The last vacation day

Today I used a vacation day, the last one, to make my way to Pittsburg, NH

Yes, that fabled land where moose and deer frolic in the vast woods of the far North.

A place where it has been said that antlers are littering the forest floor. OK, I am being a little too flowery; it actually went a little more like this.

Despite my best efforts, I left late. OK, so I wanted to leave at 4 AM and actually left at quarter to seven... I got to Pittsburg at about 10 am. Oh well. I had chosen to search one of four areas that I have had luck in before. One spot in particular is a gold mine, but Perry Stream Logging Company had not yet unlocked all of the roads. So I was now down to two spots, so I chose the easiest one first, not always the best idea because everyone else will go there too. Not much I could do about that.

I started into this spot that is a series of small clear cuts with a swamp and TONS of sign, both deer and moose. The deer sign is promising for two reasons. In the past I have always found a lot of moose tracks, beds, rubs and chews but not much actual deer sign. Now though there were lots more deer tracks, rubs etc than ever before. I had hunted this spot before, about 7 years ago for deer, but have returned since then to look for head gear with not a whole lot of luck.

I started off moving down hill weaving back and forth slowly. When you see a spot like this you can envision big moose palms just jutting out everywhere. But after the first two hours, nada!

Three hours go by and I see three big deer, trotting in deer fashion across one of the clear cuts. The last one was practically a cow, just a huge body. But I digress.

I start down this trail that I had sort of come in on. I was feeling a little worn out because I had not slept well and I was getting hungry, when I come across this moose femur. I stared at this bone and thought "This bone was not here when I came through before... BUT, maybe there is what is left of a bull with antlers still on the skull." A moose skull with antlers is the Holy Grail of shed hunting. So I push through some spruce boughs and straight in front of the leg bone is a nice big moose shed! A real nice fresh one. No chewing on it at all. As it was a pretty good size, I look around through my binoculars and POOF! another antler! But this one looks like a giant deer antler. Shaped a lot like "Hole in the horn" But when I walk up to it I saw that it was another fresh moose antler with an obvious deformity/ injury to the base area. This deformed the antler into a paddled club with points. Oh well, a set is a set.

I hike out with them attached to my pack like a proud Papa. I stop at the truck to stow them and get a bite to eat and drink seeing it was warm. I decided to go to another spot. I headed North towards the 3rd Connecticut Lake where there is a spot that I have always seen big bulls. This place is outside of the ever popular "Moose Alley" but is pretty good for bull sightings. To my surprise and delight, there's a big guy standing there almost as if on cue! He runs off into the woods and I carefully follow. He was an absolute huge bull. Definaitely a mature fellow. My mind says big bull, big antlers so in I go. I walk about 200 yards and I can see him moving at a steady pace up the ridge. At least I don't have to worry about getting stomped into the mid! I look around for awhile and don't see much so I decide to try one more place.

Off I go towards Moose Pond and I park in the area next to the pond and walk around the gate so I can work my way around the back just to give it a once over before sunset. Just before I get to the little dam, ahead of me is a small yearling cow moose. She seemed a little lost. She saw me and walked right over to me! She stopped about five or six FEET away and stretched out her neck to sniff me! If I had leaned in I could have touched her on the nose! But even though she was small, the fear of her kicking me was still a real danger if I spooked her. After about a minute she turned towards the pond, waded in and swam along the shore line. She was all alone, probably because this is just about calving time. This is when pregnant cow moose chase off the yearlings.

I went to the back of the pond and found a LOT of deer sign here too. The only problem for hunting season is that it is a marked safety zone.. No Hunting. Other than sign I found nothing else.

So I loaded up and headed back to Unity, but think I will try to return Sunday.

Vacation report

Let me just start this by saying, Bears suck. Not only do they chew up antlers but they jump up and scare you!

Sunday I was following a rub line of one buck that I think is a Boone and Crockett class, when from under a blow down pops up a small boar Black Bear. He stood up on his hind legs and stared at me from only 10-15 yards away! The wind was in my face so he never scented me and the woods were wetso he only heard me at the last minute. We stood eye to eye for a few minutes and then I asked him quite loudly,"what do you want?" and he turned and bolted off. I could hear him snuffing and wuffing as he ran down the hill. I am sure glad it was not a sow withcubs! Such are the dangers of shed hunting...

