Ever had this happen?

[Shag]

Boy, I'm gettin a little frustrated with an area I'm "sheddin" in. It's a state park about 3 square miles and adjacent to it a convent/retreat property of about 1.5 square miles I reckon. I've found a couple sheds there about 6 or 7 years ago but dropped it from my list. I swear to god I saw at least 100 deer in this area this past Sunday. Biggest bunch was around 40 deer, and I saw quite a few other bunches of 10 -15. Even assuming some of them circled ahead of me and I saw some twice I still believe there I saw a good 60+ deer and I only walked in about one half of the park. This area is an elevated, hilly area encircled by road. I was basically working the hill tops which is fallow fields, big hedgerows and a standing corn field/large hayfield associated with the convent/retreat property. I've been to this area three times now with no sheds. The State Park is no hunting as is the convent/retreat property. I'm thinking any area with that many spring deer running and what's got to be relatively light hunting pressure (there will always be a few that sneak in and cheat) has got to have some bucks carrying over with some sheds on the ground. It did finally occur to me that the area where I'm seeing the deer now would not have had any deer during January or February--until late March due to our deep snow depths and the lack of any decent winter cover up top. The hillsides and ravines that slope down on just about all sides of this area are wooded but much of it is hardwoods, anywhere from mature to pole/sapling stands, but again, not winter shelter really. I drove around it today and on the hillsides on the south side of this area, there's quite a bit of hilly ravines with cedar, thicker cover and in particular a little valley that's quite "weedy" looking and with lotsa medium height pine and other good cover. After all the miles I've searched in there I keep saying to myself the reason I havn't found so much as a crotch horn is because I simply havn't gotten into the cover they were using during the mid-late winter shedding season. The areas I was seeing the deer in Sunday were "pounded" but I'm now thinking it's all recent sign laid down in the last couple weeks since snow got off and the deer busted out to search for food. I'm almost thinking that once I locate that region where they were penned up during the shedding time I might find a few pretty quickly. Has anyone else ran into this kind of situation? Thanks.

 

[deershed]

Shag-not sure what your asking,I can tell you this though.There's not too many days while I'm out looking I don't ask myself, where's the sheds? You already know about my one spot where I knew the deer were there,but couldn't find the sheds.Then when I did find them they were all concentrated in a small area.
I have another area where I know there's some monster buck running around and I've never found a big shed from that area.I've seen the deer before they dropped so I know their there and I know there's others looking in that same area.I find plenty of smaller sheds and I don't think the competetion is passing on them and only keeping the bigger sheds.There's trees rubbed in this area you wouldn't believe,but I've never figured out where the big boys go or what happens with their sheds.
I would think the area your talking about should have some sheds.This year I didn't find many sheds in the fields,too much snow when they were shedding.Most of my sheds this year were in the woods and towards the tops of hills on the south facing sides.
I would check out the area you mentioned about with the hillsides on the south side and the hilly ravines.Where I found alot of my sheds this year they didn't have alot of cover,but was somewhat protected from the weather.That area sounds alot like where I found all those sheds that I couldn't figure out where they were.I would be pounding that area!! If you find one I'll be the first to bet you'll find more.
Just my thoughts and Good Luck....

 

[buckhunter24]

I would agree with deershed. Check over that south facing hilly ravine area with the thick cover. I found a vast majority of my sheds on south facing slopes and grassy openings this year. I also shed hunt a State Park that doesn't allow hunting. If your park is anything like the one by me it has a ton of deer in it during hunting season and spring and summer but around here they tend to leave the core and head for the outskirts of the park looking for food and winter cover. Also the same time they drop their antlers. I used to look exclusively in the park when i started. I hardly ever found a antler. I finally started searching area's beyond the state park and that was when i started to find antlers. It also helps now that i really go through great efforts to monitor the deer throughout winter so i know where they are at when thier antlers start falling. Like you said it doesn't matter their's about 100 deer where you were at the other day. They most likely were'nt their a month and a half ago when they dropped their antlers. Also do you know if other people look the area over? If so they could have already picked a few of them up. Plus the rodents are starting to get them pretty hard around here already so maybe the squirrels have gotten there fair share also. If i was you i would maybe try an expand my search area to the edges of the park if you can find an area that looks like it would have had good food and winter cover. GOOD LUCK

 

[Shag]

Hey guys, thanks for the tips. I actually played golf on the course within that State Park today (yeah, there's an 18 hole course in there too). Between the 12th, 13th and 14th holes there's a large long tear-drop shaped hill (called a drumlin) that is very heavily cedar and briars and brush--heavy cover and great winter cover too and with some slope and south exposure too. I walked the edge of it and there was a pounded deer run coming in and out of it about every 20-30 yards and it's about 1/2 mile long almost---it stinks of sheds. It kind of ties in with the south facing areas with the good cover I mentioned. I'm hot to get in there now and pound the crap out of it after work tomorrow, maybe Thursday morning for an hour or so and this weekend. I'll let you know if I pick up anything. The guy at the clubhouse say's they are there in the winter and they have seen some big ones over time. We'll see. Thanks.

 

[deershed]

Good Luck!! If the other competetion hasn't beaten you to the sheds you should find some.If you look around the golf course you might even add a few golf balls to your collection.

 

[Shag]

Oh hell yeah! I find more golf balls than sheds by a long shot. Guys must stand out in their backyards and drive em out into thr woods. I've also found lacrosse balls and stuff like that. I'm gonna change here at work and drive the 10 minutes or so to this place after work and get into it for a bit tonight before it get's too dark.

 

[135inchsingle]

Good luck Shaq. Golf courses can produce some real monsters. These came from a golf course in eastern Ne. in the spring of 2000. They both score in the mid eighties.

 

[Tsmola]

man I would be too excited to keep playing if I found those while out golfing! lol I'm surprised I haven't found a shed at a golf course with all the time I spend in the woods looking for my ball lol

 

[Shag]

My gawd, those sheds are huge and heavy---the find of a lifetime for most shed hunters I would think. That long hill on the golf course is my next target--no skiing or people pressure on the course areas in the winter---they keep folks on hiking or ski trails, so maybe some bucks get in there. We'll see Sat. Yeah, as I was walking the edge of the hill/fairway and scoping the runways going in and out of there my mind was not on golf at all---but sheds. Those sheds are unbelievable.

 

[deershed]

135inchsingle-Wow!! Great find.
Now start posting some pics of the small sheds.