May not be a big deal to some,but it's the first one for me. Kinda looks like a witches first finger,knuckle and all. ;D Not a pretty one,but it counts. I am always looking,but have never had the luck to find one.
As some of you might of seen my thread,feeding the deer,I've been doing it for 20 years. Them critters have some well beaten paths to follow into the bog and woods.
I've only ever found one, Ray!
The one I found had 3 points, and that was probably 20 years ago!
I only found part of one also in Albany Ga when I was stationed there. It was pretty well chewed and I understand the squirrels and such eat them up pretty quickly so if you don't find them fresh shed they disappear quickly.
I have always been on the lookout for sheds when I'm working and walking around our place never found one . I now have a 13 yr old grandson who wants to build a little cabin back behind the house a ways so I took him and my wife for a walk to show them a nice spot and she says to me as were walking back "hey Terry what's that" and yup our first shed , I've been trying to find one since I first came here when I was 19 she finds one first time out and wasn't even looking for one.
So I'm a little slow, it took me a while to figure out what you were talking about. ;D
Found one in a front tractor tire raking hay.
train your dog to find the sheds.
Quote from: sawguy21 on January 25, 2019, 12:36:08 AM
So I'm a little slow, it took me a while to figure out what you were talking about. ;D
Me too, my first thought was "he has a saw mill, why doesn't he just build a shed?"
A deer horn,is what I meant
as in shed antlers.
Ive never found a shed but have found probably 4 whole deer from coyotes. One was a nice six, he donated them for my rattlers.
That's awesome! I manage to find a pretty good pile every year. It's one of my favorite things to do outside of hunting season. South facing hillsides and fence and creek crossings are tried and true places to find them.
good to know. there are a couple 5x5 and a 6x6 elk in this area
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I mentioned in another thread about seeing a deer with one horn!! Quite a sight it is. I was doing my nightly feeding and thought I only saw one horn,but I could not get the light on him before he took off. I had today off so I went and fed them,hoping he would come out and he did.
First time I find a shed,first time I ever seen a deer with one horn.
I studied wildlife biology at AU and we had a series of sheds from a buck they had in the pen there. They had 10-12 years worth from small uneven spikes to big 8&10 points around the 3 & 4 year mark. He may have had 12 or more points later but the size of the main beams actually got smaller. One neat feature was he had a unique symmetry with a bit of an odd twist to his main beams. Even though the number of points varied and the size of the main beams varied, remember this was a pen raised deer with all he wanted to eat so no competition for food like in the wild, the same twist was present every year.
I think he is hornless now. I found another shed!! 8)
In the other thread about feeding the deer,I dropped some maples down for firewood. I took some of the big wood and left the tops for the deer. I kinda figured he would get rooting around and it would fall off. smiley_thumbsup This was a much bettter one,4 points.
I have on occasion over the years found complete deer skeletons in the woods, more often just skulls. Many sheds, many of which show rodent carving.
I have a beagle that probably brought 15 drops into the yard last year. She loved finding them. Unfortunately, she got after the neighbors chickens about a year ago and I can't let her free-range now. I have about 5 acres inside an underground fence and she will still find one on occasion inside of that.
Wudman
My sheds ran off today. I had a buck head sitting in the yard that the coyotes fished thru a little hole in the fence. They must be hungry cuz that thing stunk.
I have found them, more elk than deer, but never actively hunted them. I knew several people that would spend a few weeks every year camped and gathering sheds, they earned pretty good money for them. The one I knew best rode horse back on a little mare and had a dog that found them for him.
The first one I found on my own land was in the rear tire of my tractor :D :D not. I noticed it when I got sprayed when driving.
Greetings, My favorite way to go shed hunting especially this time of year is to accompany my Akita {oscar-mike} into the lower mountains and hike the ridges and canyons. there is still snow and a lot of mud so it makes tracking Elk very easy. I get onto some fresh BIG tracks =Bull tracks and follow them keeping an eye out while watching my K-9's behavior. I usually find fresh sheds on the sunny south facing sides of canyons. Or on the flat tops and benches above the canyons . A wonderful way to spend a early spring day.
Just remember to bring a lg duffle bag and some big dog treats !!!
*Congratulations Cfarm*
I found another one. Nothing great,but it is stil a shed. Just a curved horn,nopoints. This was where I feed the deer. Lucky my dog did not find it!!! That would make the 3rd one. Wed I would like to follow the trails. Never had no luck in past years. But maybe this is the year. Been doing good this year.
Best find I have had was an entire buck skeleton still articulated, why the hogs and coyotes never got it was a surprise to me.
Quote from: thecfarm on February 07, 2019, 06:27:21 PM
I mentioned in another thread about seeing a deer with one horn!! Quite a sight it is. I was doing my nightly feeding and thought I only saw one horn,but I could not get the light on him before he took off. I had today off so I went and fed them,hoping he would come out and he did.
First time I find a shed,first time I ever seen a deer with one horn.
here is a spike elk with one up and one down
probably got bent when in Velvet.
