Hey guys......

[Shag]

Hey, have any of you guys received that e-mail with the website for "Heartland Lodge" out in Illinois? It's a free-ranging trophy whitetail operation. They've got 7,200 acres in Pike County and if you rent a room in their lodge, you can shed hunt all the property they control. They recommend March, and the lodge looks real nice and the prices are pretty good. Is anyone interested in a shed hunt for members of this forum out there next spring? For the price of a couple nights room in Heartland Lodge we could access about 12 square miles of prime midwestern deer country managed for big deer, have a good time and in all likelihood score some nice mid-western sheds. If anyone checks in and reads this AND is interested, let me knowby positn back to this. I figure in a couple days out there I could find sheds perhaps larger than any I've found here in NYS and I know I'd enjoy checking out that country.

 

[IowaShedHunter]

Shag, what do they charge to rent a room in their lodge? I would consider it.

Chris

 

[1BowHunter]

interesting?

 

[Shag]

Looks like about $75-$100 a night. That may be for rooms with two twin beds at that. The lodge is nice and in that country there's gotta be some nice sheds when the snow comes off. Go to www.heartlandlodge.com and take a look. You'll get an idea what they're about. It might be kinda fun if we had a handful of die-hard shed hunters there pounding that ground for a couple days.

 

[135inchsingle]

Sounds fun. It would depend on my job status at the time though.

 

[deershed]

Shag-You know you wouldn't have to twist my arm too far!!

 

[coyotebandit]

Hmm, probably about a 6 hour drive from here.......

I guess it depends on what happens between now and then, they don't charge you for the sheds do they?

You should bring it up again in January, I might be interested?

 

[Shag]

Yeah, I don't believe they charge anything for what you find. I'm trying to milk more information out of them, just to make sure their staff is not pounding it before guests get out there, etc. I think they're just trying to raise a bit more income and they know some "nuts" are really into that stuff (like us) and they're in a "dead time" at that time of year. I'll post more when I get it.

 

[mikey30]

TTT

 

[Leinie's]

Let me know the weekend...so I can get down there the week before you scoop them all up. j/k

Small world, I was just checking out their website the other day and thought that might be a way I could actually afford to shed hunt where some big bone falls. I am in Milwaukee, and would only have a few hour drive. I might be game, my hunting buds and my lady think I'm a nut, it would be fun to shed with some like minded people.

 

[Shag]

Man, I can't believe it's been over a year since I sent that "tickler" out on this forum to see if anyone was interested. As you can see from the replies, the interest was luke warm. I would love to go for a few days of looking somewhere where there's actually some good bone hittin the ground but not sure where that would be. As I recall, the acreage out at Heartland where you could get priority access was large enough that it would take some time to search and I recall they guy (manager) saying that it's not visited much (the primary parcel where the shed hunting would be done) but that he would periodically ride his pickup through the field areas, probably just checking for trespassers or the like. I remember thinking to myself that this would afford him the opportunity to pick up anything (especially anything large) laying in a feeding area or along the edges. This bothered me some but I guess it would still be a good deal for the price.

 

[The Buck Stopper]

Shag, do you know if they are dropping yet in NY? I've looked for a few hours in a place absolutely LOADED with deer sign and found nothing. I'm planning on going again this next week. I haven't seen any deer with antlers on recently, but none of the deer I can say for sure are bucks. Thanks!

 

[Shag]

Buck Stopper, I don't think many bucks would have shed yet up here where I am. I'm right above Syracuse area but look in a few areas between southern Onondaga Co and Lake Ontario plains. Trouble is we just got about 38" of snow the last day or two

Where abouts are you looking, if you don't mind my asking? I'm always looking for another interested person to pound some ground with. My experience has been that the odds are kinda long for finding much before mid February, but I could be wrong. I just nibble before that, kinda trying to pin-point where they're using. Let me know where you are. I've got a couple areas in my mind to try outside my area and if you're within a reasonable drive mayve we could team up for a try sometime. Jerry

 

[The Buck Stopper]

Shag, thanks for the info. I looked up where Fulton NY is in relation to where I live. It's about 230 miles away. I live in the Catskills, somewhat near Kingston. We have about 2 inches of snow on the ground right now, with much less in the woods. I've been shed hunting the last few years, but not a lot. I guess I lost interest not finding anything. This year I know what I'm doing a lot more, and plan to spend much more time shed hunting. I found the area where all the local deer are wintering. There are a number of fields, surrounded by woods. The fields and woods are literally beat down in deer tracks and beds. I spent a few hours looking the other day and found nothing. I'm going for a while tomorrow, before the snow comes on Monday. I'll let you know how I make out.

 

[Shag]

Hey BuckStopper. It sounds like you're on to where you're going to have some decent odds on a few sheds. My experience has been over the years that I tried lots and lots of different places that looked like they ought to be good but never produced anything. On the other hand, the few places I have found that produce, always seem to produce year in year out. Funny that way. Hey, you know what? When I'm in Kingston on business I will usually get back on the NYS Thruway and head north back towards Albany. As I recall, it seems to me that after going about 5 or 10 miles on the thruway I begin seeing what looks like super winter deer cover right on the east side of the thruway, a few miles either side of that first rest area you hit as you head north from Kingston. It looks like exceptional deer cover and all I can think about as I drive up through there is LOOKING FOR SHEDS! The strip of land may not be really wide up through there but it runs for miles (maybe between Rte 9 and the Thruway?) and is all tall weedy fields interspersed with heavy cedar cover. As I recall, I see alot of deer sign in the snow when I've been thru there. No agricultural fields at all really, just great winter cover with a lot of sign evident in the snow. Do you know the area I'm referring to? Again, it varies tremendously from place to place but I caution you against putting too much pressure on that hot area you found, too early. Unless there's others trying to look for sheds there, I'd just nibble around the edges or observe from long distance to see of any bucks are using it, still packin, etc. Maybe better to let them do their thing and hit it real hard once the sheds are on the ground (unless there are a lot of squirrels in the hardwood areas). Yeah, if it looks like it's really gettin pounded, then you're probably gonna find something. Good luck.