It's hard to believe that April is all ready here and turkey seasons open up this week, but as spring arrives, our 2011 shed season departs.  We have walked many, many miles over the past two months and have done pretty well.  This year we ended up with somewhere around 40 sheds, deads, spikes and beams between us.  Typically one of our last shed hunting trips of the year is up to a friend's family farm in the very southwestern corner of Iowa and this year was no exception.  During the last couple of outtings, we hadn't had too much luck and were hoping that the Iowa farm would change that.

Not 10 minutes into the search, I looked to the other side of a fence crossing and picked up #1......another dink.  But bone is bone and we were on the board! 


Literally not five minutes later, I hear Skyler saying he's got a good one.  Laying just off of a well beaten trail lay what ended up being our best shed of the day - a lengthy 63 inch 4 point side.  Although not having much mass, this side sports a 12"+ G2 and nearly 11" G3.  Definitely a good young buck that will be fun to watch grow older.


As I'm walking back up the trail after getting a few ATL's of Skyler's find, I see a little tine sticking out of the grass not 20 yards from the big 4 point side.

And then not 50 yards further, Skyler looks over a fence crossing and spots another year old shed barely exposing itself from the matted down CRP.  It times like this when you wonder if walking all of those miles in between sheds is worth it.  We were find shed and shed in this small, thin CRP/locust field.  This shed ended up being another really good find.  Even though it was a year old, it had very little wear and chew marks and measured 53 inches without a G3, which was broken right at the beam.  The base on this antler went nearly 5 1/2 inches!

As we finished out the first small draw with six or seven sheds, I walked up to the tip of the second one and there lay two matches to sheds we'd found in the first draw within 10 yards of eachother.  It was nice to match up the big 4 point Skyler had found just 30 minutes earlier. 

So after our initial 11 sheds in 45 minutes, we walked another three hours and only found one small 5 point side and a broken tine.  It is amazing how just a simple change in terrain can affect how the deer move through and winter in specific areas.  The first 11 sheds were found in relatively small draws with thin CRP areas on the edges and were somewhat over grown with small locust trees and "buck brush".  It was a great day to spend shed hunting and thankfully we ended our season on a good note!  Now on to turkeys!!