“It’ll be fun”, they said. “You’ll find lots of big antlers”, they said. “It’s easy”, they said. “It’s great exercise”, they said. “It can be frustrating as all hell”, they NEVER said…
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m sure “they” told you all sorts of things that sounded good. So, you thought, “What the heck, let’s give it a try”. Eight hours later you’re limping back to the truck with a wet pair of boots, blistered heels, and zero antlers in hand…MAN! Wasn’t that fun!?
Time for the truth. As I browse through all the unbelievable #ShedRally photos from the weekend, jealousy slowly and painfully seeps through my soul. . . Seriously, did everybody find a 150” matched set? Scroll, scroll…Oh, no, not everybody. . .this person found a hanger. A friggin’ hanger! Are you kidding me???
Here’s an awesome photo of a “hanger” found by @SilentObsessionOutdoors during the #ShedRally.
Why do all these people look so happy? Oh, it’s probably because they actually found something worth posting about. Meanwhile, the rest of us are drinking our sorrows away from yet another shed-less day. That’s the problem, you don’t see what those people who are on 20+ mile dry spells look like. What are they supposed to post to Instagram? A photo of themselves flipping double birds while standing in the middle of an empty field?
The truth is 80% of the time you’re mostly frustrated, confused, jealous, and ticked off while you’re shed hunting. Either you’re on the dry-spell of all dry-spells, your buddy found a shed on a property you took him to, or you’re simply just not finding any antlers in areas that you thought would be prime shed areas. Every shed hunter deals with it in different ways, but I’d have to call you liar if you haven’t had any of the following thoughts run through your head while shed hunting.
Thoughts after a buddy finds a shed…
“I knew I should have walked over there”
“Dude, you cut me off and took my trail”
“I saw you speed walking to get to the field first”
“You were looking in MY lane”
“It’s probably a giant”
“I’m pretty sure I saw it first, but whatever…”
“Why couldn’t that of been me”
“Damn, now I’m 3 sheds down”
“That’s the last time I’m inviting you to shed hunt on my property”
“Son of a %$^#@! Every time!”
“How did I miss that?”
“Your welcome.” -sarcastic
Thoughts when you aren’t finding anything…
“I don’t believe this”
“We should have pulled 10 sheds out of this (field, clump of pines, CRP, etc.)”
“Someone definitely beat us to them”
“Squirrels must have been hungry”
“Please Lord, let there be a shed under that cedar”
“This is dumb”
“Hmm, so far my average is 1 shed per every 15 miles walked”
“I wish I was in Kansas”
“Oh, this spot looks really good. There’s got to be a shed around here…nope”
“Maybe they’re all still holding their antlers yet”
“I wish I had infrared shed vision”
“Sheddd! Nope, just a stick”
Legendary fan @AubreyPhipps with two nice finds during #ShedRally!
Yup, I’d say a solid 80% of the time that’s what you’ll be thinking – unless you live in Kansas or Iowa of course. Sounds like a lovely activity, doesn’t it? Despite all this, it actually is. Somehow shed hunting has the addictive power equivalent to that of triple strength nicotine even when you’re not finding anything. The adrenaline that surges when you finally do find a shed can easily cancel out 10 hours of nothingness and negativity. It’s a beautiful thing, really. Once you start, you can’t stop. Soon, all of your days spent afield will be filled with highs and lows. Let’s just be glad we only remember the highs and that we can chalk up an empty trip as a great day spent outdoors.
