I went to Indy once but didn't go there. I went to the University of Indiana Med center with my friend when he was fighting cancer. Gonna start looking for antlers in about 2 weeks.
Thanks fellas. We really haven’t started looking yet, these came off the in-laws. The antlers are REALLY concentrated around the ag this year, even more than usual, drought related I’m sure.
Had a guy hunting sheds yesterday on the farm across the road. I'm seeing several bucks on our place and only one has shed one antler all the rest are still carrying both.
Thanks again fellas. On a not so fun note, we also found what I assume was an EHD victim. Died in full velvet. The pic doesn’t do him justice, he was a nice buck.
Oh man Sito! We had a cow die Sunday and I didn't think to put a camera on it. Dang it! Maybe I'll try to get that done Friday. Great video by-the-way! I'm always amazed at how carefree a yote seems while watching them from a stand, but how skittish they are when coming in to a bait or a trap set. Bold while hunting, cautious while investigating. Cats are the opposite. They are extremely sneaky while casually exploring the woods, but tend to rush right in to a bait or trap set.
My cameras show that that most of our bucks are still holding, but I have found a few so far.
I was out feeding a couple mornings ago and 9 bucks came thru the edge of the creek bottom. Only one had lost a single antler, all the rest were carrying both sides.
It nearly looks like it is sheds from 2 years ago. Also it’s strange that the burrs are already missing at the base unless the varmints already chewed them off as well.
Yes it’s difficult to score from pics. Let’s play a short scoring game off a couple pics…see how good y’all are:?) Y’all give me some guesses on this one and then I’ll give y’all the score.
Now come on guys…I need more than 2 scores. If I remember right Daniel here is a scorer so he’s not scared. I know Hellman has been in the woods a lot and when you have that last name and Chief as your bowsite handle you can figure he ain’t afraid either.
Now I’m really waiting on Dave’s score. He’s already got the whole number but he’s narrowing it down to an 1/8th now:?)
Really busy with work today…got to set 2 tanks and work on another. I’ll score him tonight so y’all hurry up now.
Well looking back I realized I forgot to say the closest to the score was going to receive a Cabelas gift card in the mail. Daniel here is going to be the winner.
I was hoping I would get somebody saying 140. I shot this one a long time ago and not sure if I even scored it but I don’t think it’s even going to gross 120. I did put myself in y’all’s shoes though and just pretended I just had the pic to go off. It’s weird cause I came up with exactly what Chief had as a gross but I was 1” more on the net at 124.
Daniel you should have stuck with 119 on the net cause even though it’s not even going to make that it would have been closer. Y’all are pretty good at scoring cause this is what it looks like from the pic.
Pics are tuff with just 2 . My original thought was 20" beam 3.5" g1, 12" g2 4.5 g3, Circumference is tuff to guess 3.5"c1, 3.0" c2, 3.0" c3 2.0" c4 for 51.5 x2 =103 and gave it 16" inside but thought I was a little high. then had a drink and talked myself into more spread for the 121
Daniel I’ll never doubt your scoring abilities again. You were pretty close on the mass. Beams you were right on which I think is the hardest from a pic. You are right…I didn’t give a straight on shot for the width. From the pic I was giving it 17. It was only 14 3/8 wide. Had 11 on the G2s.
Sorry, I've been off chasing dear the last few days. Would have guessed 125". I've shot several I thought were 150" only to have them score 140". Shot a 164" once, packed it out a mile, and thought it was a 150" until I measured it.
Checked the cameras Monday night and just finished downloading this morning. The majority at my spots are still packing their horns around on their heads. Hope a few of them stick around for the season this fall.
Randy….good future potential in those photos. I have about 8 trail cameras between properties in 2 different counties to check as well. Figure I will wait until mid-late March to check them all. Thx for sharing your trail camera pics!
The jug isn't all that big, but some of them are nice antler. Maybe if I find some more I'll set them around a beer can so you'all have something you know to compare them to.
