shed thread

[wawhitey]

Why have we not had a shed thread here? Lets get one going, tis the season. Post em if ya got em.

I havent found any this season yet, but im doing a real ugly hike for moose paddles tomorrow. Few hours ago a whitetail buck walked up my driveway missing his right side. About 15 min ago i turned on my porch light and looked outside, two 4x4 bucks eating alfalfa. So 10 minutes later i look again, and theres a buck with two fresh round spots where his antlers were. I figured there would be a matched set sitting right there, so i walked out and spooked about 10 deer off of their feed and came up empty handed. Bad judgement call. Im sure theyre laying close by though, ill find them in the daylight.

[Elkonthebrain]

I was just working the dog tonight. I'm getting excited, couple more weeks I would think most deer should be dropped. I'm jealous you're going after some paddles. Good luck!

[wawhitey]

I was just working the dog tonight. I'm getting excited, couple more weeks I would think most deer should be dropped. I'm jealous you're going after some paddles. Good luck!

Does your dog know what hes doing? And can he handle a foot or so of snow?

[Elkonthebrain]

The dogs definitely a work in progress. She has found a handful on her own though. I've had her in snow that's up to my knees and she handles it fine.

[wawhitey]

Well on the 1st or 2nd i might head up to an area with moose / whitey / muley shed potential if youre interested. This cam is up there and the batts are almost certainly dead. Want to swap it out with a bushnell that gets a 1yr+ batt life. Its up from a closed gate, so not sure how far your pup could get in the snow.

[Elkonthebrain]

Might be able to pull off the 2nd. Let me know.

[wawhitey]

Hiked up in there today, man the snow was deep. Miserable hike. Im waiting to go back until the snow melts back. Didnt find anything today.

[Elkonthebrain]

Man that sucks. I've been on a few of those hikes. Hopefully we can make something work in the future.

[wawhitey]

Well im having deja vu. Looked outside and that 4x4 is eating alfalfa. 10 or 20 min later i look again and theres a buck with two missing antler spots in the same place. Im not falling for that crap again, ill wait until daylight to go check. Not gonna go crash the whole party again.

[WapitiTalk1]

Well im having deja vu. Looked outside and that 4x4 is eating alfalfa. 10 or 20 min later i look again and theres a buck with two missing antler spots in the same place. Im not falling for that crap again, ill wait until daylight to go check. Not gonna go crash the whole party again.

Those critters on your property must have meetings to see how they can mess with you. Sneaky suckers

[wawhitey]

Well im having deja vu. Looked outside and that 4x4 is eating alfalfa. 10 or 20 min later i look again and theres a buck with two missing antler spots in the same place. Im not falling for that crap again, ill wait until daylight to go check. Not gonna go crash the whole party again.

Those critters on your property must have meetings to see how they can mess with you. Sneaky suckers

The one that keeps tricking me just showed up again about an hour ago, still packin both sides. here he is running across my driveway to get to the alfalfa

[wawhitey]

Right now i have 5 bucks (and 5 does( in the yard. One buck is missing both sides, the other 4 are still packing. Hoping i get to watch some antlers flop before dark!

[wawhitey]

Picked up this dinker this a.m.

[Elkonthebrain]

Nice! Sounds like pretty soon you're going to have a whole pile of them.

[wawhitey]

Probably will, but i wont get back home for a few weeks. Should be plenty of bone laying around waiting for me when i get back

[Elkonthebrain]

Did you make it back yet?

[wawhitey]

Ive been able to spend very little time at home lately. Too much snow to shed hunt right now anyway. Ill be getting home again late tonight, hopefully for a couple weeks this time. Ill be focusing on coyote hunting until the snow melts down enough to go find bone. Probably april

[Elkonthebrain]

Bummer!! That's exactly what I did not want to hear im headed up to 101 next weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

[wawhitey]

Unless you have a snowmobile a chainsaw and snowshoes dont bother. Even if you hVe all that most antlers are buried so you wont see them.

[Elkonthebrain]

The dog pulled through. Found a nice set.

[WapitiTalk1]

Sweet. Fine pup you've got there mister?

