Early Droppings

January 8th last year I was out looking for a friends dog that went missing. Found a fresh spike deer shed still had blood on it.
 
um.... May 17th..... Who cares? If you're shed hunting before, at the earliest, March 1st, then you're messing with the wintering animals. Leave them alone.

Its lonely at the top.... just the way I like it.
 
...i didn't say anything about shed hunting before then or during any of those times. i just asked a simple question.
 
I know this is a sore topic, but it is to each his own as long as there is no law, however i have tried to find spots where there are less to no people so I don't have to go in and fight the crowds and push the deer around. People are still out hunting cats on snowmobiles and coyotes around deer, which is fine. How do you tell one to stay out while the other is free to go. Just my thoughts.
I found a 2-point shed with blood on the base on the 7th of January two years ago.
 
picked up a 180 size. one side dec 26 when rabbit hunting years ago.fresh blood. looked half the summer never found the match. that was when no one else looked for them..
 
my earliest brown shed i found in the first week of january but to me it doesnt matter because i shed hunt year round. this year all the biggest stuff ive picked up has been in june and july. thats why i go all year cause any weekends as good as the first.
 
One of my buddies picked up a big fresh forked horn Dec 11th and another buddy picked up a nice fresh 4 point Dec 18th...both of them were right off the road. Seems really early to me....if I hadnt been with em I wouldnt believe em.
I usually see a couple one/no horn bucks the first part of the year.
 
Dec 3. moose palm and small 3 point shed. Never saw a moose or deer that day. Just tracks.
 
>my earliest brown shed i found
>in the first week of
>january but to me it
>doesnt matter because i shed
>hunt year round. this year
>all the biggest stuff ive
>picked up has been in
>june and july. thats why
>i go all year cause
>any weekends as good as
>the first.


I hear ya. My favorite month to hunt is... all of em! Thats funny my best ones this year I found in june also. Did you ever find the other half of that huge white four point?
 
no i never picked it up. i went in there 8 times but im gonna hit it hard again this next year. i know no one has it unless it fell in the road.
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-21-10 AT 07:56AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Dec-21-10 AT 07:55?AM (MST)

My earliest was this last sunday (Dec 19,2010). I was not shed hunting, just going for a hike when I found this little spike.
Had to hold it out as far from me as I could to make this little guy look bigger!

1062pc190028.jpg
 
Whoa, put that thing away, it's huge! :)
I don't usually go out before March anymore unless all our snow is gone. Several years ago I went to great spot when there was still snow on the ground. I hunted hard for a big 4 point that I had seen running around. I know he had dropped and I hunted a big area pretty thouroughly and at the end of several hours I happened to find a fresh 4 point set piled together. (love to find them that way.) He was nice, 160 or so, though I thought he looked a little bigger when I scouted him through my binos. I sure wasn't going to complain though. The next year there was less snow so the deer wintered way higher so I didn't even go back to the previous area. 2 years after the initial find, I scouted another decent buck in the same area, he shed really late though so by the time I went to find his sheds, the snow was mostly gone. I got out of my rig to start my hunt I walked the same route I always take to get to the south facing slopes and less than 100 yards into it, I found both sides of the big 175-180 buck from 2 years before, bleached out and starting to crack pretty bad. They were only about 50 feet from the other set that I had found, they were buried under the snow and I had missed them. Made me mad enough to change my strategy. Now I spend my early season time scouting till the snow is gone (even if I know there are antlers down, though I will pick one up if I glass it up.) The extra glassing/scouting time has actually paid off really well. I run less deer out of their wintering pockets, I do less "blind" hunting, I find more sheds, and I never walk over a shed buried under a few feet of snow. Has really worked well for me.
 
My buddy found a fresh 4 point last week (Dec 16th 2010) in his hay stack here in eastern oregon... seems a few weeks early, but the heavy snow here seems to be wearing on them poor critters...
231
 
Took this pic yesterday afternoon...and no I did'nt go look for the shed...we get any more snow the deer will have a rough winter around here..
1621p1010593.jpg
 
Thanks for giving the animals time longun. Most guys would call there buddies and start running the hills if they seen this!
 
+1 hornkiller

I can hear them now.. "Quick guys, we gotta go! There's already pics of deer shedding on the internet! Were gonna get beat to 'em!! Durrrrr!"


Its lonely at the top.... just the way I like it.
 
The earliest I've picked up fresh tine is the first week of Dec. Moose paddles normally drop around here between the first week of Dec till Christmas. I sometimes see the odd bull still packin after New Years, but they are pretty rare. Earliest muley shed was Dec 26th a couple years ago. Was a spiker and he was on pavement. I was the first guy up the road after a good dump that night. Plow truck was only 5 mins behind me. I would have never found it had the plow been in front of me. ;) I get a kick out of the self righteous that say you shouldn't be out there looking in Jan. Hell, I do forestry work on snowshoes all winter long. I've picked up many sheds while working. Does that make me evil? :)
 
BCBOY have you ever been around central-southern utah right when the deer elk start to shed? Its probley alot diffrent up there! No i dont think your evil.
 
