Shed Antlers

[Code-Man]

Went this weekend covered a lot of ground no sheds. River was too flooded to get to a good chunk but lots of sign.

[tracker x-2]

I went out and got my trail cam and to my suprise there was a basket eight holding on to his antlers yet. no sheds for me

[lungdeflator]

I put out a couple cameras last thursday to see what was going on. I have put in close to 20 hours this year so far, all seemed to be in good areas too. Still have nothing to show for it. I am glad that this rain is getting rid of the snow though!

[Musky Buck]

Still some bucks in the area with full headgear, when Spring unleashes an early melt down, it makes shed hunting tough because where they were a week ago they have abandoned with racks on head yet a bunch of them. Needed a couple weeks of gradual thawing, didn't get it this spring. Good Luck guys and they are out there, the matching set I found Saturday still had bloody bases on the white part. Stumbled on a huge shed, but it was old and weathered, missed it the year before unfortunately.

[lungdeflator]

What does the snow cover look like in your areas? I havent had much time to look into the woods lately but from what I have seen the rain did not do that much for melting snow in the woods in the Bemidji area.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Down here in Burnsville its almost gone. If not all gone.

[jkcmj]

I found my 9th antler yesterday, no chews, full wax ring and decent color. Still plenty of time to get them, although the majority I have found are chewed up now by the squirrels.

[shedfreak]

I found a couple more since last time I was on here, up to 20 on the year... I have seen 3 bucks with both sides and 3 half racks in the last week, so its about as the same as every other year. december sheds, and racks into April. I havent been out for about 5 days now, so ill be hitting it hard tomorrow. Private ground for once! So far everything has been public, which explains my one matched set out of 20 antlers!!! Again, pics to come... i said end of the year, but the thread seems empty without al the pics like in the past 2 years, wish i didnt lose my camera. So ill apologize beforehand for the low quality images. All cell phone pics.

Keep at em, plenty to be had yet!

[shedfreak]

Well its been another good year....so far. 2 years ago, I was consistently picking them up, last year, i started off super hot and cooled off. This year started a little later than last year, january 14th I picked up my first shed. Its been another consistent year up until now. I havent had many shed "droughts" like I went through last year. Ive done things a little differently this year. I used to hit as many different spots as I could because of the competition. This year I went into a lot of areas early when 90% were still packing to find the highly concentrated areas of bucks. I found a few spots I wanted to make the majority of my walks in. It worked out well, 14 out of my 20 sheds came out of 2 places! The areas I was in were big chunks of land, but by scouting, I made the woods smaller. I eliminated the spots where I was sure there would be no antlers. I havent done well on sets like last year, but thats the way it works on public land.

Im gonna post a pic finally for everyone. Its a partial group shot for the year. Im not sure how many are on the table, but its for 4 guys. There is also 40 sheds missing, not pictured. I will get a pic of the season total when the season is over. The biggest one on the table tapes out at 79 and the 2nd is 72.

Its pretty impressive, but like I said, theres 40 not even there!!

[shedfreak]

The season total is about 100, give or take a couple. thats for 8 of us.

[jkcmj]

Here is a photo of my 9th antler. I also shoot pics of other interesting finds in the woods. Attached is an old manure spreader I came across.

[Musky Buck]

Hey way cool and nicely done, I wish the bucks in my area shed in mid-January, we still have full racked bucks running around, a few left anyway. I tried January, February, nothing, TCam early March they still had racks, but their was 1 buck who had shed and that was the start about March 3rd. So last weekend looked for a bit and found a set. Since it cooled down should get 1 last weekend in the swamp before water takes it over. It would make things much easier if they shed earlier, the snow would make it tougher, but at least they'd be antlerless. Good Luck finding some more.

[Musky Buck]

Quick Shed ?. You know how hear/say goes. I've heard that once antler 1 comes off, someone said the buck will try to get the 2nd one off, but seeing some 1 horned bucks around it doesn't seem they are too concerned or trying to get it to fall off. Then I wondered with the set I found last saturday, they were laying about 20 feet apart on a trail, not a bedding area so is there any truths out there about that or is it just when it happens it happens and the deer don't worry about it or maybe with a heavier racked buck it feels awkward to them ? Just wondering.

[certified jumbo]

Awesome antlers guys!! Great pics too!!

That just blows my mind how some bucks drop early and some hold as late as april? It seems to me bucks that live in cities or heavily people populated areas hold thier headgear longer. My buddy who lives in Fridley, says almost all bucks still sport thier headgear and thats normal for their. As mentioned in earlier posts, the deer in my area dropped so early this year, and they all seemed to drop within days of each other. I can't handle waiting any longer for the snow to melt and get back out, i've been stuck on 18 for a long time. Can anyone tell me how much snow is left in the woods in duluth, cloquet and carlton areas. I don't want to go up if there is still a lot of snow.

I'm sure shed freak will have a better answer for you musky, but in our findings most antlers we find we don't have the matches to and we look on all privated land. We have found matched sets along ways away from each other. We have only found 4 matching sets where they layed right next to each other.

Good luck and keep looking.

cj

[Musky Buck]

Thanks CJ, I have Fridley friends to and many antlered bucks still coming almost daily still to there bird feeder area. In my area, we are not close to much civilization, it would be east ottertail county would describe it best. Hope to get 1 last weekend in my swamp where I found the matching set last weekend, but had a theory and tried elsewhere, but the deer had moved also so back to take every trail I can, good luck guys, MB

[B. Amish]

Do you guys find bucks bedding with the does at this time of year, or are they secluded by themselves? Are they back in bachelor groups?

