Why bother?
03-09-2008, 09:29 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,716
Why bother?
Seriously - I've been out shed hunting 3 times, total, before yesterday. I feel like I've been damned by mother nature -every stinkin' day that I get to get out there, it snows. Shed hunting in the snow isn't so great around here . . . especially considering the "caliber" of sheds that I find. LOL They can be totally buried by a light dusting of snow. Maybe even a heavy frost. [&o]
So yesterday, like every other day off, it snowed. However, to my surprise, the snow didn't come in until around 2:00, so I got in 4 hours of unexpected shed hunting in the a.m.
It may have been the best shedhunting day of all time, cool dreary, wet - just hideous... I really felt confident that if there was a decent 4x shed or better laying around, I'd pick it up. I was tossing my practice antler around, and it was glowing like a beacon. Money.
So, I slogged around the mud mess all morning with mypain-in-the-ass ankle braced up tight - nothing.
Finally, at 10:00... I catch a piece of bone at the edge of a cut soybean field...
Bam! Spiker. First shed of '08. It's been laying out here fora fullyear - badly weathered and sliced up by the picker and the planter.
So, I pick it up and kinda reflect for a minute... Mixed feelings... Happy that I found something, but here again, it's just another dink. Same story. All the time. Dink after Dink after Dink.
Which brings me to the ultimate question: Why bother?
PA (at least the areas that I hunt in SW PA) has gotta have some of the worstwhitetail age structure in North America. Seriously. Everything dies here. The orange army shoots first, asks questions later. That's just how it goes.
But every spring, I invariably lace up the boots and take to the hills, knowing that it will take a small miracle to luck into a 2.5 year old-or-bettershed.
Seriously, why would any halfway-sane individual get up with the chickens just to get out and trudge around old bean and cornfields and stare at the ground until your eyes go buggy? Because you learn. You learn about your deer herd. You see how many deer are making it through... You see the caliber of bucks that you're working with. You temper your expectations accordingly.
Look at this. 3 years, maybe 12-15sheds. This is most of them. I have a few more laying in the garage, not pictured... All spikes and forks. The biggest one (a forkie)tapes out to about 35". A monster. LOL
So look at that... Is it realistic for me to go out there and camp out in my stand, waiting fora four-and-a-half year old whitetail? LMAO Sher.
Hell, just seeing a decent two-and-a-half year old around here in October is a major chore. Granted, the rules change and activity spikes in November. Either way, there are people in Pennsylvania who hunt their entire lives and never take a deer who's blew out his second birthday candle. A decenttwo year old goes straight to the taxidermist for the Average Joe.
I guess that's how you do it, not here, but everywhere... You scout. You glass. You pick sheds. You document your encounters. You know what makes a "good" deer for your area, and you temper your expectations accordingly.
That's why you bother. Not because you like finding half-rotten spikes in a mud wallow of a beanfield. You bother because you need to know. You need to know what survived the holocaust. You need to know what expectations are realistic. That's it. That's why I bother.
So yesterday, like every other day off, it snowed. However, to my surprise, the snow didn't come in until around 2:00, so I got in 4 hours of unexpected shed hunting in the a.m.
It may have been the best shedhunting day of all time, cool dreary, wet - just hideous... I really felt confident that if there was a decent 4x shed or better laying around, I'd pick it up. I was tossing my practice antler around, and it was glowing like a beacon. Money.
So, I slogged around the mud mess all morning with mypain-in-the-ass ankle braced up tight - nothing.
Finally, at 10:00... I catch a piece of bone at the edge of a cut soybean field...
Bam! Spiker. First shed of '08. It's been laying out here fora fullyear - badly weathered and sliced up by the picker and the planter.
So, I pick it up and kinda reflect for a minute... Mixed feelings... Happy that I found something, but here again, it's just another dink. Same story. All the time. Dink after Dink after Dink.
Which brings me to the ultimate question: Why bother?
PA (at least the areas that I hunt in SW PA) has gotta have some of the worstwhitetail age structure in North America. Seriously. Everything dies here. The orange army shoots first, asks questions later. That's just how it goes.
But every spring, I invariably lace up the boots and take to the hills, knowing that it will take a small miracle to luck into a 2.5 year old-or-bettershed.
Seriously, why would any halfway-sane individual get up with the chickens just to get out and trudge around old bean and cornfields and stare at the ground until your eyes go buggy? Because you learn. You learn about your deer herd. You see how many deer are making it through... You see the caliber of bucks that you're working with. You temper your expectations accordingly.
Look at this. 3 years, maybe 12-15sheds. This is most of them. I have a few more laying in the garage, not pictured... All spikes and forks. The biggest one (a forkie)tapes out to about 35". A monster. LOL
So look at that... Is it realistic for me to go out there and camp out in my stand, waiting fora four-and-a-half year old whitetail? LMAO Sher.
Hell, just seeing a decent two-and-a-half year old around here in October is a major chore. Granted, the rules change and activity spikes in November. Either way, there are people in Pennsylvania who hunt their entire lives and never take a deer who's blew out his second birthday candle. A decenttwo year old goes straight to the taxidermist for the Average Joe.
I guess that's how you do it, not here, but everywhere... You scout. You glass. You pick sheds. You document your encounters. You know what makes a "good" deer for your area, and you temper your expectations accordingly.
That's why you bother. Not because you like finding half-rotten spikes in a mud wallow of a beanfield. You bother because you need to know. You need to know what survived the holocaust. You need to know what expectations are realistic. That's it. That's why I bother.
03-09-2008, 04:36 PM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 5,062
RE: Why bother?
I hear ya Quick, I have been looking for a few years now, and havnt found 1 yet. But it is a good reason to be out there. The thing that gets me, is that the average buck for around here is either a small 8, that will be lucky to go 70", or a small 6. I see this size buck year after year, and let them walk, just to see the same size deer the next year. I just dont get it.[&o]
03-09-2008, 04:42 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern Idaho's Panhandle
Posts: 4,436
RE: Why bother?
The little ones are the hardest to find...Fran... I applaud your effort man.. bad ankle and snow, not fun!.. not to mention there is not a lot of big mature bucks running around dropping antlers everywhere, your not shed hunting Lees farm 
.. Keep after it bud..
um, can I say am sick of SNOW! Two more weeks before my honey holes surface from under the great white blanket..
.. Keep after it bud.. um, can I say am sick of SNOW! Two more weeks before my honey holes surface from under the great white blanket..
03-09-2008, 04:47 PM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Indiana (southern)
Posts: 6,146
RE: Why bother?
First of all, be careful how you use the word Dink, it hurt my feelings 
Quick, if any thing you can get some serious scouting in for next season, you may not be finding big ones but its good to get out there any way. and besides the small ones are harder to spot Im like you this year, every time im off its either raining, snow or ice or both. Its melting right now and i dont have to go in till tomorrow night, so im all over it in the morning, and besides its good exercise 
Quick, if any thing you can get some serious scouting in for next season, you may not be finding big ones but its good to get out there any way. and besides the small ones are harder to spot Im like you this year, every time im off its either raining, snow or ice or both. Its melting right now and i dont have to go in till tomorrow night, so im all over it in the morning, and besides its good exercise
