The "If only's" of shed hunting...

[Wyodeerhunter]

Hey all,
Browtines post modivated me to get off my arse and go out in the hills looking for more horns (thanks BT). Well I hit a spot that i've never walked before and I found a lot of older sheds that would of been great sheds IF ONLY i found them a few years ago. Every shed hunter knows what I'm talking about. Heres some pics:

This is a good shed with a nice eyeguard, too bad the rodents beat me to it:

This next shed would of been one of the biggest I've ever found IF ONLY I found it about 20 years ago lol, had some pretty big cheaters and mass from hell:

This shed is from a pretty wide buck but has very weak forks:

Here are the ones I brought back to the truck, only 2 of them were last years sheds, rest were older than the bickering in SI

 

[browtine]

oh man, I know that feeling... Those are some great finds! Looks like some great country to hunt! How are the tics there?

 

[crash1]

speaking of tics . went canoeing down our creek to a trail I know ,went for a short walk ,and when I got back to the canoe i picked off ten of the little buggers from my legs ,and a few more made the trip up to my shirt. Can't wait till i take the boys out paint balling

Great pics by the way , looks like a great area to play

 

[ELKCHSR]

That is how 95% of the ones I find, some are to the point of near powder....

I did find the shed off an antalope a little bit ago though, I am thinking after picking this one up that most people would step right on them with out even knowing it.

Except for the hole in the one end, it looks just like a piece of wood...

 

[Elkhunter]

Nice going Wyo.

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

thanks all,

BT,
I haven't had problems with ticks yet but I usually never do, I guess they just don't like me which suits me just fine

 

[browtine]

Consider yourself luckyhump .. The country you hunt looks a bit familiar to me. If it is the general area I think..I have had several of those little bastards on me.. I have to keep checking my pants to make sure none of those little pests are crawling up them. My last hike I had to flick off 4 of them little buggers. I am lucky as I have only had 1 tic in my life go under the skin..One time was surely enough.:BLEEP: |oo

 

[shedyoda]

Wyodeerhunter,
It may piss you off at the time :MAD but finding those old whites should just fuel the fire. That means not too many people have picked that area in years and if your finding those whites like that there are definetly newer sheds on the ground, there just a little tougher to see. Also looks like a good wintering ground go in January when there's snow on the ground and those fresh browns will stick out in the snow like the hard whites did in the sage. Good Luck.
shedyoda.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Great job wyo. Looks like some nice ones in the bunch.

 

[Finalshot]

Hopefully it's also in an area that wont be littered with gas rigs in a few years. It wont matter what happend or did not happen in the past, if it gets roaded and drilled. Those roads open the country to all kinds of people and activities. In the long-run, no matter what the impacts associated with the rig or the well, possitive or negative, the deer will suffer. I know everyone can show me a photo of a lope or nice buck standing or bedded near a wellhead. It's the long term impacts that are important, when measured against the areas potential to produce other positive benifits for society, like hunting mule deer and their shed antlers.

Looks like a cool place nonetheless. You should hold on to your photo's and go back in 10 years and shoot some more from the same spot and see if there's any difference in the landscape, then compare it to the deer and the sheds you find.