shed hunting

[certified jumbo]

I understand that. Its always hard to give up a antler. 3 years ago I had a similiar situation. My buddy found a big side and then I found the other half a week later. One half had 3 different, 5 inch stickers coming off of the g2 on one side. one was broke off when it was found, we had lots of trail cam pics of the buck. I offered him money and no dice. We even talked about each one of us getting the antlers for 6 months and trading off. Never worked anything out, he's got one side and i have the other. Which is ok, its always hard to give up a nice find!!

Good work.

[Tim_Anderson]

Well it seems that I have to try just about every sport there is at one time or another, so here I am having a go at shed hunting.

I have never really been a "shed hunter" as many of you are, rather, I tend to find mine incidentally while I am out in the woods doing whatever. I am definitely intrigued though, by the whole sport of trying to find them on purpose. I envision learning alot: from where the deer like to travel, to what survived the winter, and more.

Like most of you, I enjoy finding ANY shed, but what I am looking for is the giant bucks that I tend to hunt for during the deer season. To me, that kind of find, especially if it is a matched pair, is just about as good.

I'm about obsessed with this enough to have just read the entire 25 pages that have been posted. I had a couple of hours today to look, and though I actually saw 36 different deer, and followed "cow trails" the whole way, I did strike out. Not to worry though, like anything else, I believe you just gotta never give up and things will change.

Anyway, thought I would share with you some of my "finds" from over the years.

This is my best matched pair. Found side by side on a south facing slope near the twin cities.

Here's probably my most impressive antler. It is truly massive, and it is hard to get a picture to do it justice. I found it in the fall, on the border of a crp field and a corn field - found it while pheasant hunting near Starbuck.

view from the back side

My deer hunting partner and I found a skeleton this past season of a big 10 pointer. The antlers were in great shape. He has the skull and antlers, so I will try and get a pic of it to share with you guys. I am most excited to go up to our deer hunting turf in a couple three weeks because I am well aware of what survived this fall!

[shedaddict]

JKCMJ, awesome shed! You're killing me!!! I haven't been able to make it out for awhile. Is this your biggest shed found?

[lungdeflator]

Nice work guys. Does anybody look around the Grand Forks area? When did most drop out there this year?

[Jmnhunter]

i went out around town here this past saturday (bismarck) found tons of sign, trails and where they have been foraging. i dont know if they dropped them already before our last significant snow fall (about a month) or the majority of them havent dropped them? talked to some friends from park rapids and they said they saw a couple bucks with both antlers still on. may have to wait for the snow to melt some

[Monkster]

Tim - very nice sheds. I am curious, for my own sake, you said that you try to hunt the sheds of bigger, trophy deer that you have seen during hunting season. Have you looked for sheds in these same areas that you hunt or do you change your locations specifically for the larger deer?

I have seen some very large, trophy caliber bucks in the metro that I would love to go hunt their sheds, I am just not sure if it would be in the same areas as the 'other' deer are. Maybe others can tell me their method also, but would we find 'trophy' antlers in the same areas as lesser antlers. Yes, I know, all sheds are trophies...I do feel the same way. I just wonder if I should get away from the 'yarding and feeding' areas to find the monster sheds.

[ratherbefishn]

Nice sheds there guys!! I will try to put a few pictures up as well.

Monkster, you have a hard question to answer there. I have not found any monster sheds myself yet but do know of a few and where they were found. I think location is the biggest factor. Up by my inlaws in north central WI the deer herd up pretty heavy and spikes to 170+ inch deer seem to be in the same area but this is more of a survival issue. Here in town the big boys definatly seem to set up there own camp and remain pretty well on there own till they drop. 100-130 inch deer like to hang out together and anytime I jump one of them there seems to be 3 or 4 in that group but the big guys almost seem to always be solo. Might just be what I have seen but usually is the case here in the cities. Private refuge from people is not always the case either. The 2 biggest sheds I have seen were found in peoples back yards where they had been bedding and no body was feeding the deer in the area.

[Tim_Anderson]

Monkster - I was going to pose the very same question.

