Sorry so long...
I had a great weekend shed hunt turned adventure this weekend. It started out with a simple plan to take to young Air Force guys from my office up to my new property to get them away from the base for a bit. Everyone always complains that there is nothing to do in south-central NM, but these guys now know different.
It was pouring down rain when we left for my property near Cloudcroft, NM, but I told the guys we would find some fun somehow. The rain died out on the drive up the mountain, but came back soon after planting a few small trees on my property (burnt in 2000 forest fire).
The rain died out, and I convinced the guys to hike up the adjacent ridge by telling them of a hurd of elk I watched beddown there throughout the winter. I explained that the southern-facing slope and frequent sitings were a good indication that we could find shed antler. They bought in almost as easy as my beagle.
We looked for about 2 hours with no luck in a driving rain/thunder storm. Yes, we could easily have called it quits and cussed all the way home... but instead we came up with our new slogan... A Bad Day in the Woods, Beats Paying Someone to Let You Play Golf!
We finally made it to the top of the ridge and found something cool... sheds, No... The hurd of elk. It was great. 20+ elk within 200 yards, a turkey gobbling in the background and a rare "Hybrid Scaled/Gambel's Quail" (identified by my wildlife biologist) all within 5 minutes.
Then came the rain and killer lightning and we were on top of the ridge. Luckily, we did not suffer the same bad luck with the lightning that we had finding sheds... We are still alive.
My truck was covered top to bottom in mud and the dog slept for two days...
Sorry this is so long, but I did not feel like writing a full story for submission just yet.
Any pointers on finding sheds in an area full of burnt deadfall?
DC
I had a great weekend shed hunt turned adventure this weekend. It started out with a simple plan to take to young Air Force guys from my office up to my new property to get them away from the base for a bit. Everyone always complains that there is nothing to do in south-central NM, but these guys now know different.
It was pouring down rain when we left for my property near Cloudcroft, NM, but I told the guys we would find some fun somehow. The rain died out on the drive up the mountain, but came back soon after planting a few small trees on my property (burnt in 2000 forest fire).
The rain died out, and I convinced the guys to hike up the adjacent ridge by telling them of a hurd of elk I watched beddown there throughout the winter. I explained that the southern-facing slope and frequent sitings were a good indication that we could find shed antler. They bought in almost as easy as my beagle.
We looked for about 2 hours with no luck in a driving rain/thunder storm. Yes, we could easily have called it quits and cussed all the way home... but instead we came up with our new slogan... A Bad Day in the Woods, Beats Paying Someone to Let You Play Golf!
We finally made it to the top of the ridge and found something cool... sheds, No... The hurd of elk. It was great. 20+ elk within 200 yards, a turkey gobbling in the background and a rare "Hybrid Scaled/Gambel's Quail" (identified by my wildlife biologist) all within 5 minutes.
Then came the rain and killer lightning and we were on top of the ridge. Luckily, we did not suffer the same bad luck with the lightning that we had finding sheds... We are still alive.
My truck was covered top to bottom in mud and the dog slept for two days...
Sorry this is so long, but I did not feel like writing a full story for submission just yet.
Any pointers on finding sheds in an area full of burnt deadfall?
DC
