Beth emailed: “Hi Mike, we are looking at getting a shed hunting dog, just wondering how much they cost?”

Shedding season is fixing to crank up, so let’s help Beth out. Which breeds are best (most guys I know use Labs, like Robert’s pup pictured here, but I’m sure other dogs are popular)? How much would a pup from shed-hunting stock cost? Is there any such thing as shed-antler stock, or can you train any dog from good hunting stock to find and retrieve bone?

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If your season is still open, maybe you'll be one of the first bloggers to kill a big deer (or a doe) in 2009. Tell us what you're seeing this weekend--any sheds, maybe a one-antlered buck, late-rutting activity? For some of you Southern boys the rut is just cranking (MS and AL and parts of TX); if you kill one tell us and post the photo in the RUT REPORT.

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From this post at JR Absher's website:

The BIG DEER blog/website officially turns 1 tomorrow. Thanks for your awesome support, and we have big plans for 2009—contests, gear giveaways, more weekly debate topics, possible formation of a BIG DEER Hunt Team, more videos, etc. Tell us how to make the site bigger and better.

Here’s to a safe and prosperous 2009, may you shoot your biggest deer ever!

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Finally some good news out of Washington for hunters and shooters.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation and other guns and hunting organizations applaud Obama’s selection of Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) as Secretary of the Interior. "Sen. Salazar has a long record of supporting hunters," said NSSF President Steve Sanetti. "As Interior secretary, we are confident that he will continue to stand up for sportsmen's rights." Salazar was a supporter of the recent rule change allowing the lawful concealed carry of firearms in national parks. Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, the Colorado senator has consistently voted in favor of pro-hunting legislation as a tool of sound wildlife and game management.

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Cody blogged the other day: “Haven't found any sheds but a guy doing drives with us the other day shot what appeared to be a doe but when we got to the deer it was obviously a buck that had already dropped his antlers.”

This is no big deal, an honest mistake. But I use the anecdote to point out that bucks seems to be dropping their antlers earlier than usual in many areas, and lots more bone will fall off the bucks’ heads in the more usual shedding weeks of January and February, which are also times when late antlerless seasons are still open in many areas.

You don’t want to mess up, so doubly identify your target. Surely you won’t shoot a mature buck sans antlers, he would look too big, heavy and thick for a doe. But on younger bucks (1 to 3 years old) that might be mistaken for adult does, look close. Glass the head long and hard for bases where antlers might have been. Be doubly careful on long shots, or quick “drive shots” in the brush.

Come to wonder, how many of you have make the honest mistake of shooting an antlerless buck for a doe?

(Cool photo by Luke Strommen)

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Hope you had a great Christmas. If you're hunting this weekend, tell us how it's going. Any bucks moving? Any late rutting, sheds, etc.?

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Thanks to Robert from MO for sending along his shed-antler Christmas tree. It has become an annual tradition on BIG DEER. I posted his bone tree last year, but this one is bigger and heavier:

Mike: Just wanted to share some pictures of this year’s shed antler Christmas tree. Getting bigger than ever! Didn't even have room on top for the angel. Gonna have to find a bigger house with taller ceilings if I keep finding the sheds like I have been. Got the 93 sheds from last year added without any serious avalanches. You know, I never was much for decorating the Christmas tree, but since I figured out to do this with my shed antlers I look foward to it every year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you bloggers. Times are tough, but we'll get through it. Let’s be thankful for what we have. Kiss your wife, hug your kids, call your mom or dad, remember what’s important in life. God bless.--Mike Hanback

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Mike: I'm not gonna lie, I am very proud and impressed with my home state this year. Big bucks just seem to be everywhere. Well, here's another for ya. Shot in Jefferson Co. during second shotgun season.  I guess the landowner (maybe the girl’s dad?) passed on it last year during bow season because the left side was damaged. Props to him. What a buck! Good hunting, Jordan

Yes, banner year for the Hawkeye State, it has certainly cemented its reputation as #1 for BIG DEER. Way to go girl!

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Thanks to Rob Burnett, who works at Cabela’s and hunts along the North Platte River, for this guest blog about his totally wild 2008 Nebraska bow buck:

48 first appeared in 2006 with a radio collar and the 48 ear tag (cam pic 1). The game department thought he was dead because the collar stopped moving over the winter.

Two weeks later he showed up without the collar but very healthy.  He turned into a big 9 point in 07, growing a lot bigger than the previous year (cam 2).

The only shot we had of him in 07 was in late December and his tines were broken up. In 2008, he went back to an 8 point but grew some good mass. I almost had a shot on him in late October, but he escaped again, and others had some close encounters. Friday Nov 14th he finally gave me a shot at 8 yards. 

Rob is trying to get more information from the Fish and Game about what the purpose of the study was and how old the deer actually was. He believes he was 2½ when they first saw him with the collar. 

How cool is that?