MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

I read in the recent Bugle Magazine that the older the buck the more likely they are to not lose their antlers at the same time. They will drop one and then it may be a few days or even a couple weeks before they lose the other side. This has been a big problem for me finding both sides of larger antlers so it definatly makes sence. We have a buck that with a similar side with score 207 that we never have found the other side and many others in the 180's that the other side seemed to have disappearded. I know that no one else has hunted the same area before because of it's location so that option is out. Any ways I was just wondering if this statement from Bugle makes since to you or not?

What was there rational behind the theory? They had none?? If so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I've find small ones with only one side also, I think it's more random that anything else.

I think that every buck is an individual. Its very easy for a buck to move several hundred yards in one hour or stay in the same bed in that same hour. I think its just a matter of luck wether or not the buck looses his antler in the same spot as the other antler. I've watched plenty of Muley Madness video's showing Ryan Hatch pick up matched sets from giant mature bucks that are very close and many times almost on top of each other. So no, I feel that there is no credability to that assumption by Bugle magazine. fatrooster.

I agree, every buck is an individual. and its nature, it just happens whenever

Hey... "shed happens" I don't think size matters! It's a random thing.

Hey Pram, I like that, "shed happens," ha ha. fatrooster.

I'm of the same opinion as others on this subject. I am lucky enough to watch many big bucks on a daily basis and my observations have been both. Both being.. I've found and witnessed large bucks shedding both antlers at the same exact moment where both antlers fall within feet of each other, on multiple occassions. I've also found one shed dropped and then witnessed that buck carry the other side for days and up to one full week before shedding the other side, sometimes up to 1/2 mile away from the location of the first shed.

Go figure....

Over the last few years I have found myself hunting for individual bucks more and more. In the past I generally sat there hoping a nice buck would walk by my location. Now I have a handful of bucks that I'm expecting to encounter in my setups. Intimately knowing your hunting ground and its resident deer population is the key to this method. Now this is not as easy as it sounds. It takes hours upon hours of scouting, shed hunting, prepping trees, trimming access routes, and gathering information to be successful. It is also helpful to have multiple hunting locations; public, HAPland, private lands. This isn't a reality for most hunters, but I think it can be with a little extra time and effort. Here is a break down on how I track down individual bucks through out the year to hunt during the season. It all starts the day the hunting season ends.