I live in a neighborhood with tons of deer. The other day when I was looking, I saw 36 different deer. Seemed to me to be mostly does and fawns, and maybe a few real young bucks that had dropped. I was on what looked to be "cow trails" the entire time, and came up with nothing.

It made me start to think, and I'm starting to come up with a theory. My own experience is that the biggest bucks are loners much of the year, or they hang out in bachelor groups with deer of the same basic size. I have not seen a big buck with any of the other deer around here since December.

Having said that, I am going to broaden my search to some of the more "lonely" trails, the spruce swamps, and thicker stuff out away from the rest of the deer herd and see what happens. Headed out right now.

I am just getting into this, so am not an authority by any means. Just running on my deer hunting experience I guess.

Any of you veteran shed hunters want to weigh in on this issue of specifically targeting GIANT sheds?

[Musky Buck]

The biggest bucks in my woods are traveling the same trails as the rest, I just went through 669 trailcam photos from 1 camera, but Tim, when the 2 biggest boys come through they are together, the like 2.5 year old bucks and under are together, then the does and fawns and an occassional buck come through together, makes me wonder if the doe/does tolerate the buck because he's one of hers. They seem to keep their distance from one another. There were 2 bucks fighting on film and that was on Feb.13th, more sparring and a bit of pushing and shoving, lasted about a minute. Out of the roughly 15 bucks, 2 had shed, 2 had 1 horn as long as 3 weeks they kept that 1 horn, the rest had both sides as of yesterday.

[Monkster]

Well, that's good to know about traveling the same trails. When I found the first two sheds this year (two weeks ago) they were in area that the deer come to feed at only. The trails leading to the area are packed down, so at least I know I am on the right trail.

I hunt a completely different area and the deer tend to leave that area in the winter to yard up, so looking for sheds closer to the cities is a different ballgame. I am going to slip out tonight with my two boys and see if we can beat someone to an area before the weekend comes.

[Musky Buck]

Been getting deer reports from the reli's and cousin walked nearly right up to a big old wolf recently, the hair on it's neck stood up and at 20 yards he was a bit concerned, he just threw his jacket over his head and started retreating, he said my neck hair was standing on end as well. He is carrying an axe handle from now on as he claims there are lots of wolves and a possible big cat in the river bottom, OT county. He was surprised the wolf wasn't afraid of him really. Changed his outlook on shed hunting that area. My area the wait is on, very few have shed according to my T-cam. Good luck and be careful or should I say aware guys.

[james_walleye]

My friend and I went out today for a few hours. Man i can't believe the beat down trails. I really thought we would come across something but we didnt. On the positive i went and checked out an area on the property that i wanted to get a stand into. We walked 30 yards into the woods from the inside corner where i want to get a stand and there was a huge rub. It looks pretty promising. We will hit it again in a couple weeks when the snow recedes more.

[Monkster]

Same here. My son and I went out for a couple hours last night. Lots of sign, heavy packed down trails, no luck. Driving away from the area we drove past a homeowner that feeds the deer and found the deer that we pushed out of the area! 10-15 feeding on his shelled corn, at least 3 still had headgear.

[Tim_Anderson]

Gotta say the sign I saw yesterday was the heaviest I have seen in my entire life.

We (or at least I have) thought about deer as these beautiful, dainty animals - especially does and fawns. Well, I found a spruce and balsam swamp yesterday where they have been spending so much time, the smell reminded me of a cattle lot or a pig yard. Feces, urine, beds and trails everywhere. Looked like they were packed in there and had over run the place kind of like the inner city. And with nobody forcing them to do it, they still did. What a bunch of slobs!

Anyway, I was "on point" in there for about two hours as I searched every nook and cranny of the swamp, and then all around the outskirts. I did sort of round up 11 deer, and when I got too close, they ran by. The first 9 looked like does and fawns. The last two hung back, and took a different trail. They were BIG, and without head gear. Pretty sure they were mature bucks.

It was an gorgeous day for a walk, but unfortunately, I struck out again.

