This will be an ongoing journal.
5/23 Was up in Canada for a fishing trip and found my first moose paddle. My bro, Mike Rustay, Johnny, and I were hiking around a small stream that led into a small damed up pond. We hiked around the perimeter and I spotted a moose rub. I went and checked it out and then walked around the area a little bit. The paddle was laying about 20 yards from the tree. The area looked "moosy", with tons of poop and great browse. We were all really pumped; lot's of high fives. The paddle was a little chewed, but still in pretty good condition.
5/12 Was up at my Uncle's again for turkey hunting. No luck on a gobbler, but I did find a little 2pt. Not much time left for shed hunting.
5/1 Found this little buck skull while fishing the Wisconsin River on the opener. Based off the color of the antlers, I think this was down in the water at some point.
4/25 Made it out for an hour to check a spot I had scouted during the winter. Only found a little nubbin buck skull.
4/21 Went up to my Uncles again. Mala and I hiked some new land and only came up with a skull with an antler sawed off. I went back over to my Uncle's land and foudn a shed in an area I've never checked. I found a little 4pt that had been there for quite awhile. I was going to keep going past the area, but I thought I better check it out, and it paid off.
4/7-4/11 Went out to California on vacation. I was able to hike two separate days, but no sheds. I found 5 skulls, 3 of which were shed out bucks. All the deer I saw were mule deer.
4/3 Hiked a coworkers property with him out in Stillwater, MN. Found a couple of skulls, but no sheds.
4/2
Went out for a few hours after work to an area in St. Paul that I had scouted back in January. I found my biggest shed to date, a 4pt side with a 12" G2. I was walking on the along the top side of a hill and saw it sitting down in the middle of the hill in some brush. I looked for the remaining 45 minutes I had, but could not locate the other side. I will be back to try though!
3/30
Went out in the St. Paul area and picked this shed up 10 minutes into walking. Found a 5pt right along the side of a swamp, 20 yards from a road and some houses. First shed found in the Metro...about time!!! This is the biggest shed I have found as well.
3/29 I did a quick hike close to my house of an area I had scouted out earlier this year. When I got there I found that they had logged off a lot of the area. I walked a peice of it anyway, but came up blank.
3/26
I was up in Superior/Duluth for work and was able to take a little hike. Found a dead 4pt pretty close to some railroad tracks. Also found a couple beaver skulls as well; pretty cool.
3/18
Was able to make it over to my Uncle's again after some meetings. I asked permission to hike one of the neighbors land. I started out in a cornfield that I had been seeing a lot of deer feeding in. About 15 minutes in, I found a nice little 4pt. Nothing huge, but it had some decent mass on the base and a lot of beading to it. Continued on and right as I was finished with the cornfield and heading to the bedding area, I saw another guy coming out of the bedding area. The landowner had given this guy permission a few weeks ago; he must have seen me out in the cornfield and decided he better get out there. I talked to him; he had found on little spike, which made 26 on the year for him. Pissed me off a little bit. I hiked around the perimeter of the land and looked in and around some swamps, but did not find anything else. Saw 2 deer while I was hiking and 3 grouse.
The ticks are definitely out now as well!!! I took 10 ticks off of Mala and 2 off myself. On the way home, I drove around the block and counted 23 deer that I could see in one field....I may have to check that out next time I'm up.
3/14
Was up at my uncle's and I found a small spike. Also found another peice of bone, possible vertabrae, that was totally nawed up, kind of interesting. This shed was found about 75 yards from the shed I found a few weeks ago. They are both right sides, so there are at least two more sheds in the general area. 2 hours of looking.
3/10
Johnson and I headed out to a spot south of the metro today. The spot was mostly a wetland with pockets of trees. There was a ton of deer sign and we both felt like we would come across a shed at any moment. While the confidence was high, we struck out. About 3/4 mile back in, I found some foot prints from the other direction; discouraging. I'll still come back to this spot as there was too much deer sign not to give it another shot.
3/3
Went up to my uncles for the day. I hiked the whole property and then some of the neighboring propert; 9.5 miles total. I found a small 3pt side in a pine grove. The shed had a lot of bone left under the base; the most I've ever seen. The sign in the pine grove was unbelievable, so I will definitely go back and do a grid search of the area. I found 1 dead doe. Saw 15 turkeys, 11 deer, 3 grouse, and 1 porcupine.
1/23
Johnson, Lauey, and I headed up to my Uncle's to go grouse hunting. Before we started, we went and checked out an area that the deer had been eating in. Within a 30 yard area we found 4 sheds. Two of the sheds are a match; the other two could be as well, but one of the bases is a little bit bigger.
1/17
I made it out again to another park in the Twin Cities for a couple hours. I found some really good areas that I will come back to again, but no sheds as of yet. I may wait a little while and let the bucks shed out and for some of the snow to melt. The spots in the city don't have as many deer, but I figure the bucks should be pretty good size.
2 miles
1/15
I hiked a city park for a few hours. This was a new spot for me, but I did find some good bedding areas. I'll head back here once the snow has melted.
1 mile
1/13
I had some meetings in Rice Lake, WI, so naturally I made time to make it over to my Uncle's to do a little scouting. I found some good bedding areas that I will return to later to look for sheds. I also put up a camera to see if there were a lot of bucks with antlers still. Throughout the day, I bet I saw over 200 turkeys; 37 in one of my Uncle's fields. While in the woods and driving around my Uncle's, I saw 17 deer; one of them a buck.
1/2 mile
1/11
I realize it is early to go out shed hunting, but I couldn't help myself. I took Mala out to the land that Lauey and I have been bowhunting in Southern MN and walked around for a couple hours. I have a camera down there that I last checked on 12/31; at that time there were a couple bucks that had dropped, and a few that were still walking around with headgear. It has been really cold here, so none of the 12+ inches of snow that we have has melted. I snowshoed around for 2 hours but did not find anything. The deer have been using the same trails in a pretty concentrated area, so I'm pretty confident I'll find something once the snow melts. I did check the videos on my camera this time and there were no bucks with antlers; all does and dropped bucks. I probably won't hit this spot again until March. This was Mala's(10 month old black lab)first time out for an extended period of time in this much snow and she did really well. I'm thinking of training her to find sheds!!!! I'm planning on going out again on Wednesday. 1 mile
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