I rarely find a shed laying in beds. I'm wondering if I'm looking in bedding areas that are does only for the most part and the bucks are somewhere else.

[jkcmj]

The bucks I have found do bed seperate. I find all my antlers in the same areas usually in the bedding areas. The does will use other beds and those never have antlers year after year. To much coincidence for it to happen that way all 4 years I've checked some of these areas.

[shedfreak]

In response to bucks knocking one antler off after they shed the first side. Yeah they do do that....sometimes, but its not always right away. Ya never know when they start to get annoyed with it, or even why they knock them off in the first place. Ive seen some side by side sets where it was quite evident that the buck had "normally" shed one antler, and proceeded to walk 10 yards to the nearest tree, and knocked the other one off. They sometimes use their back legs to get em off too, and this goes for yearling bucks and mature bucks. In some cases you can look at a shed and determine if it was shed or if it was intentionally knocked off. The ones that have gotten knocked off usually have what I refer to as a " bone spur" on part of the pedicle. I wish that meant the match was nearby, but it rarely does. It could just be from light sparring too.

In response to "city deer" holding onto their antlers longer, I dont buy into that at all. I am mainly in urban settings, and pick them up in December, there have even been shed bucks shot during bow season here . Its one of those questions like the chicken on the egg. There is just no correct theory to why some shed late and some shed early... The only theories i DO buy into are stress on the body and that each buck sheds around the same time every year, ie.) A buck that shed dec.15th one year will shed the next year within 2 weeks of when he shed the year before.

But going on the city setting and big woods setting, I dont believe it comes into play at all.

Bucks bedding together/bachelor groups... Yes and no, I definitey have learned bucks tend to bachelor up so to speak, but it doesnt always mean that there are no does around them. The deer up here anyways, north, tend to "yard up" so you have the whole herd in one specific area of the woods.

Snow on the ground in cloquet and duluth. Flat ground has a pretty good crusty base, deep in spots, south slopes have litte to none, hope that helps.

[hound32]

i have a question here. this past fall i shot a 140 inch 10 pointer and the previous spring we found a nice set of sheds from a 10 pointer. we think they are the sheds from the one i shot this fall since they look ALOT alike but the one i shot only had 1 inch brow tines on each side and the sheds we found had 5 to 6 inch brows. Could the sheds be from the deer i shot? do they grow alot bigger brow tines some years then small ones the next?

[stick]

Hound32...I'm amazed at the changes that can occure from year to year on the same deer. This past Friday, I was at a business location that almost has a pet deer. There is some fenced in acreage, and this buck comes and goes as he pleases, but is mostly on-campus. They have pix of 4.5 years of this deer's life and the last 3 years of sheds. The racks are recognizeable, but there are definite differences from year to year. Some sticker points that change from year to year.

[lungdeflator]

Found my first one of the year on Friday! Just a little 4 point side, but awesome still the same. I have put in over 23 hours of looking in so far this year, all on public land and have only found the one. With more snow being predicted for this week, the weather mans walkin on the fightin side of me.

[Musky Buck]

Thanks Shedfreak, good information and it really makes sense especially that burr thing, got a couple last year that I thought looked like they were forced off, you may have just provided the answer to that, thanks again, MB PS. The bucks in my area seem to spend time together away from the does and fawns according to my T-CAM from this spring, but that would vary from place to place and according to snow depths and how tough the winter is, it does seem that lets say a doe and 2 fawns, seems like mom will tolerate her son hanging around as a buck with sister as long as he stays in line, a few t-cam showed doe,young buck and doe fawn together, little family circle.

[jkcmj]

I found an great April fools on the 1st. I came across this nice looking antler sticking out of the creek bed.

Then after some digging and tugging the rest of this 160 inch monster surfaced! Looked to have been dead a couple years with some heavy chewing, but mostly intact!

[PerchJrkr]

HA HA you dont even know the meaning of heavy chewing! Look at this matched set from last weekend and a few of the other finds of the year so far..

i have trail cam pics of this deer all year long and im guessing it would be less than 2" of deductions..

[PerchJrkr]

boy... why does this never work for me...

[jkcmj]

PerchJrkr, you have to use the bottom code on photobucket that is labeled IMG Code and copy it, then paste in the email just as it appears.

[PerchJrkr]

Thanks, seems like I need a refresher course about every 6 months or so... lol. But i just did an official count, and Im sitting right around 25 for the year so far!!

[Musky Buck]

Can I use that one Perch, official count was right around 25. Meaning to my wife I'll officially be home right around midnight, leave a bit of gray area. Nice sheds and do you think it's mice, squirrels, and chipmunks that chew on them or a combination of the 3 or do a certain animal nibble on them more than another ?

[PerchJrkr]

ha ha, well the deal is that a buddy of mine took a couple bigger ones to the wisconsin deer classic, and i had 3 that we had to give to a land owner.

its squirrels. ihave pictures of the little %#$@&*#$ eating the front off my I-40. hes a boone n crocket and he will need to die before june or july when i put my cams back out!!

[shedfreak]

Where are you located perch? Im guessing southern part of the state. Up north here, I can find a shed 5 years old with no squirrel chews... I pick some up that are green and chalky with not a single chew on them! Lucky i guess. Coyotes seem to do more damage here than the rodents.... I know porcupines can eat an antler up pretty quick, and we have a ton up here, but yet I cant find an antler that has been chewed. I have a FEW , not many, that have like one tiny little gnaw mark, but thats it, fresh or old... 25 is a good number, do u walk mostly private? Im all public myself... Someday il find some decent private, but public has been very good to me so far! 72 since march of 07.