Boys Start out ahead again

[MNbogboy]

Here is a picture of two of my son's the day after Christmas at a family get together....John is holding a couple of fresh sheds he picked up while bow hunting in WI a day or two before Christmas ...Mike is holding the Euro mount of my 2011 WI rifle kill...(which my oldest son Jim who is not shown prepared for me as a Christmas present).....The sheds were found less than 1/2 mile from where I bagged the other one...John said I can't hunt that area next year..... ....

The snow better melt fast this spring or I will never catch up in shed count....
Happy New Year All,
Randy

[waspocrew]

Nice antlers!

[MuleyMadness]

Very cool.

[Muleys 24/7]

they drop their sheads that early huh? cool find

[MNbogboy]

Usually tougher winters bring on earlier drops....I have seen them as early as Thanksgiving on one particularily "deep snow" start of a winter...We had a Halloween storm that dropped 36" and it continued right on through the early part of winter that year...On normal years you can expect to see them start dropping around the New Year and I have seen them hanging on as late as March when the winter is extremely mild....But the last three years we have saw quite a few drops in Dec...Not particularily because of bad winters...We believe it is because deer numbers are way down and the older bucks are working extremely hard to find does and wearing themselves down.....

[MuleyMadness]

We believe it is because deer numbers are way down and the older bucks are working extremely hard to find does and wearing themselves down.....

That's a really interesting theory, never thought of that but might be dead on. Seems early to be dropping.

[Tonoonyi]

I have read that same thing, it said that stress is what generates an early drop on deer. I have not been able to make that correlation here as of yet, but who knows for sure?

[MNbogboy]

I might add that in the mid 1970s the Feds attempt to re-introduce timber wolves to northern WI started right in the heart of our hunting territories..Contrary to popular belief that they actually migrated from MN without interfering propogation is hog-wash...Conversation with federal field biologists in the 70s and 80s leads me to believe other...We were the Yellowstone guinea pig....This is when somebody decided to play God and take man out of the balance of nature equation....We have many wolves throughout our hunting area and they are applying stress all year long....

[waynedevore]

Nice rack! To bad that that so much of MN prime WT and Moose range is managed for wolves.
3-4 thousand now and growing and spreading rapidly.
Poor deer seem like their on the run all the time.