Shed Hunting

[DeanoB]

When is the earliest time to go looking for sheds, I have heard february. Is there a best time to go out, and are there certain features in a woods to look for to increase success? Meaning should i look along the scrape line, or just in a bedding area or what? Any info would be much appreciated, this is something that i would like to do in early spring with my 3 sons, if weather is condusive.

[sticknstring]

Bedding areas and feeding areas and the transitions in between. I wouldn't start your search before the middle of February.

[realtower]

In Jan. I put out corn feeders with bungee cords that the deer have to put there head through so when I go shed hunting I dont look far.

[Meat-Run]

Realtower,

That almost sounds unfair or cheating.

[Scott M]

There's a new book out on the subject by Joe Shead. Got a chance to meet and interview him and he knows his stuff. He's also good at answering emails. You might give him a try if you want to dig a little deeper.

[Shack]

Thats a good idea.

[surewood]

I've always found mine by following deer trails from feeding areas. I wait until the snow is almost gone. In this area it's usually a clear cut I find some deer trails and start walking. The best I have ever done is find two left sides of tens and a spike buck all with in forty yards of each other last spring. One measured just over sixty inches to. This year I found both sides of the one that measured over sixty inches from the year before. Then I found the left match to the other ten which now is a big deer. Have'nt had it measured yet but I'd say it will go between 65 and 70 inches. Found them seperated about a mile away from each other this year bowhunting this fall. I'm yet to see either of these deer though.

[jlm]

Best time to look is March or later and just after a good thaw or later when the snow is about gone (early Spring). If you begin to look too early, you will have to retrace your steps as many of the deer have not dropped yet and may drop where you have already looked. If you have a lot of ground to cover, I would recommend waiting until you know all the deer have dropped! Feeding areas like left over beans or corn is the gold mine. Good luck!

[realtower]

Im sorry meat-run Im giving away all your secrets

[blue_healer_guy]

We found 1 shed last weekend pheasant hunting, 7 pts. Definately last years, must be no hungry critters.

[icepirate]

my brother just shot(what he thought was a doe) yesterday he already lost his horns. big surprise when u go to guttin

[shedfreak]

I also recommend the book by joe shead. He's a friend of mine and we live in the same city. I received my copy at the beginning of shed season and had by far my most succesful year, and in the most competitive areas. his website is www.goshedhunting.com Its also available on ebay if you want to email him, his email is [email protected] Hes a super nice guy, and knows what hes talking about. I started mid march last year, reason being is we had about 4 feet of snow until then, and all of a sudded 50 degree weather. It was uncommon to come out of the woods empty handed! This year Im startin early though, got my eye on a certain few deer id like to have. Im startin the first of the year. Its never too early to start walking, you might get lucky, and the upside to not finding anything is that you develop a pattern of the deer. The snow makes it easy to see where the deer have been traveling all winter and where the bedding areas are. I did a lot of Winter scouting . It really paid off. Check out the book for real. I havent used this site for anything else but posting shed pictures and trail cam pics. I got a little excited when I saw a shed post! Hope to see a lot of pictures this year. Last years thread was AWESOME!!

SHEDFREAK32

[shedfreak]

in response to the antlerless buck post.... Id get out in the woods and try to find those antlers if I was you. Also I received a tip from a taxidermist who had a guy bring in 2 bucks to get mounted, and I was told that both of the racks had already begun to seperate from the skull. The shedding process was in full affect, so it could be early this year!! Deer are weird that way, as a shed hunter I wish they would all drop them within a month of each other, unfortuantely it doesnt work that way. I have heard them dropping as early as november and I myself have seen bucks carrying both sides into MAY, so its a guessing game, each deer is different. has nothing to do with the antler size whatsoever. I got the itch, anyone else?

Im what you could call a little bit obsessed with this!

[brassman]

I hunt in some of the most competitive sheding areas in minnesota so I am out there from the middle of february till whenever and I sometimes walk the same trails two days in a row. I rarely find sheds off of trails. I concentrate on the trail and 5-10 yards on either side. Walk any and every trail that way you can know the area well and know your not missing anything. Also like others have said, feeding areas are key.

[Shoot2Kill]

The best tip that nobody has posted here yet - walk, walk, walk, and walk some more. My moddo is "walk till your hips bleed". You just have to find that first one, then it seems as if they come easier for some reason. Good luck to you!

[shedfreak]

found my first fresh one today, a small 3 point side. It was laying right in a bed. It was smokin fresh, blodd still on the bases. In my opinion, its never too early to start. I also found a dead buck that had already shed his antlers.

Heres a few pics from todays expedition..

[MNpurple]

Yesterday my dad found a matched set from an 11 pointer, laying right next to each other right next to a fence. They were a little bloddy as well. The best thing was that they had 11.5 inch G2s so barring somethign happening this winter, a good one for next year.

[brassman]

man this is really early. I never reallt find anything until february I may go out in a few weeks but I won't expect to find anything.

