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Shed Hunting Adventures
 The popularity of shed hunting during the off-season has absolutely gone off the charts in recent years. Today, a high a percentage of modern-day hunters and deer managers make at least some attempt to look for the shed antlers from the bucks they’ve been hunting and admiring. Some have gotten passionate and even obsessive about finding sheds. Numerous hunters and non-hunters alike now spend a considerable amount of time each spring searching for those elusive treasures. I know dozens of avid hunters who regularly find 20 to 30 sheds a year. I also know a number of “fanatical” shed hunters who, having been bitten by the incurable shed hunting bug, regularly find up to several hundred sheds a year!
Some of the more “slightly touched” shed hunters I know spend upwards of 100 days each year in late winter and spring searching for sheds. Many of these hard-core shed hunters spend more time looking for sheds than they do hunting for the bucks that once owned them. Others have stopped hunting deer with a rifle or bow altogether. Their passion for hunting and collecting sheds far outweighs their desire to hunt the actual animal itself. Still others don’t find much time to hunt for sheds but they collect them nonetheless, just as certain people collect any other type of fine art.
I’ve seen houses in Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Texas and many other places that were literally filled to the brim with shed antlers from local whitetails. I’ve also seen a few private collections of world-class sheds that are absolutely astounding. Most of the sheds in these vast collections are single sides; some are matched sets. In a few cases, collectors have acquired four or five sets of world-class antlers from the same buck. Some of these antlers have sold for unbelievable amounts of money. In short, the once simple pastime of shed hunting and collecting has gone off the charts in recent years!
WHERE TO LOOK
Where do the experts go to look for sheds? An excellent place to start is around late season food sources like soybeans, standing corn, oats and winter wheat. No matter where you search, be sure to obtain permission from the landowner. If you’re shed hunting on public land, make sure you obtain all necessary permits if any are required.
Plan well. Start your shed hunting as soon as the deer drop their antlers, weather permitting. To find out when it’s happening in your area, observe local deer in the evenings from strategic vantage points, and ask landowners what they are seeing. Trail cameras can be a huge help as well.
Since standing corn also provides excellent shelter for deer in late winter, be sure and search the corn row by row. Oftentimes the ground will be wet and some of the downed corn stalks will be the same yellowish color as some stained antlers, so search carefully and methodically. In other more open food plots, search the fields themselves, but also search carefully along the edges. Search thoroughly the grassy or brushy areas along fence lines surrounding fields (or food plots) that deer either crawl under or jump over because these areas are great hotspots for finding sheds. Antlers can be jarred loose when a heavy bucks jumps over a fence, or they can sometimes be loosened when a buck is climbing under or through the fence. Once a big buck loses one antler, he’ll often try to dislodge the other antler by knocking it against a tree or on some other hard object because he doesn’t like the lop-sided feeling of having only one antler on his head.
Once you have searched the fence lines and/or grassy areas surrounding fields, backtrack all well-used trails that lead to bedding areas back in the woods. With a little snow on the ground these trails are easy to spot. While does and family groups most commonly use the main trails, mature bucks often use secondary trails a few yards to the side of the primary trails. Even without snow on the ground, most well used trails are fairly easy to follow. Keep an eye out for antlers on the trails themselves but also look to both sides of trails and in nearby low-hanging vines or brush one to two feet off the ground.
These trails will eventually lead to well-used bedding areas. Be sure to pay careful attention to bottlenecks and funnels that bucks may travel through on their way to bedding areas. Bucks spend a good bit of their time bedded down and resting in late winter and antlers are often dropped in or near these sanctuaries. Obviously your chances of finding sheds increase dramatically when you locate and search those areas where bucks spend most of their time.
TARGET CORE BEDDING AREAS
 Ordinarily, you wouldn’t dare go into these areas during hunting season for fear of running your dream buck off the property, but you can get away with it once or twice in late winter or early spring, as he’ll have many months to let things return to normal. Try to target properties where hunting pressure has been the lightest. Also target known sanctuaries, whether they are just a few acres or many acres, where bucks have been relatively undisturbed.
Keep in mind that during cold, bitter weather, bucks often bed in more open areas where they can benefit directly from the heat of the sun. This often means in high grass that protects them from brutal winter winds. If you have a lot of grassy areas on your property and suspect that some mature bucks are using these areas to bed in, a good shed dog will be worth his weight in gold because he can often scent the shed antlers from as far as 20 to 30 yards away. In addition, a dog can scent sheds that are hidden under snow, leaves, grass or other heavy cover that you may not be able to see.
Pay careful attention to bottlenecks and funnels on well-used trails that lead to and from bedding and feeding areas. Look for and search secondary trails and the thicker areas that these trails often follow. Pay special attention to brush, thickets and tangles of vines that may be several feet off the ground. It pays to train your eyes to always be on the lookout for any white or slightly stained object that could be an antler, both on the ground and a foot or two above the ground level.
In rolling, hilly terrain, bucks also like to bed on southern slopes just below the tops of steep ridges that overlook creeks or small valleys, especially in late winter. Here they are exposed to the warmth of the sun’s rays and they are protected from harsh north winds. Look for beds located about one-fourth of the way down the ridge from the top. I have personally found a number of matched pairs of sheds from mature bucks in such places. Also check out grassy fields and knolls that may be used as bedding areas and wind shelters, and cedar/juniper thickets.
Another good place to look for sheds is along streams, backwater areas or on the edges of small ponds or tanks where bucks go to drink. Sometimes jumping over a stream or small ravine will jar an antler loose, and bucks often will loosen an antler when they bend down to drink.
In northern regions where deer tend to yard up in times of severe weather and/or deep snow, check out ravines and other areas that form natural shelters from the wind and snow that may serve as deer yards. Often these yarding areas are shed antler gold mines!
TRAIN YOUR EYES TO SPOT SHEDS
Just as avid hunters train themselves to always be on the lookout for deer whenever they are in the woods, shed hunters do the same thing. With a little determination and practice, you can train your eyes to always be scouring the terrain around you for the tell-tale tip of an antler tine or beam in the leaves or snow. As mentioned, start shed hunting as soon as you know the deer in your area are dropping their antlers. Although small rodents can certainly find and chew tines off these antlers almost as quickly as they are dropped, in today’s whitetail world you’re also competing with thousands of other shed hunters. In some cases, shed “thieves” see nothing wrong with trespassing on private or posted property and stealing the sheds that rightfully belong to others. So plan your strategy carefully and try to get out there ahead of the crowds. Beat the weekend warriors by planning some of your shed hunts on weekdays.
Hunting for and finding sheds is indeed a magical experience. With humans it borders on something that is primeval. It goes back to our deepest roots. No one ever said it was easy and most shed hunters spend at least several hours of hard hunting for every shed found. It’s both difficult and challenging, but the rewards are huge, because antlers really do fall into the category of being an art form. No two are alike. Each is different and unique to itself. You can add another dimension to your shed hunting adventures by including your family, and with the addition of other family members and man’s best friend as well, your shed hunting exploits will turn into unforgettable memories. You’ll also find more sheds than you ever dreamed about. So do you a favor – grab the family and go enjoy some fabulous adventures!
Posted by
Duncan Dobie on 08/01 at 01:51 AM
Tecomate Tips •
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