The Hunting Times

We had a nice warm 18 F (-8 C) on a fine Saturday morning in February.  The bonus?  The wind was only 3 mph.  So me, Alex, and Davey loaded up our shotguns & a cooler of beer and headed for the woods to try and catch us some bunnies. We started at 0800 and drove toward Marshall's S farm.  We saw four deer on Gas Line Rd en route.  Upon arrival, due to the large amount of snow we had received, there was no place to park.  We drove S, turned around, and there was deer #5 standing in the road we had just traveled.  It ran E into Marshall's.  When we got to the spot where the deer had crossed the road, I spotted half a shed antler sitting along side the road.  Very recent drop or the snow plows would have pushed it off the road.  Of course I got out and picked it up. I would have lost a major bet that bucks would be dropping their antlers this early.  Sure, they can drop them at any time from Jan - Mar, but the best time to shed hunt around here is March, not mid-February.  The

 It was a cold, blustery day on 13 FEB here in central Indiana with snow covering everything.  Just such a day that coyotes would be out in search of food.  It was 17 F (-8 C) with a NE wind blowing at 12 mph.  So it felt like it was 4 F (-15 C).  Nice... Michael, Alex, and I headed W from the farm toward the ditch in hopes of calling coyotes from the W and NW.  No such luck.  As we walked in, we jumped 2 coyotes that promptly ran NW, staying in-line of houses or the highway the entire time.  In other words, we had no shots. We drove S on County Line, across the interstate, to another location.  'Twas a square woods that had produced 'yotes during the trapping season, but still had activity (sightings and tracks).  We called there to no effect.  However, we did see pheasant tracks.  That was exciting! From there we drove over to Manson.  As we walked in, we again saw 2 coyotes running NW, away from us.  They were so far away and moving so fast that there was no shots regardless