[EatSleepFish]

Hey if you have a mindset that you won't find anything, you probably won't. Got to be positive, that way you'll look harder, farther and longer for one of natures treasures that are pretty hard to find in the first place...

[jlm]

Anytime we have heavy snowfall early, they will begin to drop earlier than usual. Great find and great pic!

[solocam]

A freind of mine found a 130 class 8 pointer in this area two weeks ago on his food plot.

[shedfreak]

there are early droppers and late droppers every year. Evein in the mild winters, people have picked them up in november, and in the harshest have seen deer carrying them into April. Each deer is different. Personally I usually wait until Late February, or early march to go out, BUT Ive gotten more and more addicted and thats why im out now looking. Im not only trying to beat my tally from last year but,also try to find a shed in each of the 12 months of the year. Not neccesarily in the SAME calendar year though. I have 3 months left outta the 12. And one of them is coming up... JANUARY, and after that, i need July and August. Setting little goals like that gives me some incentive to keep walking at times where you are unsuccesful. Ive scouted all year and know whats out there and where theyre at, so thats all th eincentive i need.

Lets try and get this post even bigger than last year

[brassman]

here is a shed I got last year, just something to get the blood boiling.

here is a comparison from the year before, only seem to get his left antlers.

that is my best to date. can't wait to get out there. Saw a big buck near lake superior with both antlers still. I totally agree with shedfreak. The buck that carried the sheds above doesn't drop until mid march, march 17 for the smaller one, march 9th for the big one. I have also found others burried in snow in mid january, so each buck drops at a different time, usually the same time each year.

[shedfreak]

yeah that gets the blood boiling id say. I saw 3 nice bucks in the ice by the blatnik yesterday, one was REAL nice, bigger than the one you posted pictures of. Do you have your own land to walk on? Just curious , i know its hard to get sheds off the same deer year to year while your competing with other walkers in the woods. I havent gotten lucky enough to get the same buck yet, but ive got a lot of chances this year knowing how many diff sheds I found this last spring. I did get some trail cam pics of some of the bucks I have sheds off of though. I thought id post a picture of my biggest find so far... hard to beat, but im not givin up hope. This ONE side scored 85 7/8 inches!!! I have pictures of this buck and i have the SMALL side, the other side will for sure go 90, then figure in the spread.... your lookin at a 195 class deer!!!

ENJOY!!! im also posting a picture of the deer in velvet actually carrying the rack that I have the shed from... too obad i couldnt find the other side!!! And then the last couple pictures are of a dead buck I found this year while looking for some early sheds!! Kind of a cool rack.. 3 main beams.

[brassman]

No I walk all public that is all taped off for development, unfortunately. The particular buck I have the sheds from happens to come around my house right before he sheds and then drops close by, the smaller shed I saw and talked to the guy with the other side. I didn't tell him I had the other side but he was only a dog walker that saw the one side drop. The buck had traveled about 1/2 mile before dropping the other side 100 yards from my house. I have never found a complete set however the competition around here is thick. I am going to try and go to a really secluded spot on a clear cut north of Duluth once the snow starts to melt. only gone around my house.

[shedfreak]

I only walk public land as well. Its really competitive. I cant believe how many people look for sheds. Where I grew up I was the only one! As the year went on last year like in late april and may i went to more "secluded" spots as well , still public land, but I felt confident that nooone else or very few people had probably walked it. I did end up finding a few, i actually got my biggest matched set of the year in May on public land. I was so confident that I didnt even look for the other side until a few days later. I knew it was out there but knew noone else would be out there. and sure enough about 200 yards away I found it. Probably about a 130 8 pointer. I found a lot of big singles though, that scored 60 inches or better. Its harder than it should be to find matches but outta 29 last year i only matched up 3, so thats 23 that I didnt... I dont think I missed them, i just figure they were picked up by other shedders. I watched a group of 3 bucks yesterday with both sides and they were definitely not ready to shed. They were rubbin trees and sparring a little bit. I watched them for like 20 minutes just waiting for one to fall off, but no such luck. When is this snow going to stop? Deoesnt make for very good walking

[shedfreak]

thought id post a picture of the matched set I mentioned in my previous post, not monsterm but its always nice to find a match. The small shed in the middle was also found in that secluded area. Still trying to figure out how I found that one, only a few inches long! My smallest shed ever! Anyways, here is the picture..You can see on the base that I always date my sheds with a sharpie. Well ive dated all but one... the 86 incher, didnt want to write on that one!! You can read the writing on the shed on the left, It reads 5-4-07 The other side wasnt written on yet because i had JUST got it home.

[EatSleepFish]

May the force be with you shedhunter! Ha, I like the lightsaber in the side of your last pic. Nice sheds also.

[shedfreak]

haha yeah i have a little 3 year old shed hunter at home...

[jlm]

Another really good tip for shed hunting is to watch for areas where there are controlled buns. CRP fields, meadows, etc. The sheds stand out pretty well and are easy to spot! Good luck all!