Shed Antlers

[BlueLundFishrman]

kelo: giant shed antlers

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Giant buck's shed antlers found near sioux falls, sd

[frogtosser]

I drive by where the deer herd up on the east side of Sioux Falls so I know where they are talking about, I wonder what those babys are worth.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

I had two small bucks at the feeder lastnight. One had both sides the other only had 1 side.

I'll start looking next week.

Good Luck,

Mike

[shedfreak]

So, it was friday, my day off, what better to do than get out for a hike. I went to a spot by my mom's house where she was seeing a big injured 10-12 point every night, she called me earlier in the week saying it has just walked by with no antlers!! So I decided to hit that spot the first oppoutunity I got. I parked on one side of the woods and planned o.n walking clear to the next road a couple miles away. Well in that 2 miles, NO deer sign, pounding through snow up hills the entire way. By the time I had got to where I wanted to be , it was almost 2 hours later. When I got there I thought it might be worth it as I counted almost 50 beds in a 40 yard radius. It was hard to tell which bed I had checked al ready and which ones I didnt!!! I was expecting to see an antler any second. Nope. So onward I went. I was so tired of walking through all the snow, I decided to make a B- line for the power line cut. I had to cut through some alder brush, and as I got in there, I noticed the deer had been in there quite a bit. As I was walking through, I noticed an antler from about 45 yards away. I got out my camera and thought I wonder if it is even going to be visible!! From the time I spotted it, I knew something wasnt right about it. As I got closer I could tell it was an older antler, and it was sitting pretty funny. There was no outline of a carcass so, I grabbed the antler, crossed my fingers and hoped to pull out a shed, I pulled it out pretty quick, so right away I knew it wasnt attatched to anything, but I Pulled out an entire skull. So I didnt get #4 on the year but I did get my first skull. Nothing big but I still wish I would hae found it fresh.

[Odonata]

Great find ShedFreak. Good to hear I am not the only one pounding through the snow. Hope to get out tomorrow.

[lungdeflator]

Its hard to decide to ice fish or go shed hunting with this nice weather coming up. Not getting any snow for the last couple weeks is very nice though. You can definetley tell were the deer are bedding and traveling.

[frogtosser]

well you got a free european mount, nice

[jkjkoda]

How cool is that!!!

[Musky Buck]

No sheds yet, but saw 3 fully horned bucks so when will they drop ? Last Valentine's Day saw 5 bucks in my field still with headgear. Why is that ?

[Musky Buck]

Saw yesterday's star and trib by marchel, bucks with horns he's mentioning as well. I've found this to be the norm, had an uncle that fed them for 30 years in OT county and his t-cams have many bucks with full racks as of yesterday. Why do they hang on to them longer in that area ?

[Mark Christianson]

My Dads construction partner found 3 sheds this weekend just north of East Battle Lake(OTC). All from different deer.

[Musky Buck]

Cool blb, ok so the process has started in our neck of the woods, I usually am looking in the leaf river bottom near deer creek.

[LOTWSvirgin]

I am sure they have started since I picked these up in the last couple of weeks I just wish I could do it more then a hour here and an hour there.

[lovebigbluegills]

Nice LOTW...what part of the state are you in?

[LOTWSvirgin]

Southwest These ones are all of public land I save my private stuff till March why hurry right.

[lovebigbluegills]

Exactly...March, or out lookin for morels. Hopefully I'll start finding a few up this way pretty soon.

[catfreak]

I've never got out to look for sheds before but I know my dad use to love to go out for them. It sounds extremely fun. I hunt way up north so I can't really make a day trip up to my normal woods, so does anybody know if there are any decent spots in the St. Cloud area that could hold nice sheds? I see a lot of deer around the prison area, but that is all private.

[frogtosser]

there are a few parcels of public land around here. I have looked alittle this year but the snow was pretty deep.

[LOTWSvirgin]

I've never got out to look for sheds before but I know my dad use to love to go out for them. It sounds extremely fun. I hunt way up north so I can't really make a day trip up to my normal woods, so does anybody know if there are any decent spots in the St. Cloud area that could hold nice sheds? I see a lot of deer around the prison area, but that is all private.

What I have found is that you just need to get out any where you can ask permission most people I ask dont seem to mind about a quick hike through there land. County parks public hunting land is all good look for the bedding areas and the feeding areas and everything in between. Its a great feeling to find one. Just remember dont look just for the whole antler look for a tine a base anything that looks out of the ordanary. If you just look for the whole antler you will miss more than you will find. I like to look after it rains in the spring cause the grass lays down and cloudy days. Look for ridges to they like to travel them. I dont know if this will help is just what I do.

PS If you find you any post pics we all love to see them.

