woolybear

Good deal bud! Congrats, and good luck to you and pops!

North American Eucanlickthis..?

One down and 3 to go till 40! Spent some time at my sis house this weekend helping her out with some yard chores. Decided to hike it home and came across this little 3pt side not 5 minutes from her backyard on a big piney ridge. I didn't spend a lot of time in there, but I'll be back. It's a nice open area with no undergrowth... perfect for late season sheddin'! Here's #37!

Hey, thanks Todd! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for following along! Turkey season ends at the end of May, so I'm gonna do a few more hikes then and try to come up with 4 more to end my dream season.

My neighbor called me up and said the bear's in her yard tearing up her bird feeders,lol......"I'll be right over"!! When I got there, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him mutilating a young 6pt buck! I sure hope this guy sticks around throughout the summer, but he has ZERO fear of humans... I doubt he lasts long. When he was done with that he moved on to the fruit trees,lol.

Found these fuzzy little guys watching me look for something to take pictures of! Had a pretty harsh/uneven light at this hole so some of the pics got blown out a bit.

Sweet! I look forward to fawn season! Looks like if you'd gotten there a few minutes sooner you'd have seen them hit the ground! Them little suckers are still wet behind the ears! Great shots!

Alright guys, I already gave ya a basic lowdown on this dude. This is the crap I live for! I saw him feeding in the grass and got set up for some long range shots...which I got plenty of. Then he spotted me and became curious making his way in to 20ft before making himself comfortable and munching down the greens. At one point he got my wind and began huffing at me and took a few bounds my way. Assuming he was just trying to intimidate me I sat tight and he layed down and went back to feeding! For 2 hours this went on and at times he was so close I couldn't frame him entirely at 70mm! What an AWESOME day in the sticks! Here's a few of my fav's!

You lucky dawg....'bout as close as I can come to that is black squirrels and coon families. Have only ever seen one bear here and unfortunately didn't have a camera handy. Nice shots of the little rug rats!

Hope this doesn't mean you're the man to talk to when they need a raise in their allowance,lol. Give yourself a pat on the back for that one...it says a lot about the way they look up to you!

Good to hear things are looking up for you Leo. That's a good reminder that we can get through even our toughest times as bad as they seem at the moment.

Thanks guys! John- that toad series is a bit deceiving. I first noticed him when a little red eft caught my attention. When I got closer for the photo opp I saw the toad eyeballing him just inches away. I figured I'd save the little lizzy and replaced him with a crawler I found near by after I got set up for the shots....so originally it looked like this but I didn't like that ending,lol

Although my trips to the woods exclusively for antlers is officialy over, I'm still hopefull for 4 more horns while I enjoy the outdoors through other activities. While out taking pics the other day I came across yet another fresh, young, dead buck. Seems there's no shortage of them this year.

Although I've given up with the hikes exclusively for antlers, I still find myself enjoying the woods through other activities enough to keep my eyes pealed for any leftover bones. Unfortunately, there seems to be no end to the # of dead bucks out there this season. Here's yet another from the other day. I'm still hopeful for 4 more horns on the season.

Here's a few shots from some of my recent encounters.

woolybear team #2 4/13 - 4/29 finds 1 set 1 righty 3 lefties

Guys, I'm at a loss for words to describe this crazy season anymore. Got my 8'th set and 36'th horn today.....I can't believe this! Here's what I first saw. As you can imagine I was already thrilled with that. I snapped the ATL and stood up to scan for the mate. Sure enough it was hiding in the grass a few feet away. I didn't get the best pic....the sun was making it hard to see what my camera was seeing but they're both in there. outta the grass..they are in great condition for being on the ground a year.

I'm retracting my statement that this horn doesn't match antler #2 for the season. Took a closer look today and I'm gonna call them a match set. Not sure if it's the chewed tines that make them "unbalanced"...part of why I questioned it. Add the missing brow tine on the left side and the color difference for more scrutiny. Granted, one was on top of the leaves while the other was burried. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention they were found about 150 yds apart. ....but then I look at the similarities in the bases. Almost a carbon copy how they deteriorated around the burr. ...and a view from behind just to confirm my thoughts. Curious what you guys think. Match or no?

Thanks John, this has been anything but a typical season for me. Probably owe it to the mild winter which really extended my season and let me take advantage of extra time spent hiking under favorable conditions. Still picking through the lower section of the hill today when I spotted a little oldie laying in an island hemlock patch in the open woods. The recent snow had him covering up in the leaves to keep warm. We still got about 3" up at the top of the hill...it's not quite the elevation change some of you see in the mountains, but it's definately a steep hard hike to the top. I thought this may be the mate to antler #2 for the season but it's not. I'm pretty pumped to still be picking up antlers regularly at this stage of the game! Here's #34.

Thanks guys! I've given up on my thicket searches as it's gotten too thick now. Decided to look for some horns behind the house today in the open woods. I already covered the top of the hill pretty good where it flattens out so I switched tactics today and began to cover the bottom 3'rd closer to the road. Went the better part of the day without a find when I came across another little old skull. Further up the same ridge I walked right up on antler #33 setting beside a scrape! I didn't get that in my ATL. This guy still has the wax ring... I wonder how long it's been off? No luck with the mate. The days finds. Looks like somebody tried to cut the rack off the little deadhead but decided it wasn't worth the effort,lol!

No luck with sheds today but I did find another fresh dead buck. Not a massive rack but he's a real nice 8pt with a 20" spread. Off to the wall of shame for this guy! I've come to the conclusion I need to get a bigger pac too,lol.

Nice finds Ruth and a nice recovery from last season! Glad you didn't let that discourage you this year! Congrats on your latest batch o' bone!

4-13-12 Ya know I was only kidding about being done. That's how I trick the rest of the antlers to come out of hiding....worked again! Found #32 while mountain biking around the park today. Ok, maybe I chained the bike to a tree and went for a little stroll. I'll go biking again tomorrow,lol My season goal has now been extended to 40 horns. I still have 3 good spots to check that I haven't set foot in yet this season. Maybe this weekend!

Here's the unofficial season total! Probably wont be getting many offers from the chandelier makers but they're all good to me! Starting with the lefties... The righties... The sets... ...and the army of antlers all together.