so refreshing to be out in the woods. I knew I would miss it, but I am beginning to realize how much I enjoy flying down the gravel and having the music loud and feeling the cool breeze blow through my truck. I am definitely not wired to work indoors.
In these camera moves and pulls, we've been able to learn quite a bit over the last few weeks:
To my amazement, the 6x5, after disappearing like last year, strolled in front of the camera one time, just enough for three pictures - EXACTLY LIKE LAST YEAR!!!

This deer is going to get under my skin. His G2s are a little shorter this year. He's got more mass, his brows are very nice and I think he'll be a 6x6.
About an hour or two after 6x5 went through, a lone buck walked through that was another really nice buck. He has the same frame as what Twigs had (not saying it was him), but there's also a freak chance that it was that stud 8 point yearling from last year. Either way, I'd like some more pictures of these deer.

Then after having battery issues in John's Island, I was able to get pictures of Blacknose.

He's not as impressive as I hoped he'd be this year. His right G2 split, he's got a sticker off his left brow, and his tine length is about the same. He did gain some mass and his brows are a bit longer. Their growth is so far behind last years, that these deer are going to need to grow right up until the very end of August. He should gross over 150" but now he's got about 5" of deductions so he'll net around 145".
Then a buck showed up that blew my mind! A scraggly wide, short-tined 8 point that I was certain Zach killed last year! NOPE.

Turns out Zach shot his twin brother. So now we still have a lame 4 year old 8 that needs to be killed.
Just a few days ago, I got pictures of another sad 4 year old. The buck that dad passed up, that I found the right shed to this January is a weak and homely deer. Another that needs to be shot.

Up at the gravel pit I got pics of the 4 year old I'm going to call Droopy. He's got a droptine or a turndown beam on his right side, like he did when he was 2. This is an interesting deer, that I don't really know where he goes during the fall.

I'm still hoping that the other four year old comes in for a few pics before I pull that camera.
The Tweeten woods has been pretty good at producing pictures, but all the deer are 2 and 3 years old.

Still no pictures of Pencil.
I set up a camera near the point by John's pond and I got permission on the east side of the river to try to find HighRise. Both of these spots should reveal something interesting. Otherwise, I'm hoping for some good news from the doctor at Monday's appointment. I'm hoping to be able to put weight on my foot soon so I can start getting used to that. I need to do my exercises.

A BREAK in the Action!

Even though this summer was shaping up to be a very busy one, which I was afraid might keep me out of The Woods a bit, little did I know that our trip to Family Camp at Bluewater would be a life changing one for me. On Thursday, the 4th of July, right after the canteen bell (3:00pm), I decided to go off the Blob one more time before I went to get canteen. For some dumb reason I thought I could harness the power of the blob and send myself into orbit by superman-ing off the blob. Boy was I wrong! Long story-short, my right leg fractured in three places and my ankle dislocated. I don't know how I could have fit any more thoughts in my head during mid-flight to the water's reality. I was dismayed, angry, scared, but mostly ticked! I popped out of the water and called for help and was back-boarded out of the water and brought right into Deer River ER.

I had surgery that night and the reality of my summer scouting ending began to sink in.

So I had a soft cast for the first 8 days, then I moved into a hard cast for about 9 days. Now i've been in a walking boot for about 2+ weeks. I have an appointment on August 12th for some Xrays and hopefully they tell me I can begin to put some weight on it soon. Luckily, I 've had the help of my friend Zach to move cameras and get the scouting back under way, but it is definitely not the same. I just miss being able to check on my cameras and see if there's any new bucks in the area, but since I've been laid up for so long, I'm basically falling back on old spots in hopes for deer to repeat their old habits.
I have asked for some permission from a few neighbors to be a little more aggressive with cameras, but I haven't had much luck yet.
I'm on the mend. I hope to hunt the first two weeks from the ground and then begin to climb into stands by October 1. I also have a ND tag in my back pocket, so that'll be interesting!

Albia, Iowa 2013 Midwest Whitetail Summer Meeting

This year's Summer Meeting down in Albia was a good one. The show has made several adjustments over its few years of existence, but the biggest one last year was moving from state shows to regional shows. So now instead of having a Minnesota Pro Staff, there's a Great Lakes Pro Staff. This year instead of it being just Joe and I, we had Sam Palowski come with and experience some of the camaraderie. We were able to get in a 3D archery shoot, some film school, and some face time with the sponsors. It was a great trip and I even won a prize! Each Regional team was awarded a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize package for "best effort", which was determined by good footage, consistent updates, and high quality kills. I got 3rd place for the Great Lakes Team and so I won a Muddy Tree stand, $50 gift card to Cabelas, and a ScentMaster sweatshirt. So that was good, but now there's some real pressure on me to get a good kill on video this year. Before I knew that I was winning anything, I bought two used Muddy stands, one hang-on and one ladder. So I should be a little more set up than I was last year.

He's Alive!

Well, before I get way too far behind, I need to write about the Trophy Rocks and the mineral season. Although they'll still hit the rocks periodically, the biggest rush for salt is now passed. I was able to get a few pictures of some decent up and comers. As we expected, we eventually got pictures of Pencil in the shack field and on the oak ridge.