Tuesday. Well what a day! Let me start by saying that I don't usually like sunny days for antler hunting because the bright sunlight creates bright spots and camouflages the tines sticking up, but sometimes knowing WHERE to look is the primary key.I started off by looking in an area that was logged out about 5 years ago. Lots of winter browse and HOLY COW tons of deer sign! It was mostly doe and fawn sign though.Let me say that I do not find many antlers in areas with tons of deer sign. But I grid searched the area any way because I have found smaller antlers in this area before. However, none today.

The sun was hot and I decided to check out some shaded hemlock groves up at the top of a place we call "the hump" I like this spot because there is a network of lightly used trails that funnel up to a mossy/rocky topped hump that is surrounded with hemlock and striped maple and some red oaks. The back side has a small shelf with some blowdowns that drop sharply into a big wooded valley with beech, oak and maple.

I was moving along the back and looked down to my right, between two huge downed hemlock trees and saw two huge tines sticking up, boy what an awesome sight! Thick G3s and G2s. I made my way down to it through all the junk lying on the ground, over logs and the like to grasp up a tank of an antler. I had only admired it for a second when I looked over 10 feet awayand saw more tines! I couldn't get there fast enough. The first thing I noticed is the bladed browtine on the second antler. This pair is the winter 2006/2007 set that matches the winter 2007/2008 antler I picked up last week!

This whole area is a big buck sanctuary and I only come up into it once a year. I don't mess around in here at all except to antler hunt and I amvery quiet and use scent control when I do venture in. So I want to get out of there as quickly as possible before I jump the big guy up. I checked out the top of the next ridge and move out along the bank sides along some other buck trails following a rub line. Rub lines mark buck only trails and are used year 'round until the rut when bucks switch to using doe paths or crisscross them to find hot does. I made my way up a brush choked drainage that tops out in another hemlock swamp. This swamp is where I tracked a bruiser last Thanksgiving and where I found a shed then.

I decided to back track to see if I could find the match. I had looked for it earlier this season to no avail.

So I get to the spot where I found the Thanksgiving antler and I stood looking for a minute trying to figure out direction. I had searched in another direction before and found zip. Doing my best CSI work I re enacted what that deer must have done and headed towards the opposite direction than my previous searches. I took TWO steps and ducked under a spruce branch and bam! there was the mate! It was in almost perfect shape only 3feet from where the first one had lain. I can't believe I missed it last Thanksgiving.I must have all but set my back pack on top of it!

Just goes to show that you should always look within a few feet of the first antler you find, especially if it's a large/weighty one.

I hope to get back during the rest of my vacation, to the other drainage to try to find the match of the antler I found last week. It has to be close given this deer's habit of dropping them together.

Hope everyone is having good luck finding antlers as well. Look forward to your stories

Another shed hunt

I went back to the farm woodlot for another hunt.

Using my topo map I found 2 drainages that I wanted to search for antlers. This was an area
unfamiliar to me so I will likely have to go through it again.

On one of the logging trails that I do know, I stopped to think about a
buck I tracked through this area 2 years ago and happened to look to my
right and there lying in the moss under some hemlocks was a stout little
forkhorn antler. very good mass for a first year buck but short in the tine.

I proceeded to get into the ravine and was impressed with the layout. 2
small brooks run through it and converge with a high spot in between. This
area is shaded heavily with hemlocks and there was LOTS of sign. No antlers
that I found but I am sure that they are there and I just need to look
again. I had been seeing a lot of moose tracks from what I believe to be a
fairly large bull.

I worked my way back to the drainage area close to the lake that I am
familir with and work my way up. It was getting later in the day and I was
tiring but I still held out hope that I'd find something else. I was
following a winter deer trail and almost tripped over the base of a moose
antler under a spruce sapling. I instantly recognized it as the winter
2006/2007 antler from the same bull I found the fresh set from earlier this
year. Knowing this bull, I had confidence that the other antler would not
be far away. I made a big circle through beech and maple bordering the
hemlock swamp near the brook. Just when I had almost given up hope I spied
the mate in a hollow along the brook.

Both antlers show signs of fighting with another bull and there are holes
punched through both.

This of course means now I need to find the other bull's antlers.

I'm on vacation next week, so hopefully more to come