Two for two

After a few unsuccessful outings , I finally broke the ice! You know it just feels good just to put your hands on some antler again!

So James and I head out on Saturday to his favorite hunting spot and tromp around for a bit. It's a very good spot he has taken some nice deer in there and found quite a few sheds, but this trip was to no avail. So we decided to head to another spot that he has been getting some nice pictures on his trail cam. One is a buck with a real nice typical NH 4 point antler on one side and the other antler looks like he had some pedicle damage because it looks as if it melted down his face.
My first impression of this spot is that it is a typical deer yard in a residential/rural area , and the deer sign is insane! We have all seen these spots (Chris Holmes I mean you) where a giant deer is seen by the desperate housewives while the hubby is 30 miles away hunting the big North Woods seeing moose and squirrels.

We moved up and along various shelves and ridges finding nothing but tons of sign. As the day waned on we worked down into planted rows of red pine and started meandering around only 200 yards from someone's back porch. As I stopped and leaned against one of said pines, I looked down at the forest floor at my feet and I saw what appeared to be a couple of chewed sticks, I knew in a instant what it was. I bent over and picked up shed # 1 of 2012, a nice big 5 point side, a little chewed but enough left to get a idea of what kind of bucks were wandering these hills . I humbly relinquished my find to the master of this hunting ground like I customarily do when shed hunting as a guest. then I headed home to recharge for day 2



Day two went like this: I trekked out to the back side of our fifty acre piece and worked into the big cut. I wandered for hours crossing all over open woods ,hemlock swamps, open clearings and nothing. I was still coming down from the high of breaking the ice yesterday so it was just great learning the routes and bedding areas I had over looked this hunting season. At just about dark I had made it just about back to the house and took a deer run that runs just 40 yards behind my big double stand and at the base of a rub for all to see out in the barren ground was my first freshie of the year! It was not the Unity Mt. swamp monster but the smaller 2 and a half year old 8 point that had been seen eating my apples not just a few days before. I looked around pretty hard for the match but since we are having some logging done I fear it is buried under dirt and debris from the machinery. Well the swamp monster's rack is still out there either on his head or on the ground and I will find them!