He is way behind. He will need a soybean miracle to catch up to his previous year's rack. We are realistically about 3-4 weeks behind last year's growth (which was exceptional) and about 2 weeks behind the average year.
The biggest surprise was the reappearance of The 6x5. I'm not surprised that he showed up, but he did when the entire lake bottom was flooded! At what point did he leave his wintering quarters and make his way south?

That buck is going to drive me nuts! He's already come and gone, so now the job is to move cameras until we relocate him on his summer food source. I was too much of a chicken last year, but not this year. I'll just put a wildview where I want to test my hunches. The date and time stamp were wrong on the 6x5 pictures. The daylight photo was actually taken on June 12, so it was at least 16 days off. So his last year's May 24th pictures were about as grown as he was this year about 2-3 weeks later. I have a feeling that he'll still find a way to pack it on, now just to find him!
We've got some other bucks coming in, but nothing we're on the edge of our seats about yet. There are two bucks coming in to the gravel pit that are both four years old this year. I have pictures of both of these guys since they were yearlings. So they have finally earned their place on the hitlist.

Year End Totals

Well, if the mosquitos are any indication, summer is finally upon us! I figured that before I get too far ahead of myself, I should post a photo of my year end tally for shed antlers.

I founds 21 antlers and acquired a few more by trades or some were simply given to me. I pieced together a few mysteries this year and have lots to look forward to for the 2013 hunting season.
The story of the biggest sheds was by far the highlight of the shed season, but I did manage to find some up an comers' antlers.

Antler growth is way behind this year, similar to 2011. Hopefully these bucks can pack it on in a shorter time frame this summer.

More Pins In The Map

I was finally able to make my way over to another neighboring hunter's farm yesterday to look at some of the sheds that they had found over the years. I have to admit, my hopes were very high, because I knew some of the bucks that had been visiting the farmyard eating spilled grain that winter. When I got to the house, my anticipation was through the roof! Which would I see? Inside Crab Claw? Curly? Bullwinkle? SkyScraper? The Clown? As I looked up on the dusty shelf, I scanned across some decent sheds, and only one immediately clicked. It was Bullwinkle. So I climbed my way up and looked more closely. I felt like an Egyptian archeologist removing artifacts from the cobwebs, dust, and christmas lights. I grabbed for Bullwinkle's antler and assumed it was going to be from his 2009 rack, the year all the different bucks were coming to the bins. It looked to be from his 2010 rack and was significantly bleached. It looked as if it had been collected from the field before discing, spraying or seeding.

I went down the line pulling down anything that I thought was significant. There was a set of 5 point sheds that looked to be from before our time of trail cameras - although she insisted that almost all of the antlers up there were picked up in 2009 (or the year John cleared out his bins with sunflowers). Well if that were true, I never received any pictures of this buck.

After looking them over more closely, it seemed that the also had another side off the same buck, which would also suggest different years of finding. I told her that she had a set, and she said, "Oh really! See I don't know if we knew that!" Haha. Then when I showed her the possibility of them having the previous year's antler, we began a conversation about deer management and restraint and age class. "How do you know how old they are?"
The next antler I focused on was a decent brown 4 point with a longer main beam. Looked to be from a 3 year old buck. Something about the antler begged me to continue staring at it. I could not place it. I had never had a trail camera picture of this buck. What deer was it. I even set it down only to pick it up after a few more minutes. I measured it at 50 1/8". It wasn't until well after I measured it that I figured it out - this was the other side to Hanger! When I say Hanger, I mean the original antler I found hanging in a red willow in March of 2008! It clicked.

There were several significant differences, but as many similarities to let me know I was on to something. I told her all about it and I think my recollection and my deer knowledge started to scare her a little. It did me too. Haha.
I snapped some pictures of a few other antlers, just for record keeping. There was an old weathered antler that had two big cracks in it, like it had been run over by a tractor. It had some unique features that made me think it could have been a previous year to one my brother found on the top of the hill when we were in high school. He had to have found it in the mid-late 1990s. We actually found both sides. One side had broken off most of its main beam. Anyway, this buck shared a ton of resemblance.

Then there was another little antler that could've been an antler to Crazy 8. It looked familiar, but again, we didn't run trail cameras back then and so it'd be nearly impossible to tell. I might just switch out most of her antlers! It looks like a stud yearling or a week two year old. It probably was a stud yearling.

Lastly, was an odd shed that had some familiar characteristics, so I snapped a photo. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it was probably a yearling shed to the stud two year old I passed up on November 16th, 2010. Mom found one of his sheds and the brows look identical.

So at the end of our time I figured once again, I had nothing to lose. I asked her if she'd ever trade antlers, at least for the one that I had the other side to. Eventually, she said, "You know what, just take Bullwinkle, too. You know way more about him and Eric's probably not even going to know that it's missing." Sweet!
So I've gained three antlers by trade this year. They all have more significance than the ones I've let go. I need to pick some meaningless antlers to give to her one of these days. Next stop - The West Farm.