A LOT of work for a couple antlers!

[npaden]

Spent the weekend in New Mexico where I hunted last year looking for sheds.

They had a very mild winter this year as far as snowfall so the sheds are supposedly all way up high.

Spent 10 hours looking before I found these 2 on my way back to camp the first day. Went back to try to find the other sides today, but spent 5 hours looking and came up empty. All said and done I was hoofing it for 16 hours and found these 2 sheds! At least they are decent ones.

I got so excited when I finally found them that I forgot to take pictures of them as they laid. This is the closest thing I have, sitting on my backpack waiting to get strapped on.

Here they are strapped on my pack.

Heading back down the trail as the sun was setting.

I got to try out some of the new gear I've been buying off camofire and I think it is going to work out pretty well. I got the Trekker poles at Cabelas and they really do work!

Still haven't figured out my boots. Either I have wimpy feet or I'm not meant to climb up and down such steep loose slopes. Wore a couple big ol blisters in just 2 days.

A LOT of work for a couple of sheds when it was all said and done. I for sure got my exercise!

One last scenery shot.

 

[JohnCushman]

That's awesome...thanks for sharing

 

[elkdiesel]

Love the turn down brow!

 

[MuddyBull]

Nice horns! As for the blisters I have always ( well since my USMC days) wore a pair of liner or "slicky socks" under a good pair of heavy socks when in the hills. Of course the boots should be fitted well and broken in before hitting the steep and deep. Knock on wood, I have never had a single blister through several long back pack hunts and heavy meat hauls with this system.
MB

 

[npaden]

Thanks guys. I put the tape to the 6 point shed tonight and it taped out at 143 4/8". Put a matching left side on him and a 36" spread credit and he would be a bit over 320". The funky G1 tapes out at 19 4/8".

I was suprised when I got home from work today and my wife told me she had decided where she wanted to put the sheds. I was expecting them to be relegated to my upstairs office or maybe worse, but here is where she decided she wanted them. Right in her kitchen! We moved a few deer sheds on top of the cabinets too.

As far as the blisters I think I must just have wimpy feet. I tried on several pairs of good quality boots before deciding on the ones that I have now, Meindl Alaskans. My wallet still hurts with the price I paid for them. After rubbing the first blister on a short day hike last summer I when I first got them, I took them to a local hiking outdoor shop and the folks there told me that they fit me correctly, and I had good socks (merino wool), but I just needed to break them in and they sold me some polyester sock liners to wear inside my socks. That worked well for my Wyoming elk hunt, but after rubbing some huge blisters last fall hunting in the same place I was shed hunting this spring, I took the boots to an orthopedic shoe store and they told me the boots fit me properly, but sold me a power step insole that seemed to work really good when I hunted in the same boots the very next week in the New Mexico sand hills covering 12 miles a day. I've tried some stuff called blister guard that you rub on your feet before you put your socks on, and I've tried some powder that you sprinkle in your socks. With all of that I still got blisters (HUGE blisters - bigger than a silver dollar) last fall hunting in this particular spot. This time didn't use the blister guard or put the powder in my socks and I guess I should have.

I think it is just the constant pounding and slipping that this particular spot dishes out that causes the blisters and my feet are just going to have to get tougher. Not sure what exactly to do to make them tougher, but I probably need to wear those boots more often than once every 6 months. That's probably my biggest mistake. I'm open to any ideas, but I think I've tried most of them!

Oh well, when it is all said and done it was well worth it, blisters and all!

 

[Brentster7189]

Those sheds look great up there! If I find some like that I'm stealing your idea!

 

[putm2sleep]

Try lacing those boots a little different. note: It takes some time to break them in as well.