[mandrroofing]

Its not a shed but a dead head should look good cleaned up[img]http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/02/14/5cfa4f5c1abbe33a4f053e4575fd0b77.jpg[/img]

[wawhitey]

Damn good set there. Ive had no freetime all winter really. Work work work. Getting home tomorrow night and i guess snow is melting off really well. Hopefully i can kick this cold soon and go find some paddles.

[wawhitey]

Todays haul so far

[Lefty]

the porkies beat you to the one moose half

Monday when we were at the elk refuge the wrangler said two bulls had already dropped their horns,..but were a month away otherwise.

I just put a trail cam out on Tuesday. Hoping for some 30" ers
Ten years back I was riding snowmoblies with my father-in-law. He had ridden by a bull moose the day before and saw the bull drop a side. He sent me through 3 1/2 feet of snow to retrieve the shed. The net day riding up the trail he bumped the bull, it stood up and the other side fell off. He has them on the wall , nice set

[wawhitey]

Not many porkies around here, too many lions. The squirrels and other small rodents are the main culprits in the shed chewing. Friend picked up a paddle yesterday that was chewed, but definitely not by a rodent. Can only assume wolves. Within a half mile radius of where i found thise sheds today is a dead moose and a dead deer. Wolves were howling nearby. Damn dirty things.

[Elkonthebrain]

Way cool! I'm jealous of your paddles. I went looking Saturday with no luck. Hope to get out next weekend.

[2MANY]

[WapitiTalk1]

Sweet, matching set from a Rosey?

[wawhitey]

Damn, those are awesome!! Heavy dark and pristine! Seems a bit early for elk sheds, but i guess that bull didnt think so.

[wawhitey]

Another matched set today. Not a single chew mark on these.

[Elkonthebrain]

Two sets in one year! Man I hope to find one set.

[2MANY]

With 18 moose points in WA it's becoming clear who I will look up if I get drawn.

[wawhitey]

With 18 moose points in WA it's becoming clear who I will look up if I get drawn.

18 points huh? Lets put in as a group.

[2MANY]

We will have to leave a person out of the group as I just discovered I only have 15 for moose.

My oldtimers driven point creep obviously caught up with me again.

[Bow4me]

When do you guys see most of the elk sheds start falling? I haven't seen a whitetail with horns in a month.

[wawhitey]

When do you guys see most of the elk sheds start falling? I haven't seen a whitetail with horns in a month.

A few of the big guys have dropped but its still a little early. Usually in march sometime from what ive seen. I see a few younger bulls hold into april. Not really my area of expertise. My area has few elk, so i really cant keep tabs on them as well as the moose and deer

[wawhitey]

Heres an on-the-hoof pic of that last set of paddles i found. Got tons of pics of this guy all year long.

[Bow4me]

I went out this last weekend but didn't find any. Hopefully get to go back this weekend.

[wawhitey]

Getting back from work tomorrow night. Going out for paddles again friday.

[wawhitey]

Skunked today. But checked 2 cams that are about 1/2 mile apart. This 8x7 bull showed up on the lower cam feb 10th, then this upper cam feb 22nd, then back at the lower cam mar 8th with two fresh holes on his head. Im gonna search like crazy for his antlers, im sure theyre nearby.

[wawhitey]

Searched this mountainside for a few hours today but the weather was nasty so i bailed. Havent given up yet though. Heres a couple pics of him from the lower camera where i was looking today.

[2MANY]

Cool.
Good luck.

[wawhitey]

Another day of hard hiking through steep thick ugly crap looking for these horns and coming home empty handed. Really surprised i dont have a moose or deer shed to show for my efforts at least. Oh well, a day spent outdoors getting exercise is a good day regardless.

[2MANY]

I would assume that bull elk travels a ridge top to get from upper to lower cameras??

Sunny side?

[wawhitey]

I would assume that bull elk travels a ridge top to get from upper to lower cameras??

Sunny side?

Havent been wandering aimlessly, ive been checking out what seem like the most likely areas, then i go back with my gps and fill in the gaps between my track lines. This is at the edge of a real big mess of public land, but the camera where he showed up bald headed is only about 100 yards from where it borders private. Im starting to think the worst case scenario may have happened.

