shed hunting

[pinkfloyd4ever]

i clearly need to get out looking, I normally see the guy that got me asking about drops once a week but have not seen him in 2 weeks, maybe the weather changed his routine or something

[Fishin=Easy]

Been out looking a few times this year with nothing to show. Until this morning when i dang near rolled my ankle on this guy, under all the snow. I was so excited I dug it out like a dog and yanked it from the frozen swamp like it was a buried treasure.Well I guess it was a buried treasure. It's not a fresh drop but it's a good start, and one of my better finds.

[lungdeflator]

thats a good find. It makes you wonder how you can walk by sheds like that after the snow melts, when they are pretty open and not covered up with the snow we have had so far this year

[LOTWSvirgin]

Finally on the board Just a decent 4 pt side

Still got a few with future sheds.

Same buck??

[stompinaround]

man thats a great feeling when you come upon a good shed, nice find. I cant believe how early people are finding them this year, I

promised myself I wouldn't start looking until february but thats definitely not going to happen.

[RuttenBuck]

LOTWSvirgin -

What do you have planted that is drawing that many deer to it? Just wondering - thanks.

[certified jumbo]

Great pics guys. I love looking at them!!! Keep them coming. Looked for about 2 hours this week, no dice. We are heading to the boundary waters tonight for some trout action, so probably won't get much looking in this wkd. Who knows, maybe i'll stumble across a moose antler!!!

Good luck,

CJ

[shedfreak]

Nice pics, glad to see you guys pickin some up! I got out today for one of my longer walks of the year, 3 hours... I came home with 3 sheds, a matched 8 point set, and small 3 pt. My camera was froze again, so no ATLS, which sucks because the side by side set was SAWEET!!!... Ill get some pics up this weekend! # 11, 12, and 13 on the year so far. Itll slow down here shortly.. its got to!

[jkcmj]

Went with a friend on my 1st shed hunt of the year in Northern Iowa. He picked up one real nice shed, I was skunked. The antler was under the crusted snow, so would have been on the ground since late December. The buck broke off his G3, but still should score 70 inches.

[onlydrakes4me]

nice shed

[frogtosser]

makes me want to get out now. I still have never found a shed. I didnt realize so many deer were dropping so soon. gonna have to start looking.

[gonefishing70]

Boy there are some nice shed so far good job guys. I have been out a few times since the last week of december. Here are some pic's of what I have found so far.

Good luck finding more, Its alot of work I have put on about 10 miles looking.

[LOTWSvirgin]

Spent the whole day shed hunting I found 4 today nothing big but there still sheds. Up to five this year in about 20hours looking

3 pt side

small 3 pt side

A 2pt side

forgot the camera in the car when I found the 4 pt side nothing big though top leftside

And a few future sheds sure hope they fall real soon or hold them till after the next storm

Sure hope the deer are doing better then it looked today I found 6 dead fawns and a buck that had already sheded today

[hockeybc69]

Nothing for me again...Hrrrumph...

Although, I have yet to see a deer on cam that has lost antlers. Seeing what the rest of you have found its got to be soon.

[Musky Buck]

hockeybc, I think you are in my area. I won't start looking until mid-march, doesn't hurt to look now but after 30 years of shed hunting the earliest we've found an antler was Valentine's day and that's still almost a month away. Last years trailcam had about 15 bucks on it, full racks, and the earliest trail cam picture of a 1 horned buck was March 4th and some still had a full rack at thaw time making it nearly impossible to predict where the bucks would be as they left the winter range and spread out to who knows where eventually dropping them.

[jkcmj]

I went out a 2nd time this year and finally had some success. I found an antler that sat a year with heavy chewing, and a long spike off a yearling. Both were recessed in the snow so I had to walk right past to find them. Luckily a squirrel dug the old one out for a little bone nourishment or it would have been under the snow pack. Good Luck out there with all this snow cover. On a positive note there were plenty of blood spots along trail edges indicating more have shed than I found. We have seen about half off already in SE MN where I have been hunting(at least the bucks we've seen). Wish I could find them!

[LOTWSvirgin]

IS that where the blood is coming from you think?? I have seen lots of blood spots this year but only one shed was actually layjng in a pool of blood. might need to look harder I guess. All I found today was a dead 3 pt buck.

[hockeybc69]

Why are you finding so many dead deer LOTWguy???

Crazy.

