az.antlerenthusiast

Cool...! nice to see some New Mexican sheds.

We did pack in and stay a couple days. Just depends on where you are I guess as to wheather thats the best option.

Congrats on finding your first pair. He probably was a fighter.

Scatter them out in your yard and then go find them again. You never know it might be fun.

You stay home and think of jokes and i"ll go shed hunting.

Well you ended up getting that buck after all. Thanks for sharing.

Took off this weekend with Dustin o'l antler head and headed off for a lower elevation break from the snow. This has long been one of my favorite areas since my largest elk and mule deer sheds both came from this area. During the last few years the number of elk in the area has gone down to almost zero, and the deer numbers are probably 1/5 of what they used to be even from what I remember. Good news though, the predator population is doing well. Certain people have done well to ensure that certain worthless predators are doing very well at the expense of large numbers of deer and elk. We didn't find no coues ants. but it was fun to get out and see some kick butt country. We had perfect weather to get out and hit the mountains and not worry about reptiles or heat stroke. Found this pair of antlers on the way in. Made for a happy antler hunter. Old deer head near base camp. Rock formation near where we camped. Yes he is awake... Dustin found these antler laying about 5 feet apart. They are about a year old and probably from a 140-150 class deer. This was an old head I found near a creek. He is a few years old and needs some restoration work but a nice find none the less. The closest sign of any elk to this head was about 4 miles away, and even that was quite scarce. I used to watch a nice sized herd of bulls similar in size to this one work the hills 1/2 mile away. Guess thats a thing of the past though. My pride and joy find. A 2x2 year old set. In all we found 18 mostly white but still usable antlers. And the fun part, the pack out.

Well got out this last week for much the same reason that DBArcher did. Picked back up on an area I left off on, which didn't prove to be the most eventful thing I could have done but was a blast none the less. No browns yet but that was kinda to be expected. Only brought back 3 horns which made for an easy haul back. Coati in a tree. Always something I enjoy seeing. Cool little buckey. Wouldn't mind stumbling across his sheds in a month or two. Found this antler about 20 minutes before night fall. Little broken and critter chewed but still a good usable antler. Left half a dozen whites like this which I later regretted. This is an old burn area so spotting some of these older antlers isn't quite as hard. Finding is still half the fun though.

Earliest I have ever found a fresh brown was about Feb.17 . A couple of the old trappers who used to stay out for 4 or 5 months at a time have told me of find monster January horns. This is still only a fantacy to me. Give it a month from now and your average large elk will be game for shedding. Coues and mulies seem to take an extra month longer than elk do but finding a mulie brown in Feb. is not unheard of. To my knowledge one of the reasons for the regulations on the Res. was to keep the animals from being messed with during the most sensitive time of the year. A tremendous amout of blood and tissue growth goes into growing and producing an antler. Sheding an antler prematuraly can be devistating to an animal. Near where I live people were setting up "antler traps", close lines,wooden racks, ropes anything to try to hurry the process. Finding an old deer/elk head where the animal died right after it shed its horns is not very uncommon. Also the temptation for worthless idiots to shoot an animal and kick their antlers off for a few extra dollars is a little higher as well.

Quick picture I took last Oct. Trophy bull I called in on the same trip.

A different buck same trip.

My pack dont quite weigh 20 pounds but the frame weight did go from 3 to 8 pounds. Having bent the crap out of aluminium and plastic frames, welding up a metal frame for me was the ticket. I used an Outdoor Products brand for the pack it self. I like having a pack that is big enough stuff your sleeping bag and a tarp/tent down inside rather than trying to tie it on outside of the pack. Having used horses several times for packing I would have to agree that is the way to go whenever its tactical. I favor using horses many times because your vantage point is better and more effort can go into looking for antlers instead of watching your feet. Almost feels like you cheated when you get back to the truck. When I am around town where access is easy I still use a Toys-R-Us version that is much lighter more for carring water and cameras. In the back country tough I can deal with a little more weight instead of a flimsy pack alot easier, or at least thats my opinion.

6x7 ?? Nice restoration job whatever it is.

You are a crazy antler obsessed freak. Just kidding.... You are one of the best antler hunters i've ever met though. Good luck and many antlers in the new year.