Got to know a guy up in Wisconsin. He's freshly retired and making knives to stay busy. I ship him boxes of antlers and chunks of locust wood for handles (neither of which he can find in Wis). He ships me real maple syrup and the occasional discount on a custom knife.
I figured if he left it behind then he didn't want it all that bad, but we did kind of leave in a hurry. Made it back just in time to get a run in and then head to the next town over for a superbowl party.
Lol, you weren't looking for antlers but something very different! Got to have those eyes calibrated. I wonder just how many snake we were close to and didn't see? What we caught would have been pretty easy to have missed.
Nice haul, catscratch. Are all of those this year’s sheds, or some older ones as well. They all look really white. Is that the norm for the deer in your area? We get a few bucks with really light colored racks, but the vast majority have a lot more staining on them. I know bucks out on the prairies, with very few trees usually have very light racks, but I’m assuming where you live, there are plenty of trees, but that’s just an assumption.
T-roy, we're mostly cattle pasture. Grass as far as the eye can see. There's some trees in the creek bottoms and we actually have a section of woods but in general there aren't a lot. I actually thought these antlers had good color.
2 old sheds in the pile. One of them chewed up pretty bad by squirrels, the other in the bottom of a creek bed that's never been dry before now. No telling how long it's sat under water.
What's crazy to me is that in your pile, and in the ones James found, there are no abnormal points, "kickers/stickers", drops, or splits. Just a bunch of clean 8's and 10's. Good haul!
I’ve been searching for sheds since the late 90’s. Very few, less than the fingers on one hand, could every qualify as “non-typical”. Sure I’ve got several with kickers, but very few weirdos.
I’ve always wanted to find a huge non-typical shed. And out of the hundreds of antlers I’ve found, none have surpassed the 90” mark. I think maybe 3 or 4 have gone passed 80”.
I’ve been lucky killing a few, but true giants are not around every tree and I think the lack of sheds scoring 80”+ from those who look for sheds hard is proof that huge deer are special.
Honestly, I get more joy out of finding big sheds than I do killing a buck.
Nice sheds Cat… couple of those look like potential whoppers next year. I believe sheds are the first scouting technique in killing a giant next Fall!
There's some kickers and odds in there but not a lot. I'm guessing Sito might be referring to age class since bucks tend to add trash as they get old? Some of these deer are fairly old as I have history with them. But our place has always held clean genetics and short brow tines. Plus I suspect that our dry spring and summer last yr may have had something to do with antler growth. That's just an idea though.
Have not found one from this year yet. Years past by now I would have found 10 to 15. Found these 2 today within the first 30 seconds out of the truck. Both were within 5 feet from one another. One from last year and one from 2 years ago.
Can’t remember if I ever told y’all this but be careful with the kids carrying sheds. Probably most of y’all have sense enough to not let them carry them while walking but if some of the older kids do at least teach them to carry them with the tines pointed outward.
Remember when Utah was just a young toot and as we were walking along he was picking up old bones. I didn’t think too much of it at first but I looked over and he had all of them bear hugged against his chest. Just about the time I thought that didn’t looked safe in case he tripped sure enough he trips and falls. Luckily nothing sharp was facing up.
I think it’s a good idea for even the adults to carry them with them with the tines facing down. Alright don’t laugh but that’s my safety tip for the day.
Ha…I do have some old skulls and sheds I keep in the corner beside some of Ella’s toys so she can pull one out and gnaw on it some. Maybe not the safest area for my almost 2 yr old grandson when he comes over but we try to keep him clear of that corner. I keep thinking I probably need to put them somewhere else one day.
I never consider it a successful shed season until I've found at least 1 spike or broken point. These are the one's I've found so far this season. I would guess they were both 3 times easier to see than what bwhnt found!
That antler is at least a year old, maybe 2. I found it laying about a foot off a trail leading into a wildlife sanctuary I was going to hunt for sheds. Heavy human traffic on that trail, but the back portion is loaded with deer.
