Monday 19 January 2015

I scored twice today!

Actually, three times! After long walkies, we found two antlers right on our property. Then, I found another two. Buster and Daisy went with me. There was a lot of blood from the shedded antlers.

Elevation
It was a long walk through the wetland. It is lovely and peaceful. Another lesson. Forest bathing at the end, where I found the sheds close to home!

Buster and Daisy were troopers, marching along the path. I was following the deer trail, trying to track the bloody trail, hoping to find a shed. We walked and walked! I had my GPS with me. Surprisingly, we were up hill and down dale.

 I found the sheds in the lower left, then headed straight back to the house -upper left green track.
The green trail was our path Sunday.
Rabbit and squirrel tracks, coyote, too. My pair were happy to find a mouse under the snow. Buster didn't catch it, though. Not this time.
On my trail, I found two spots were trees have fallen and made a big X! It's tricky following the deer trail, as they are about waist height to me, and I look down, watching the track, and forget to watch for branches. There was a spot, beside a sort of island in the wetland, where I could see water!
There were a lot of deer beds, where they've scraped away the snow and bedded down.
In the first photo, Buster walked right beside the trailcam, but didn't set it off. I was surprised.

How to score antlers

Brow Tine: It is the first tine from the base. First is brow, then G1, G2, G3, etc.
The one in the 2nd and 3rd photos on the right is a 4pt. sheds. The other one looks to be a 3pt. To be classed as a 'point', a tine must be at least 2.5cm (1") long.




Back at the house. Buster had hunkered down for a nap. Daisy and I went outside to work on the Horse chestnut tree, wrapping it to prevent the woodpeckers from taking apart the bark. I found antler #4! There was a lot of blood. We went for another walk down below and found a tree with a hollow centre, woodpecker shavings around it, too. Daisy loves the smells.

7 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Great finds, Jen! Happy Monday!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Quite the outing, that one! Will the antlers be mounted and create a wall sculpture? YAM xx

Hilary said...

I didn't realize that they bleed when they lose an antler. I guess it's kind of like losing baby teeth, eh?

Great finds for you though. Frank is hoping to find one around here so that he can have a place to hang his hats. :)

Powell River Books said...

Now I know what you meant by your comment about looking for antler sheds. I though you were looking for a place for them to get out of the weather near your feeders. Silly me! We have deer, but with all our rocky bluffs none ever come near us. - Margy

Kay said...

How exciting to find the antlers. If they're left out, does it just biodegrade? If there's so much blood, I wonder if it hurts to shed the antlers.

William Kendall said...

Your trio appear to all be from the same side of the heads. My mother had one that she would hang a Christmas ornament off of in December.

Jenn Jilks said...

@Yam - I don't know what I'm going to do with them. Yet.
@Hilary - I'm thinking I should tie a string around the last antler!
@Kay - the get chewed by other critters: porcupines, coyote, wolves.
@Willima - I don't know why I have 3 lefts!