Jerry is an avid shed hunter who has been shed hunting in upstate New York for several years. Along the way he has picked up between 130-140 sheds. A fair number of those sheds have scored 60" or better and a few even reached the 70" mark!

Last February Jerry was out shed hunting when he came across two sheds over 60" and a right side scoring 73". By the end of his shed hunting excursions last season Jerry had found 17 sheds with six scoring between 60" and 74", it was a good year to say the least. Well this season Jerry made sure to get out a little early and here is what happened:

I made my first tramp very early this year. It was more of a scouting session than it was searching for sheds. I was looking very hard but only around the fringes as it's a bit early for the drop in my best spot. I eventually worked my way over to the vicinity of where I found my 73-74" best ever shed last February, also on my first outing. I was encouraged by the obvious signs of use by one or more large bucks - huge tracks, rubs and big beds in the snow. This is where these bucks come out of a very wet swamp and stage before entering the fields for feeding. 

I carefully walked the area out thoroughly but was discouraged because there was enough fresh snow just fallen to cover just about anything that might have dropped recently - not ideal conditions. I was about to give up and move to the next spot of interest when I noticed 2 tines protruding from the snow about 15 feet away. One was about 1" and the other was less than that. Experienced shed hunters will understand that sometimes this is all there is to see and if you see it you may grab the brass ring but if your eye is not trained by hours and years of shedding, you probably wouldn't notice it. 

I grabbed the end of the antler and tugged - heavy. Tugged harder and finally out popped a heavy antler carrying 7 points. I have pretty much determined it's been on the ground since last winter and is the match to the jumbo shed I found about 60-70 yards away last February.

The frustrating and ironic thing is that I tramped that area very thoroughly last spring after the snow was off and did not find that antler. Yet I come back a year later and notice a 1" tine tip sticking out of the snow. That's shed hunting. I guess I have to be happy I finally did get it to complete what is a very impressive set. The one I found this season is the stronger side and rough scores at 88" gross.

The missing antler I just found is in my left hand (deer's left antler). It has a 27" main beam, G-2 at just under 12", circumferences from 4 7/8" to a bit over 5" and a nice double brow. The original side found last year has only 3 points on the beam but both the G-2 & G-3 are right at 12".