[blk94fiveoh]

Originally Posted By: catfreak

I've never got out to look for sheds before but I know my dad use to love to go out for them. It sounds extremely fun. I hunt way up north so I can't really make a day trip up to my normal woods, so does anybody know if there are any decent spots in the St. Cloud area that could hold nice sheds? I see a lot of deer around the prison area, but that is all private.

What I have found is that you just need to get out any where you can ask permission most people I ask dont seem to mind about a quick hike through there land. County parks public hunting land is all good look for the bedding areas and the feeding areas and everything in between. Its a great feeling to find one. Just remember dont look just for the whole antler look for a tine a base anything that looks out of the ordanary. If you just look for the whole antler you will miss more than you will find. I like to look after it rains in the spring cause the grass lays down and cloudy days. Look for ridges to they like to travel them. I dont know if this will help is just what I do.

PS If you find you any post pics we all love to see them.

Do you generally find them directly under tree rubbings, or is it pretty random?

I went out for a couple hours today and found plenty of fresh rubbings, but no antlers. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

[brassman]

I find them along trails and just off of trails, I usually walk the deer trails from one place to the next and then grid search the bedding areas. I have found some bigguns that way.

[LOTWSvirgin]

I have never paid much attention to the rubs I always thought that they did that more in the fall But I really dont knowif it is true. But its good to notice things like that for the next fall I try to write stuff like that down I dont just shed hunt wjen I am out there I also scout you can figure some of the best information about a area this time of year

[titelines]

I strapped on the snowshoes and spent a couple hours looking last weekend. I've never done it before and was wondering if I was doing it correctly.

We've got some pretty nice, well traveled trails around our acreage, so I walked a lot of them. Found a lot of bed down areas, but no sheds.

Sounds like I'm going about it the right way(?)

[lungdeflator]

Sounds like it. With all the rain we got and cold weather now you might not even need snowshoes. South facing hillsides might be especially good this year considering all the cold we got earlier.

[shedfreak]

I have been pretty busy at home with the baby, but like before I was able to do some after work hikes of about an hour. I found 3 more since last time I visited the site, as well as my second skull of the year. Sooner or later Ill get on the board with a decent one, nothing real big yet, 5 outta my 6 are yearlings. ah well. still a rush seein them sittin there baskin in the sun! I seem to have lost my digital camera too, maybe in the woods somewhere! Luckily i always take pics with my phone as well, so i can still bring ya some ATL's. Nice to see the thread pickin up pace here, the best is yet to come, i usually do well in march and april... 29 two years ago and didnt pick up the first one until march 13th! So dont give up quite yet guys! No one ever said shed hunting was easy.

By the way, i have said before but ill say it again, joe shead's book on shed hunting is a must read, it sure helped me out... He also released his first DVD this year, all public land sheds, with immensely helpful hints. He's a local guy as well as one of the nicest you'll ever meet. You may even recognize a few of the spots in the DVD. He also just started a blog on his website a month back check it out. VERY HELPFUL.

[shedfreak]

ill share these with ya as well... I have one side off this buck, mine is the faded white side, found it in october... the other is a fresh set from the year before i found mine. Mine tapes out at 86 inches... the years set previous scored 96 on one side, and 84 on the other.... he was betwen 18 and 20 wide, putting him at 195-200 inches...

The reason for my "sickness" right there!

G2's AND g3's are 13 inches long!

[LOTWSvirgin]

Its nice to see you back Shedhead I dont know you but you always have helpfull info. I have not bought the book or dvd But I have read his blog its real intresting to read

[FishingRealtor]

Freaky Freak...I can tell you were home with the kids all day. As you know, we hit some yards up north today. Great stuff, tons of deer, huge rubs, not many boot tracks...but zip on the sheds.Still lots of snow, we need to go back! What's up next weekend?

Drew

[shedfreak]

and out of the shadows comes the fishingrealtor! Nice find today, pretty nice ATL too! I again found a dead buck..in velvet this time, NASTY! Not as nasty as the two homo bucks I saw going at it. 6 pointers, which i think they were brothers decided to start their own February Rut. Wish I had the video camera.. bout 5 different times it happened, the bigger 6 just walked up the hill as the other was on top, walkin behind.. anyone else ever see that before?! Next weekend, the grandparents are coming up from out of town so Im not sure If i can make a north shore trip or not.... Maybe friday or sunday, if we do it early... Ill let ya know... your catchin up to me... the freak cant allow it to go on much longer, gotta widen up the gap here!! the famous joe shead also picked up a nice shed today, nice 6 point side. Keep the pics comin guys... i hope to get some more up soon... not worth postin the velvet buck....yet

[eric29]

I put in a couple hours today with no luck. I found all the spots to look throughout the winter when i take the dogs out to run everyday, found all the bedding, feeding areas, and S facing hills. I hit all the spots that looked good today. I did see probably 30-40 deer, i didnt notice any head gear but theres a good chance they were all does and fawns.