Shedding the Post Season Blues

Even though the fractional part of the year that allows you to harvest game may have come to a close, many facets of hunting are just beginning to open. When some people ask me when the hunting season is over, I find myself fighting back the urge to say, “whitetail hunting is never over”. As soon as the sun goes down on the closing day, I can’t wait to get to that spot I avoided for fear of putting too much pressure on the deer’s sanctuary.

My post season excursions are sometimes rewarded with the find of an ivory treasure, the shed antler of the buck that got away. Although it’s early for those whitetail crowns to be discarded, it can be the indicator that points me to the late season hot spot for the coming season’s trophy buck. I recently took advantage of the sharp eyes of a young outdoorsman; Nicholas Wampler is a youth hunter and the step son of my brother in Christ, Scott Long. I was invited to shed hunt on the family farm where several large whitetail sheds and remarkable trophy bucks had been spotted. No one knew the family farm better then Nick and he was to be my guide as we searched for the hunter’s treasure. I asked Nick to write down in his own words what he thought about this phase of the hunting circle and to give us a look at it from a youth hunter’s “Point of View”.

Hello, my name is Nicholas Wampler; I’m 14 years old and in the 8th grade. I live in Robinson, IL in Crawford County. I went shed hunting with my buddy, Roger. We were on my step dad’s property; he owns 20 acres. We started looking by my tree stand. I told him my technique for shed hunting. It was the first time I went shed hunting with Roger and he helped me find my first shed.

The first thing we looked for was anything white on the ground; it could be a bone or a shed. We looked for buds on the tress where deer traffic the area and where deer bed down. Also, you need to go on a cloudy day so you can see white even better. You need to look around a creek or fence rows where a deer has jumped and the force has knocked off its rack. Look around for scrapes on trees or where a buck has rubbed on a low branch with a lot of little twigs. Have fun shed hunting.

Not sure I can add much to that. It looks like my new hunting buddy saved the best advice for last; “Have fun shed hunting”, and never forget to get a young hunter’s

“Point of View”.