Last night I was over to a friends for dinner, and there was a 2.5 year old 8 pointer at his feeder. I will keep at it.

[Musky Buck]

Agreed, sign is decent, but seems like from my tcam it's about 25 deer walking these same trails over and over and over and not having any precip for awhile is really making it look more heavily used. I have to wait a few more weeks, 2 weeks ago I had bucks fighting on Tcam and the same 2 came by on Feb. 28th with full racks plus others. I always thought if a buck dropped 1 antler it was fairly soon until the other dropped. Feb. 3rd, 2 one horned bucks were on film, 3 weeks later the same 2 are on film again with 1 side, the pedicles look like they shed 1, not that it got broken off or anything, maybe just a rare occurrence.

[ratherbefishn]

Here is a picture of my best find this year so far. Took almost 5 weeks to match up the set. I found the left side january 12th and the right side feb 17th. I did bump this guy with another nice 8 pt about 2 weeks after I found the left and couldnt believe it still was holding the other! This is in pretty open country with small areas of good sunny exposed cover. I found the match about 150 yards away from the 1st side and they both looked no more than a week old (still pink with small amounts of blood). This was a little ways off the main winter area of the deer but just enough sunny cover to hold a small group of bucks.

Still hearing of quite a few still holding all around. Seems like quite a few dropped early this year though. Should be some good finds out there when this snow melts off. I have a couple zeros here lately but hope to change that before the boat hits the river

[buglefever]

To make you guys feel better, I've been out for 8+ hours since I found the last antler on Friday and havn't found anything more. The snow is starting to settle, but in most places I've been it's still well over a foot deep! I climbed a bluff sunday to check out some remote public land just to find X-country ski tracks and 3 sets of boot prints.

I guess my theory on finding sheds is time + miles = sheds. I've always figured if I find a shed for every 3 hours looking I'm doing pretty good on an average. The last few years I keep track on a calender of where I go, the hours I look, and obviously what I find. Last year from the last week of jan to the first week of april I put in 135 hours. Though it was my best year with 82 antlers, 14 of which were matched sets and my biggest set ever.

I've also started to form a few theories on the big guys. I've found big antlers both away from where many deer are, and also in areas where there's tons of other deer. Like somone mentioned earlier they had pics of a couple big guys on the same trails as others. I don't think they necessarily avoid other deer and crowded areas, especially when the winter is tough like it is here this year. The one thing that most of mine have in common is that they are in more secluded patches or out in the middle of fields. In other words, they still try to stay away from people as much as possible.

Sorry to be long winded, but I love this forum and sharing ideas!!

[jkcmj]

Ditto to Bugle Feaver! I find at around the same rate, but don't get a chance to put in the time you do. I rough figure it, but average 1 antler every 3 to 4 hours. I would do much better if I stuck to the known antler areas that produce each year, but I am always hoping to crack a new great area, so kill many hours looking in poor areas which kills my average.

[Monkster]

Ratherbefishin - that's a nice set.

I was on my way for a shopping excursion yesterday (late afternoon) with my wife and kids and drove by the homeowner that feeds the deer near an area we search. Sure enough, the nice 8 pointer we had seen a few days ago now only has one side! It's frustrating knowing that it's out there and we can't get out until Saturday morning.

[shedaddict]

Ratherbefishin, great match. I might have missed it, but did you find those in the metro?

I finally made it back up to my hunting land yesterday near Cumberland, Wisconsin. I wanted to walk all the land and a few neighboring properties to check for sign. I walked a total of 9.5 miles and located a lot of areas that I will come back to once the snow is melted. I was mainly scouting for areas that I will come back to and do a grid search of later. The shed below was found towards the outside of a pine grove. Not a huge shed, but still happy I found it. I have never found a shed with as much left below the base; must have hurt falling off. It still had blood and hair on it, so it was pretty fresh. The deer have been bedding down in this area. The area was very similar to what Tim described above; the trails were so full of [PoorWordUsage] it was unbelievable. I located one other 2 acre cornfield that the deer had been feeding in, and when I left for the night, there were 14 deer in it. I did find one dead doe and saw 11 other deer while hiking, no visible antlers.

