This was Steve's first time out looking for antlers of any kind and so we decided to go to one of my favorite spots in the Gile Forest. UNFORTUNATELY it was 9 degrees F with 45 MPH wind gusts and a constant 25 MPH wind. We did not stay very long and did not see ANY Moose tracks or any sign whatsoever. We did find some big deer rubs and some deer activity so will have to go back later in the season.
I have never experienced cold like this in my entire life! We were chipping ice out of our beards and mustaches after getting back to the truck.
Steve and I went out a few weeks later near Center Pond in Stoddard and saw LOTS of Moose sign but again no antlers. Another spot to return to.
I made a couple quick trips to Pisgah State Park which is near my house and again saw deer sign but no antlers.
I have been back to the farm in Springfield a number of times and seen lots of deer, lots of sign but also NO ANTLERS. (NOTE of interest: I was actually witnessing breeding activity as late as the end of December and beginning of January!)
I decided to go to a place with a very high concentration of deer in Unity. I've gone back 3 times now because of the amount of deer sign. Two of the trips were a wash out for deer antlers, but on my way back to the truck on the first trip in a whiteout I did find a rotting Coyote skull in the middle of a hay field.
And on the third trip to Unity, EUREKA! I finally found an antler. Well, half of one. After hiking through most of the bedding areas I meandered my way to a lower apple orchard and was working my way along the brook near the orchard looking at where the deer cross the brook and in the field adjacent to the orchard under a lone apple tree was an antler. The only way to get to this antler was to go onto private property, so I knocked on the man's door. After a brief conversation he graciously gave me permission to pick up any antlers out in his field and so I ran out and picked it up only to discover that the antler was broken clean off right after the G2. This is the second broken off antler I have found in this area. 
The property owner then showed me the giant 8 point buck he had shot in the same area 4 years ago. It's a big typical 8 with a 20" inside spread and has 11" G2s and great mass. THEN the property owner proceeded to tell me about a GIANT deer on his lawn back in December that he claims had 16-18 points, this actually coincides with the stories my friend Dave has heard about a deer in the area that people have started calling "Stickers" and this is PROBABLY the buck that is snapping off other buck's antlers and responsible for the rub's I have seen on 25++" trees in the same area.
"Stickers" is now my main priority in this particular area and I'd love to find his sheds to prove his actual existence.
Today (2/11) Steve and I went back to Unity on the search for "Stickers" and we found some HUGE tracks and more BIG rubs but no antlers.