First find of the season, within bow range of where I've killed several nice bucks. Looks to be at least a year or two old, and I didn't seem him last season.
Walked about 2.5 miles today in what I consider a deer mecca. Limited number of hunters in this section. No one had been in there since November 23rd. Found zero horns! 10 years ago we would pick up 15 plus horns. Kicked up over 30 deer as well!
Found 7 more this weekend. Really didn't think I was going to find any more after last weekend. Think I'm up to 40. Pretty much none of them were in places I normally find them. Patterns shift.
Most are from this yr. Probably found 4 or 5 that are old. I'll take an updated pic. this evening. Maybe this time I'll throw something in there that isn't a gallon of syrup.
Had a small buck with both sides on camera a week or so ago. Haven't seen a buck with antlers for a couple of weeks otherwise.
It is crazy comparing differences when we are so close to each other. From what I've read shed timing is mostly a genetic thing with any particular buck shedding within a week of the same date for his entire life. The other option is health. Looking at seal depth my bucks appear to be healthy though (if there's any truth in that measurement). Don't feel like laying them out for a pic and counting, but this is what the pile currently looks like.
Lol, we must have the same type of dog Bwhnt! I watched mine step over a shed a weekend ago and just keep on going. Finding sheds is the only thing I've tried to train him to do... and he has yet to bring me one that I didn't find first!
We don't typically have the big bucks here in Montana but the numbers are good.......mule deer are shedding now. I watched two bucks spar last evening and one of these from this morning was one I watched fall during the shoving match. The buck kept stretching his neck out after and tilting his head sideways as he felt the weight imbalance.....backed out at dark but couldn't find where or if he shed the other side yet this morning when I went back.
I found a few yesterday, but 5 of the 6 were on the same small farm...nothing but old ones on the others. The biggest(boot is a 13) was at least a year old, left it. In fact, I left the rest on one of my landowners porch, his wife likes to use them as decorations.
Kyle… I saw something similar to that in the last couple of years. Saw it on a cedar this year. No clue what could have caused it. Squirrel on crack?
I think I’m up to around 30 sheds found while driving a tractor. Most of them were found in after-wheat bean fields…. A lot of volunteer wheat in those fields was the draw, I’m guessing.
Found one the way I never want to find them (pic attached) and another I couldn’t get the tractor stopped in time and ran right over it. Luckily the ground was wet and the tire pushed it into the mud. It was down there a ways, guessing 6” or so. It had me scratching my head for a while as I was confident it was stuck in the tire. Dug it out with the toe if my boot.
Unfortunately, zero giants found this year. A few likely are 60” type antlers, but most are much less
I guess it could have been lightning, but lightning is attracted to height and there are several taller trees around that one. Not farming equipment, they no longer farm personally, and no tracks from any vehicle. I had a camera 100yds away, just deer on there.
It reminds me of an Elk rub, but no big tracks either.
Them tires ain't cheap Ray, glad it didn't cost ya!
I thought about rats, or other small mammals too...but there are broken branches and strips of bark ripped off and hanging? The highest point of contact was around 8-9'
Cool pic Jason….that is exactly why I don’t pull my trail cameras until about mid-April. Last year, I had more deer than I ever would have guessed that were still carrying both sides well into early-mid April.
Good looking horns there Thornton. Met a guy in Wichita on the way back through. He had a few in the back of his truck that he had shot over the years. One was a clean 10 that also look like it was north of 170 with not many deductions if somebody would’ve been interested in net.
Good looking deer… I wouldn’t have guessed 170” from that one photo, but that side view is a peach.
Kind of funny with a booner behind every tree in this state, I’ve only found 2 deadheads that would gross over 170”… that’s in nearly 30 years with some great habitat to explore.
Yeah, Pics rarely give me any idea of what a deer will score. If I can get a half dozen or more with decent angles I can usually get close, but I hate judging trail cam pics. I’ve been off 15” both ways.