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Now that is different.
Just to be clear,one horn had fell off and one horn was still on. I had been watching him and each night I would tell him to drop his horns where I was feeding him to show some appreciation. :D Than I saw him with one horn. This was in reply#14. I cut down a maple tree and I thought I would get the horn and I did. I figured he would get into the limbs and knock the horn off.
I've probably got a dozen or so I've collected over the years. I made my daughter a necklace out of a point one year for jul. Carved some designs in it. I don't think she cared. Oh, well. I had fun making it. I need to dig that one up, and make something for myself. I pick them up with the intention of cutting them apart and making things, but I can't bring myself to cut them. They're too interesting as they are.
Quote from: lxskllr on March 25, 2019, 09:02:54 PMThey're too interesting as they are.
How right you are. I gave my step son some of my Fathers deer horns that he had shot. He keeps them on the table and people will come over and just pick them up and look at them. He gets a lot of enjoyment out of them. More than I would. I am glad they went to a good home. He also has a trapping tag of my Fathers too. Made out of copper and my Father's name is stamped in the copper.
I found another one.#4
You can see me find it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gn1z4HgXr8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gn1z4HgXr8)
Thank you for sharing your treasure Ray, and also for showing what you are doing for your deer herd. thumbs-up
Yea,but where do the deer go during hunting season? As I posted I have a stepson that hunts this area. I've had 6 hunters here at one time. They might and I say might hear something,but none have ever fired a shot. :( I guess they need to hunt with a tractor under them. :D The deer will stop coming to feed,when the snow is gone.
I just enjoy seeing them. The deer was here long before I built a house in their backyard.
I have only started to see bucks in the last 2 years. He always ask me about horns. Never seen any until last summer. I know the bucks are here,but don't see them. I've been feeding them for 18 years and this is the first time I found a shed close by. Brenda found one across the road in the field years ago.
Quote from: thecfarm on March 30, 2019, 12:14:30 PMYea,but where do the deer go during hunting season?
Since there is snow on the ground, tracks? smiley_headscratch whiteflag_smiley
They bed down in the swamp during the day and eat at night.
when the shooting starts. ;)
@Magicman (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=10011),that's what snow is for in Nov. ;) Stepson came up with only a few inches of snow on the ground. I think he was alone. Well don't matter because he was alone in the woods. :o He crissed crossed my land and then headed for Gordon hill. Came back and said,I don't know where the deer are,but I know where they are not,around here. He left and went hunting someplace else. There is a couple good miles on that hill. I said he brings 5 others at time. Friends and thier Fathers and than more friends of the Fathers and so. He always calls and ask. The stepson brings his Father up here to hunt too. And these guys are hunters. We usually have Thanksgiving dinner and yes the wife's ex is here too and that's all they talk about. One year there was 4 tree stands on my land. A good piece of land is hard to come by now. Yes there are hunting spots but having someone walk by once every 15 minutes gets old quick. Not that way here. I do have some land posted and some will ask,but I say no,I want to keep it for my family. :) Than there are the deer scraps,where they dig the ground up. These guys cover some ground at times. It's not all sitting in a stand all day either. I hear the stories and they wonder where they go too. They have the good GPS that tells them where they are,the lay of the land and all that good stuff.
@Peter Drouin (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=12511), my swamp is not that big,but a couple hundred feet wide by 1500 feet long can hide some deer. I've been in that thing a few times. Make sure I can walk a straight line and the sun is out. ;)
If them DanG deer have enough smarts to stand still a person could walk within 50 feet and not see one. Sometimes I am on the tractor and see them run off in the woods. I know the spot they run off too and I have to really look to see them.
Many times I have walked my property and swore that there could not be a deer anywhere on it. Late in the evening out pops deer. :o
They lay down and are hard to see.
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deer
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No sheds yet but did find a complete skeleton last week just inside woodline next to young plantation. 8 pt. from last season barely legal (13" inside spread).
Found another one!!! Well pumpkin found it. ;D Wife's dog.She was running in front of the tractor. All at once she jerks around and starts to smell. Just another animal trail I thought,she does that a lot in front of me. This time she really lingered. She knows not to stop in front of the tractor. I hollered to her and she stays off. But I thought it was strange,like she tried to bite at something before she rook off, I stopped and there it was. It was on the graveled woods road. I had run over it many times. I broke off one of the points. Was not a big horn,just a small one,so no big points to go through the tire. I walked through there a few time,so I might of saw a big one.
That is number 5 that I have found.
With a 100 dear in your back yard. you should have a truckload. :D :D ;)
Only 50 at a time. Most years,well the last 17 years,I never saw a buck,well with horns,on my land. I saw one a few years ago and saw a couple last summer,than when I was feeding there was 4-5 with horns. I would suspect that is why I am finding the sheds.
stepson find one this time. I was running over that one too. A small one.I have not seen it yet,but it might match one of the ones I have found.