The Other Side....

[Andyram_18]

Ive been Shed Hunting (I use that term loosely) for the last few years. I decided to spend a few days dedicated to elk last weekend. I went to an Limited Entry unit that has a high bull-cow ratio. I cow hunted this 2 seasons ago; and got a good idea of where the bulls go on their winter range. We stabbed into an area that looked good and had all of the right criteria. I stumbled upon this sweet brown side. We circled this area for 3 days. 3 of us gridded, glassed, and hiked our butts of to find the other side. We were unable to match him up. We searched the ENTIRE surrounding area. Id say a 1 mile diameter around where this shed lays! Above it, below it, north faces, south faces. Didnt matter, we looked. I taped up this side, IF his inside spread was 35", he is a 360" class bull

Id love to hear some other stories of GIANT elk sheds. I would love to hear some experience on how far these bulls will go with one antler. Just hoping to hear some good stories and have general conversation about matching up other setsHappy Hunting!

 

[Axlrod]

Nice find! Could be someone else found the other side, and spent little time looking for this one.

 

[TheTone]

I think every nice set of elk sheds I have were basically side by side. I’ve got hours over a couple years spent trying to match my biggest elk shed with no luck. It was in a nasty canyon so the other side could be there or maybe someone else has it. The one I have was pretty easy to find laying right in a trail. Still kinda bums me out I never matched it

 

[Andyram_18]

I think every nice set of elk sheds I have were basically side by side. I’ve got hours over a couple years spent trying to match my biggest elk shed with no luck. It was in a nasty canyon so the other side could be there or maybe someone else has it. The one I have was pretty easy to find laying right in a trail. Still kinda bums me out I never matched it

That makes me happy to hear.Guess im looking for some sympathy! I have 3 brown elk singles this year. No matches, and ive done some good mileage looking for them.

 

[Tony2000]

A couple of buddies and I found a 380 in. set that were almost 2 miles apart

 

[Nickofthewoods]

The biggest one I ever found was in a colorado otc unit at over 9,000 ft elevation behind my old house when I was just walking the dog one day. I measured it once and it would have scored 310 or so if the other side matched. It has a really cool droptine on it and I looked for the other side for hours to no avail. This was in early March in an obscure area that I don't think anybody had visited yet that spring based on lack of footprints in the snow and mud, so I think the elk either carried it a farther distance than I looked or I just didn't see it somewhere.

 

[Andyram_18]

A couple of buddies and I found a 380 in. set that were almost 2 miles apart

Tell me more??? Why do you think he went so far? What’ was the vegetation like? Water involved? Heavy snow that year?

And how did you find him? Just dumb luck and gridding?

 

[Tony2000]

Tell me more??? Why do you think he went so far? What’ was the vegetation like? Water involved? Heavy snow that year?

And how did you find him? Just dumb luck and gridding?

It was fairly open country there was plenty of water and there was maybe slightly more snow than normal. We had like 10 people searching and after we grid searched all the logical places close by we just split up and started wondering around so there was a lot of luck involved

 

[Grant K]

Back when there were not that many people out looking for sheds we matched up elk sets 4-5 miles apart a couple of times, usually just stumbled on the second side a couple of weekends later looking in an entirely different area, if an elk is moving when it sheds the first one it could be a long ways away before the second one goes...

 

[Andyram_18]

Back when there were not that many people out looking for sheds we matched up elk sets 4-5 miles apart a couple of times, usually just stumbled on the second side a couple of weekends later looking in an entirely different area, if an elk is moving when it sheds the first one it could be a long ways away before the second one goes...

Thanks Man. It just boggles my mind that those bulls will really go very far with one side. Especially in country with so much oak brush. Theres a good chance that it is buried in there somewhere close; but I feel confident that we covered the thick stuff well enough. Im down to 2 opinions, either someone else got him; or he did go a ways and dropped the other side. I guess I need to get back to the maps and start looking for areas he wouldve possibly gone to!

 

[jmez]

2 miles isn't far to an elk.

 

[Beendare]

My buddy James probably spends 300 days a yr in the woods scouting and guiding. He finds some massive sheds and posts the pics on his Instagram, James Fleming guiding