[stompinaround]

I did a 2 hour hike for sheds today, another goose egg for me. I to have seen some blood trails that looked like it came from a shed, I always seem to find the blood but never the shed. The one I saw today trailed for about 35 yards with single drops then about five drops at the end and nothing more. Whoever sees the football field area of snow that I dug up, looking for the supposed shed will think "what the hell?". Man I was a hundred percent sure there would be a shed there, oh well it was a nice day for a hike and its still really early.

How much do they bleed after they drop a shed?

[LOTWSvirgin]

Why are you finding so many dead deer LOTWguy???

Crazy.

I sure wish I new why I found a dead 3pter today kinda sad there not coyote kills either my guess is just a stressful winter for the fawns and there haveing trouble finding food dunno but I hope the weather stays nice like it is

[shedfreak]

i have found a TON of blood this year as well... well heres my theory... i too would like to assume its shed blood... but what I come up with it..( where im at anyway) we had the big snowfall,and then freezing rain, which made the snow rock hard.. I think the blood we are seeing is from the deers legs and hooves... I know when i took my dog out in it, she was bleedin on all 4 paws within minutes...Some of it maybe from sheds, yeah, and again, its just my theory... I mean i was seein it on virtually every trail I was walking... What do you guys think? Makes sense to me, i guess.

[buckhunter21]

Never thought of that, makes a lot of sense to me too.

[hockeybc69]

I dont buy that theory.

Hooves on deer that live 7x24 in the wild compared to the tender paws of a dog?

Nope. I dont buy it.

[jkcmj]

I to find blood every year, especially when the snow crust is so hard. Likely will be worse after this next batch of wet stuff coming up this week. I am talking about the drips along the edge of the trails, where some of the bucks will drip blood from the pedicle soon after sheds have dropped. It is usually easy to tell if it is a foot by the way it gets smeared along the side of the hoof marks and is almost always centered in the trail. Pedical blood usually drips off along the side of the trail and is usually in heavy drips in the trail. Frequently found around the beds as well, not smeared and melted in the ice in the middle the way the foot injury blood is.

[LOTWSvirgin]

Well if thats the case I am going back to a spot 2maro cause I seen a lot of blood on the ground the way you explained it we will see.

[stompinaround]

The reason I thought it ws a shed is because i have found them at the end of a good blood trail. This one couldn't have been a shed though, I turned the place upside down looking for it. I think their hooves and what not bleed but those blood trails usually go on for a very long time. Word of caution don't get in the habit of looking for blood instead of sheds. When I was out I kind of forgot I was looking for deers sheds instead of the next blood spot.

Jeez Shedfreak you should be giving seminars on how to shed hunt!

nice collection!

[Musky Buck]

stompin, I'm in Central MN as well, things vary greatly, but in my area the shedding takes place mainly in mid-march or at least that's what 30 years of doing it has taught me, I always hope and wish for early sheds but it rarely happens. Now my trail cams are proving what we thought, all the bucks are full racked yet in our 3 areas we shed hunt in. It's way too early.

[jkcmj]

I find it strange that Western MN would be so far behind what we are seeing in other areas. Duluth clearly is well along with Shedfreak and company finds, those I talk to in SE find about half the bucks seen are shed already, Southern WI folks are finding significant numbers on the ground already, and even friends in far Southern Iowa are seeing about 50% off on trailcam photos. I usually don't see neer this many shed so early, but it looks like most of those I talk with are seeing numbers similar to me this year.

[Musky Buck]

I know every year I see shed freak I think I got to get out, I do, I grab my t-cams on the way, get home and there's the reason I can't find any. It's just the way it has been for the 30 years of shed hunting in my area(s). Last year found a set on March 16th and the bases had way fresh blood on them, got home and had 11 bucks on trailcam, 1 was shed and 1 had 1 horn and 9 had full racks yet. Makes it tough because the window is short in those swamps, some years it starts thawing too soon and they leave the wintering area with their rack, I like it better if they are still confined through early April. Maybe some biologist kind of guy can chime in. My uncle has about 30 bucks or so that winter each year on his river bottom land, he finds a lot of antlers, he hasn't found any yet this year and he's been at this for a lot longer than I. Mid-March on is prime time for him.

[bobbymalone]

Not that this means much, but I saw a 6 pointer with both his antlers rooting around in the snow in my backyard last night. South metro area, near the MN river.