[2MANY]

Sounds fun.

[wawhitey]

I am good.

[Deanmac]

I am good.

Now that is a trophy shed find

[wawhitey]

Just found another. Couple years too late on this one though.

[Elkonthebrain]

I am good.

That's awesome you found both.

[lowlander22]

IMG_20160316_212526.jpg (25.05 KiB) Viewed 34848 times

[wawhitey]

Another ancient one here. Saw the fork sticking out of the pine duff and thought i was gonna pull a muley shed out, but its a whitey.

[wawhitey]

Rough hike up into my favorite spot today, found this old paddle on a bare sunny hillside on the way in, but 90% of the ground up here is still absolutely buried in snow, be at least a month before it melts off enough to look for paddles.

[wawhitey]

Short hike today, found a muley shed

[wawhitey]

With 18 moose points in WA it's becoming clear who I will look up if I get drawn.

I dunno where mooses is.

[GWH]

The results of my first trip this year, at the end of February.

My spring break finds from a couple of weeks ago.

[wawhitey]

Nice haul!

[Elkonthebrain]

Found a decent one today.

[GobbleFarmer]

Found this set on the turkey opener. First sheds i have ever found.

shed antlers.jpg (178.19 KiB) Viewed 34621 times

[wawhitey]

Sure is a funky set ya found there gobblefarmer.

I havent really been looking lately, busy with bear season. Did find one more moose paddle couple weeks ago but its an old bleached chewed up one.

[wawhitey]

Now that im done with my spring bear hunt i decided to get back to shed hunting today. The moose paddle is a freshie with a few chews on it. Funky lookin little bull. The muley antlers are a matched set that were laying maybe 5 yards apart, year old and chewed up unfortunately. Pretty nice set i wish i found them a year earlier. Mainframe 4x4, plus little beowtines, one small kicker and a "hole in the horn" thats visible in the pic. Good mass on em too. Getting up at 4am to go out bear hunting with my dad (meaning im going to play pack mule if he gets one,) so no shed hunting tomorrow.

[wawhitey]

Found a good one yesterday while i was out running trail cams. Headed back now to try to match it up.

[wawhitey]

Spent several hours trying to find the other side but came home empty handed. So frustrating. Ill probably find it two years from now, all bleached out and chewed up.
Heres a pic of the little whitetail shed i found in my backyard a few days ago, next to the big muley shed.

[wawhitey]

Searched this mountainside for a few hours today but the weather was nasty so i bailed. Havent given up yet though. Heres a couple pics of him from the lower camera where i was looking today.

Well i was on the side of this mountain today, scouting for deer season. I get a call, a friend has a 5x5 bull down on another mountain and wants help. So i took off through some steep nasty stuff to take the quickest way out, and ill be damned, i found his left side! Wanted to look around for the match, but there was a dead elk in need of cutting and packing, so im going back tomorrow to hopefully find the other side. Man i searched for this guys horns for days, hiked all over, and i figured he probably dropped them on the private down below.

[wawhitey]

Spent a couple hours this morning looking for the match, no luck. Lots of thick brushy ground to cover on that mountain side but i will find it! Deer opens in the morning though, so shed hunting is put on hold. Hopefully i get a few free days without snow on the ground after im done with deer season. Itd be a bummer to not find the match til april, by then the color wouldnt match on the set. Anyway, that 7x was the first elk shed ive ever found. After a steady diet of moose, whitetail and mule deer sheds, that was a very exciting find!

[wawhitey]

Need to find the match to this one.

Lot bigger than it looks in the pic.
Main beam, 24 4/8, mass, 21 3/8, tines, 31. for a total of 76 7/8.

G1 5
G2 8
G3 9 4/8
G4 7
abnormal 1 4/8


Mass

5
6
5 2/8
5 1/8

[pointysticks]

i never understood the shed thing...i see them, pick them up, maybe stuff it into my pack..and then i dont know what happens. i toss it, lose it..i quit caring once the hill miles stack up.

[wawhitey]

The yeller dog really wants to chew it up bad. I gave him a smaller one to chew on instead.