[certified jumbo]

wow, shed addict!!! i always find some every year with extra garbage on the base, but i have to say i've never seen that much extra stuff. i think a see brain matter:)

[Monkster]

Yeah, that doesn't seem to be too healthy to have that much tissue attached. Their skulls aren't that thick...but maybe.

Cool find though!

[Musky Buck]

I have found several over the years something like that, always was a yearling shed for some reason ?

[ratherbefishn]

shedaddict, that is an odd find there. Intresting to see what he looks like in the fall?? Ouch!!

The set I posted was a metro deer. This is the 1st year I have started to put alot of time looking and slowly learning the metro really gets pounded. Sometimes I think we ran into more on accident in the past than we do looking some days if but you put your miles on they do show up. Also plan to put some good time in at my inlaws up by Rice Lake. Lots of nice deer up there and they group up pretty good. Wanted to give them some time before we stated pushing them around but this weather is helping out.

[shedaddict]

I was worried about pushing the deer around as well which is part of the reason I was mainly scouting. Once the snow melts a little bit more, I will definitely be hitting up some bedding areas.

I've gotten a little frustrated with looking in the metro. This is my first year looking here, and I've come up with nothing so far. I've found a lot of promising spots, but not all the deer have dropped yet. I'm hoping all the time I've put in looking here will pay off in a few weeks when the snow has melted. I have 3 peices of private land that I have been waiting to walk, so I'm pretty pumped about that.

[Tim_Anderson]

It almost looks from your photo like you and I were searching the same spot yesterday! I was in stuff like that for over two hours - was "on point" the whole time, and still came up empty. I saw a bunch of deer, including two big loners that were baldies. Made me wonder about going back again? There wasn't much snow under the spruce, so I feel pretty good about not missing much. What's your thoughts?

That shed is an interesting find and I gotta say I have not seen one like that. Looks like more bone than tissue? Is that right?

[Musky Buck]

They haven't shed in the metro area a lot yet like is Fridley metro ? Friends bird feeder in Fridley he has 2 tens and a 12 he's waiting for to drop along with others. My area best guess is about 20% have shed although it's game on from here on out, but if it thaws rapidly between now and the end of the month I won't have much of a chance as they'll move out of the wet wet stuff with headgear still attached, but since 83' this is what has been normal, mid-march is when the majority drop in the metro and my pocket of the state in OT county. It stinks actually. That above horn with the extra's, would that be a more common occurrence if people used like horn traps etc. ? It looks like it was pulled away, but I have found 1 like it and knowing there was no horn trap where I found it so who knows.

[ratherbefishn]

I bet it happend from sparing than anything else. The pedicle from a year old deer is usually pretty soft yet. Looks like he split his somehow and it finally broke free. Might wreck his potental for the years to follow..... or make for one unique buck ?? Much blood in the area?? doesnt look to bad in the picture witch is a good thing!

[jkcmj]

A friend of mine found a nice set in the Metro on Tuesday. We were up there for a conferance and he went out for a couple hours in a park area before heading back to SE MN.

[shedaddict]

MB, my first thought when I picked it up was it looked like someone whacked it off, but where I found it, that would not be possible. The other thing that I thought about was that the deer caught it on a fence and then it fell off from there. The base is pretty bloody and there is hair on it still, so it has to be pretty fresh. The area I found this is close to a pasture. I've got a buddy in the DNR that I'm going to email a picture and see if he has ever seen anything like it.

MB, do you think the deer in the metro hold their antlers so long because of all the people feeding them. There are quite a few more coyotes now, but the deer in the metro really don't have many predators.

Tim, I typically do a grid search of this area once a year and usually find at least one shed. This area is a sanctuary for the deer; the only time anyone goes into it is to track a deer, or when I go in and look for sheds. It may be worth going back one more time and walk everything the opposite of how you walked it this past time. Just my two cents, but it might make a difference. Good luck.