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hunter1026

pinetop

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Me and my wife have been hiking around the pinetop area for two day and have yet to find a shed horn am I missing something or do u just not have any luck

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All the sheds around here were picked up weeks ago. Have to drive far away in the rough stuff to find any that are left...

Ron

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Keep at it. Don't get discouraged. It's a matter of miles walked. I think it was SilentButDeadly who posted on here a ratio of miles walked to cool stuff found. If I find it I'll post a link to that thread. (If someone else finds it first, please post away.)

 

Getting away deep into good country certainly helps but my son found a 4 pt. Mule Deer shed that was at least two years old and almost completely covered with pine needles on the fence line of a state highway. (It is still the family’s only mulie shed.)

 

Remember that all those whites or chalkies that people find were once browns that no one found.

 

Also, bring binoculars. It will save you A LOT of walking. If you see something that appears to possibly be an antler (or part of an antler) it is incumbent upon you to check it out. Think of it as a moral imperative. You can either walk over to it and physically inspect it or check it out with the binos. Either way, if you see something that you think MIGHT be an antler, the point is to confirm that it is NOT an antler before moving on. The minute you listen to that Eeyore voice in your head that says “Oh, it’s probably just a branch.” and keep walking is the minute you lose. The point is to check it all out. It’s not a perfect system because you’ll still walk past a lot of sheds that you were sure weren’t antlers but at least you won’t be able to blame yourself for that.

 

I also pick up a little litter (usually empty cans or bottles, nothing too nasty) to help my karma but that’s just me. I have no empirical evidence that it works. If fact, it might not. I keep threatening Coues’n’Sheep that I’ll pic message him an elk shed but haven’t found one yet this year. I’ll be out again on Monday though. I expect to find sheds on Monday. I can feel it. :rolleyes: This leads me to my last point which I believe I also owe to SilentButDeadly.

 

Every time you go out, expect to find three cool things. If you expect to find things you’ll be open to finding things and you’ll find them.

 

The bright side is that it’s a no lose proposition. Whether you find sheds or not you’ll be outside, exercising, spending time with those you care about or getting some alone time in nature. Remember what they say about shed hunting: “When it’s good, it’s great. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good!” :lol:

 

Good luck and remember to post the pics of you first shed here! We’ll be waiting.

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An old wise man told me: 'Look for antler where deer lost his,' - unless you know where the deer have been recently it could be a waste of your time walking it - but how will you know? It is at least easy to learn a new area: if you see scat you're hot on their trail, if you haven't seen any sign in a while you now know where not to look.

 

I'd say for picking up sheds my old average was like 10:1, but now a days it seems like 15:1. That is to say that I walk on average 10 miles for every antler I find. Cool stuff on the other hand, expect at least 3 random events/things on any given hike - like finding an artifact or ruin, seeing a rare animal (right before you step on it and hear its rattle), spotting a monster buck as he runs over the ridge away from you, locating a bedding/feeding area with a ton of sign.

 

Keep on looking - you can't win if you don't play. Keep your eye's n ears open!

 

Here are three random things I saw on a recent hike and a horn I picked up a few days later:

post-1107-0-89846300-1306647147_thumb.jpg

post-1107-0-80670100-1306647154_thumb.jpg

post-1107-0-77914300-1306647166_thumb.jpg

post-1107-0-96651700-1306647170_thumb.jpg

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that little piece o' bone with the hole in it ain't anything random. that is what is left of a snell ear ring. indians would take a full sea shell, probably a clam, and cut the middle out until it was a ring and carve the little bump with the hole in and wear em around. you seldom see a full one. almost everyone i've ever seen looked just like that. but that is a helluva find. if you ever find another one, you'll be really lucky. they are usually dug up. anyway, that is cooler than any ol' elk antler. Lark.

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