This years shed hunting for us has been SSSSLLLOOOOOWWWW..... But unlike most years, we've been continuously running trail cams to get a better idea of deer patterns. So even though we haven't found any sheds, we at least get to check trail cams every couple of weeks to see what's been running around the properties. And with a combination of numerous trail cams on a single property and all of this snow we've been getting, it's allowed us to really get a much better idea of deer movement patterns, even on properties that we've hunted for a few years now. Hopefully this late season scouting will benefit with much more productive tree stand locations in the fall.....but even though we haven't had much luck with sheds, it's still fun pulling cards..... Here is a video taken off of our newest Bushnell. The quality of the videos on these newer cameras is amazing. But the best thing is that this camera has been running for nearly four months (during the winter) on the same 8AA batteries. It's so nice not having to carry four D batteries with you every time you check the camera.

I am really starting to rethink this shed hunting thing... I have been able to get out and walk for 20 hours since Friday and haven't found anything, except trespassers, thieves and my first armadillo. Friday, I walked a property that usually doesn't start producing sheds until March for seven hours and came home empty handed. I was able to pull a couple of stands though so the day wasn't a total loss. But I still figured I would at least find a couple early drops, but to no avail.

On Saturday Bo and I ran over to another Missouri property we got permission to bow hunt late last season and the owner has been kind enough to let us run a couple trail cameras on the property to get an idea of the number of deer on the property and to see how many bucks have dropped antlers and how many are still carrying. Well, I screwed up on the first camera and didn't take a quick shot before I left to make sure the camera was operating properly. The new Bushnell cameras offer a quick shot function that allow you to take a quick picture or video, just to make sure everything is setup correctly. Unfortunately, the SD card I had put in the camera did not want to work properly in this camera so we lost two weeks of video. But we got it repositioned and everything was running correctly when we left so hopefully next week we'll have better results. Here are a few of the pictures we got. Three shed bucks showed up, along with one button buck. A lot of does also showed up so hopefully next year we'll be able to do some QDM on the property and fill our freezers!

Yesterday afternoon I ran out to one of our Missouri properties to pull a tree stand and found the Lobsided 9 in the bottom of a steep drawn less than 80 yards from my stand.  We had a pretty good history with this buck over the past year.  He showed up on camera quite a bit and I had him at 3 yards during the second week of November.  He was only a 2.5 year old and would have been a pretty good buck next year if he would have made it.  I didn't have much time to examine the carcass for a cause of death, but we'll take a closer look when we run back out there to shed hunt in the coming weeks.  We haven't put a tape to him yet but he should score somewhere in the 115 - 120 range.