Ryker's First Shed Outing

This last Saturday Michael and I were luck enough to take my nephew Ryker Eberhart out for his first shed hunting experience.

 We were walking a property I have had the privilege of walking the last few years, courtesy of a family friend from church. This property has been one of few places I like to walk. I had a few goals in mind but went into this adventure open minded and looking forward to teaching Ryker about the woods and deer. The kid is a sponge and I love taking advantage of that.

We weren't 10 minutes in and Michael walks up to us with an antler in hand.

 We had literally just started and already had bone!
We walked around the adjacent area before moving on to the highest point of the property, and in a flood prone area, it has produced. I looked up and knew it was good bone before I could even get close.

I felt bad as I found this one before Ryker did but he is new to the game and with time will far surpass my abilities. As Michael and I were taking pics Ryker thought it would be a good idea if he walked around the area a little more just in case there were more. I could see the "fever" in his eyes!
Shortly after I found this one Ryker found his first* shed antler!

This was a decent bone that looked a lot like a shed I found near Big Marsh a few years back.
Now that the three of us each had a shed of our own it was time to get down to business. Ryker was on a mission and now he was unstoppable. He had learned so far that if he follows the trails, and finds deer poop, antlers should be around somewhere. We walked to the back side of the property before we found bone again. Again, I saw them well before Ryker. A 4 foot height advantage made the difference this time. Just after Ryker and I crossed the feeder creek I saw a glint of bone on the trail ahead.

As I knelt down to take the pic I notices another antler right next to it!

At this point Ryker convinced me that it would be a good idea if I gave him the little one so he could give it to his brother Daxton. He then carried it around for the next hour.
When we looped through the timber and ended up at the top where found the big one we stopped and took a snack break. I convinced Michael to double back and walk the field edge that neither of us had walked on the way in or out. Ryker and I enjoyed gatorade and oreos while we watched Michael come back with a small match set!

Ryker at this point was walking around again looking 'Just in case'.

We forged on ahead and covered a few neglected areas and came up with another, this one partially buried in the mud. This one was a Ryker solo bone. I was on the phone with Nick and I dropped my walking stick. I asked Ryker to hand it to me and all I got was "ANTLER!!!!"

When we got to the top of the hill again Ryker wanted to check and see if it was a match to any of the others. I said we should probably keep walking and we would check later. Ryker countered with "my legs are tired and I think I need a snack break". I looked at him and said,
"You just played the system didn't you? You know that in order to have a snack I have to empty the bag which means we will check the other antlers don't you?"
He played me like a fiddle...
We check and it was not a match but Michael set up for a photo with our days find. Ryker wanted lunch at this point so we called it a day as group.

We pulled a quick loop on the way out and headed back for the day. I met Ryker's mom Megan at the Allison Casey's and sent Ryker home with some bone! He even gave that little one to Daxton like he promised. Dax was a little confused as to what it was, but that will change. I promise.

We had not walked the other side of the creek with Ryker so Michael and I doubled back and hit up the hot spots. Not 15 minutes in I had found my first bone from that side of the creek.

We chased a huge herd of deer around but only came up with one more bone and it was a GIANT...

finger sized spike that Michael found. it was a hair bigger than my middle finger.

This ended our day with an all time high for single day at 10 sheds! I was beyond happy with the day and was even more happy to infect another one. As much as I want to take credit for it I want to thank Michael Parker as it was his idea to have Ryker tag along on the shed outing.



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Walk at 'Coleman's'

 Last Friday I got home with enough daylight to walk Coleman's. Michael was out walking with some other guys so it was just me and my sanctuary. Though I didn't find any sheds, it was great to walk the timber I have done so much work in. It is starting to show signs of serious improvement. I should have taken more photos but I was too preoccupied with it all. The first timber cut is now truly an impenetrable fortress. I can see there is so much more work to be done, but there was great to see that my work is showing progress. Though I found no bone I found something that made my entire walk out there. I have not stepped foot into the big timber for almost 2 years as last year it flooded and washed away some of the cuttings Michael and I planted along with some Virginia Pine. 4 years ago I planted 5 or 6 select spruce trees that were growing in a bucket of mulch behind the greenhouse at the Dike Farm.

Well, with flooding and such happening at Coleman's, I thought I lost all of them. Then I went back 2 years ago and found 3 still barely alive but marred bad by deer damage. Then last year it flooded bad again and I assumed they were toast.

I found two still alive and actually thriving.

This is a slow growing species to begin with, but it's doing well in the Grundy county soil.



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