Justin and I teamed up for a bit of walking this past Saturday. We covered roughly 4 miles in about 4.5 hours and all through snow sometimes as deep as 10".

In that time we were only able to kick up 1 single shed. The shed is the left side of a buck Justin has a trail-cam photo of taken nearly 1 mile away! It was taken this past summer while the buck was feeding on a preferred food source.. about 2 or 3 apple trees located in a small wood lot.

You have to look closely.. but you can see the unmistakeable "bulge" located on his main beam.

Now I ask.. which is more valuable piece of information on this deer. His photo or his shed antler location? (it was found in a little bedding area).

For those age junkies.. He was most likely to be a 3.5 yr. old this past year.

Thanks to Justin for the pics. He makes me look pretty..[8D]

nice find! The shed is more valuable information. You know he made it through hunting season!

That is true, but a picture is worth a lot when it get's closer to next season.

Agreed

Both good pieces of info.

I was looking at it as which is a better indicator of where to hunt him. I think if you are hunting him early then i would hunt by the apple trees. Later in the season he must be switching to a different food source.

Either way your on your way to maping out his "core area"

Should be a good one next year...

Good find! Looks like you have a couple of pretty valuable pieces of info for next year

The apple trees might very well be a great place to hunt, but at least consider hunting pressure. The photo says 8-2, which is before the season starts and the pressure mounts. He might not be feeding there during the season, and if he is, it probably will be after dark. The shed was found in an area in which the deer evidently felt comfortable after all of the pressure. Of course, maybe the spot where the shed was found is in the area of a late season food source that is normally unavailable???

Dang, you actually look charming in that photo. What kind of filter was he using?

heh, kidding!!!

Nice bone.

I'm leaning towards the shed....for reasons mentioned above.

During this time of year....the shed is going to give you more information. Next year, that picture might help you pinpoint he is still using established travel routes.

Like Hunsucker said, using both pieces of information, you are going to eventually lock down his "core area".

Hopefully you'll have some more pictures of sheds in the near future! [8D]