Took off this weekend on a wet and snowey scouting/ antler hunting trip. Other than waking up to our shoes being a block of ice it was an enjoyable time. Didn't see any monster bucks but we did come home with 9 antlers along with pictures and video. I found this pair of 3 year old 7x7 elk sheds. I know that I walked right around them at least twice this year and last year. Guess I just didn't peak around the right bush. Found this 9 point shed in an odd-ball place. Dustin ( Az.antlerhead) and I both have found sheds from this same bull . This bull has some very distinguished characteristics to his anlers. He was also a bull that would shed both antlers close together which is always nice. Mabey I can get some pictures from old antlerhead from his finds a couple years ago..? This shed is critter chewed on the back side and probably about 6 years old but still a cool find. I found the pair to this shed about 10 yards away but 3 of its 7 times were eaten almost completely away. Well since this is a coues deer web sight here is a picture. Didn't score big time on coues horns but I did find a nice single brown. Probably 100+ inch buck.? A little critter chewed but not bad. You will not hear me complaining about finding a mule deer antler. Coues sheds are alot more challenging I will admit, but muley ants. are a welcome sight as well. Found this nice 3 point brown.

Could we zoom in a little more?

Wow! nice sheds. Bet you'll go back to that area.

Took off to see some old favorite areas. Ended up finding 12 antlers and leaving behind just about as many whites. This is one of the places that you are almost certain to see a bear or two. If you dont see one your probably not far behind one. Anyways I always enjoy watching them in their natural environment (not digging through a dumpster at Big Lake) Did end up seeing a couple, both were 300+ pounders I would imagine. not the greatest video picture in the world but fun to see none the less. This bear was more interested in eating juniper berries than anything else at the moment. This was by far one of the favorite antlers I found this weekend. I was quite surprised to see the mass on the 4th point. It is probably about 8+years old, but I couldn't pass up packing it home. Would have loved to have seen this bull a few years back. old but cool 7 pointer. Rather small but heavy brown. Found a couple more coues heads. I haven't found no hum dingers this year but I have sure found my share of similar sized heads ( 7 to be exact) The larger head would probably score in the 90's. The other head was only half there after the critters enjoyed it. First of August and already bugling a little bit, gotta love it. This was a little 7X6 one canyon away.

Very neat! Some of the hardest work you may ever do but fun at the same time. I've been on many slopes where you are crawling on all fours just about because of how steep it is. I can appreciate the work and effort that is represented by the pictures. Its always amazing to me how easily most animals can navigate these slopes with relative ease. Most impressive post, thanks for sharing.

These are some shed pictures from this last weekend. For me finding a brown coues antler is rather rare let alone a pair. This is the second pair of browns from the same buck that I have managed to find in the coarse of 4 years. Upon finding the pair 4 years ago I was also able to find one of his antlers from the year previous about a half mile away and higher up on the mountain. This is a large and rather steep mountain with a small bench on the side. Get past a certain area on the mountain and your search becomes very intense to say the least. Well it just wouldn't feel like Spring time without seeing a couple of these. For awhile I was finding more snakes than sheds. Couple miles away and a 3 point brown. Almost as great as a brown is a white horn that has escaped being found for a few years.

Having found around 900 sheds I would have to say the secret is patients, patients ,and more patients. Check the traditional places; fence lines, water tanks ,and bedding areas. Make sure the sign you are seeing is bull/buck not just from the ladies. The rest will come with time and incredable effort. Getting out of the easy to access areas is never a bad idea eather. If it was easy for you it was also easy for 100 other people. For me personally I have to go to a new area 3 times or more before i finally "break the code" of an area. This takes alot of time and dedication. Every time I go out I am learning something new and to me that is what makes it so fun.

yeah the 3 pointer was from a mule deer.

Took off for a day and a half. Went on a solo trip back into some old familiar areas. On both days I seen my fair share of rain and hail but it was still alot of fun. Found 14 sheds total ,5 of which were browns. Here are a few of the pictures: I'm sure this bull was dead before the tree fell on him, but if he wasn't that was one heck of a headache. There is another antler on the right side of the picture but it is buried under the pile. The rest of the skeleton is there as well. I found this head a year ago but it still hasn't walked away yet. Found this nice year old shed. I missed finding this as a brown last year literally by 25 feet. Thats the way it goes sometimes I guess. Found this rather small pair of 5x5 browns. These antlers had rather large buttons for the size of the horn. Found this 8 point or 6 point with 2 extras which ever you prefer. This was laying in an area near a spring. This has been a productive location for us in times past. This is a cool webby 7 point brown. Its always cool to find an antler thats outside the norm. This is not a heavy coues area but did find one on the way in. Left these as bait for other deer to come and do the same. Or at least it sounds good.

Very nice. Good to see the dedication you guys put out.

Found this head last weekend. We went on a medium sized hike (10 hours) in a new to me area. We didn't score big on sheds but it takes a while to learn a new area. This head is about four years old and slightly crittered chewed, but can be easily restored to like new. Dont have any shed pictures but maybe antler head will send me some. This bull has a 25 inch 3rd which is out of place It would be my guess that this bull had a severe head injury when he was younger but whats to say for sure. I would also guess that a constant ear infection would plague this bull do to the constriction of the ear canal. I have heard of a couple other bulls with similar antler growth, both of which were very sick and frail before they died.