You just made my point. Believe it or not there are more people than just Utards that use this site. I see it every year where someone gets jumps on because they found some early tine. 99.9% of the time, the people making the accusations don't have a clue where the early tine was found. Just because there are a bunch of idiots in the land of Tardville, don't jump to the conclusion that it is the same everywhere.
 
What was the piont i proved for you? If your going to get your panties in a bunch over me bringing up central ut sorry. I was simply stating that yes you probley can go out early were you live! But there are alot of troubled areas that have alot of animals lost from dumb f***'s running in there trying to get bone! Why do you think they have a season in WY? It happens in NV,ID,CO,MT, every state that has animals that shed so keep your stupid comments about ut to yourself!
 
I've seen guys from desert units post up sheds in Feb on this site and have guys like you jump all over them for being out too early, "Lets give the deer a break" BS. Because of some shed law in some dumbass state I'm supposed to stay out of the backcountry in my neck of the woods too? I've even seen some guys jump on the bandwagon and say the lion hunters and coyote hunters should be banned from the winter range. Are these not the guys that are indeed saving your precious deer? If you guys in Utardville can't get your $hit together, why must you rain on everyone else's parade.
 
Dude who said you couldnt go out? We have 2'-4' of snow on are winter ground right now! If you think its ok to go run em in that mybe you should get your $hit together! you already said you guys have no snow up there and its giong to be a bad shed season for you. So how about next year when you get 2'-4'
i bring 3000-5000 people up there run your deer to death for 2 weeks see if you change your mind. Bet you do!
 
"I've seen guys from desert units post up sheds in Feb on this site and have guys like you jump all over them for being out too early, "Lets give the deer a break" BS."

Was there waist deep snow in those desert pics?

Guys like me huh do you know me? Didnt think so!
 
Don't we do this every year? I see both of your points on this, but where it the discrepancy? I agree that there shouldn't be a ##### load of people in 18" to 3' of snow looking for 10% of antlers that are on the ground, but at the same time there is a lot of other activities going on besides shed huntin. Use your heads thats all. I will start shed hunting in Feb if the snow is about gone but it doesnt look like thats going to happen this year. BC, the problem down here is that there is WAY too many people shed hunting all at the same time on really harsh winters. I think thats the point hornkiller is trying to make.
 
I watched a deer from my spotting scope Dec 12th he was a nice muley 160 or abouts. The next day when I went out to the same location I saw the same deer with one antler he had shed the other and I could still see the blood on the Pedicle I think thats what its called. I was muzzleloader hunting. I didn't look for the shed I will later this spring.
 
On Saturday I saw a forkie missing one side. He was in town, so it's in someone's yard I'm sure. Wish it was mine. That's the earliest I've ever seen in my area. Saw some big brutes yesterday (not in town:) ) that still had both sides.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-03-11 AT 08:23PM (MST)[p]>"I've seen guys from desert units
>post up sheds in Feb
>on this site and have
>guys like you jump all
>over them for being out
>too early, "Lets give the
>deer a break" BS."
>
>Was there waist deep snow in
>those desert pics?
>
>Guys like me huh do you
>know me? Didnt think so!
>


"Guys like you" comes from the fact that you seem keen to jump on my first comments in this thread. Maybe you ain't one to jump all over some poor shed hunter that posts up a early shed but you certainly seemed keen to jump on my comments eh?

As for the desert pics, nope no waist deep snow in the pics. But guys were still jumping on them for being out so early.

My beef is with the so-called ethics police that think every where is the same as the land of Utard. Sorry, just ain't the case.

As for my personal shed hunting, yep, I shed hunt as early as Jan some years. If we have a good dump of powder snow mid Jan, I don't bother because the sheds fall to the bottom and are lost until April. If the snow conditions are firm on top, firm enough to hold tine, you can bet I'm out there with the snowshoes on. Mainly moose paddles first, deer second. While you guys battle other shed hunters, I battle the rodents. The longer the shed is on the ground, the longer the tree rats have to chew a shed to pieces. Do I wait for deer or moose to move out? Nope. I find they like me a lot better than the wolves that chase them around all year long.
 
"BCBOY have you ever been around central-southern utah right when the deer elk start to shed?

Its probley alot diffrent up there!

No i dont think your evil."


There i posted it again for you to read. Is this in any way jumping your sh!t? I asked a simple? I stated its probley alot diffrent up there for you EH! So dont make me out to be a bad guy jummping everybodys ways. I jumped a kid last year and he asked for it!
 
Who's making YOU to be the bad guy? Reread my response to your question you reposted above. Didn't target you now did I? But here you are still at it? You seem to be proving my point.
 
Mybe just me being stupid but i still aint seeing your piont im proving for you. Ya you did come off as making me to be the bad guy from utard! I have nothing against you. You just have no idea what it is to go shed hunting down here i would take your little horn munchers any day than half the dumb a$$es down here!
 
Seen a buck a week ago with only one horn and according to family there is a couple of them that have started shedding about 2 1/2 weeks ago.
 
That is it im hitting the hills tomorrow all these one horned bucks out there i'm sure to find something lol.........JK i dont see much hiking going on around here till march if were lucky
 
Well its jan 5the 2011 and I saw two deer todat that dropped one side! I got the fever!!!
 
right there with ya wackem! Wishing it was march/april already so I could get out and find some bone!
 

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