finding deer sheds.

[semologger]

I went out the other day for a walk about. I was lloking for sheds its still a little soon but i needed out of the house. Instead of finding any sheds i found a carcas striped clean. It was a little basket rack a 7 point. I plan on going soon again out the farm. I have 50 acres at the house and there is almost 500 at the farm. Its going to be a long walk at the farm.

Any of you guys do any shed hunting. What kind of tricks you have. I am trying to teach my black lab to help but he is still new at it like me. I am going to take some of my racks i have and plant them around the property and see if he can find them.

[Burlkraft]

I used to make a woven wire container and put ear corn in it. About 3' across. The bucks would feed and get the horns caught in the wire and they would fall off.

Collected a lot of sheds that way. Lots of sets too  ;D  ;D  ;D

[LeeB]

Any of those sets stil have a live critter attached?

[SwampDonkey]

Just walk the paths.  ;D

[Burlkraft]

Any of those sets stil have a live critter attached?

No critters, but I've had a few displaced feeders  ;D  ;D

Never had one get hung up and take off with one. I was bow hunting once and watched a buck assault one of them.
Then he just walked away  :  :

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen poaching snares on deer trails many times. It's not legal of course. I saw where one was snared in the summer when we was fishing a nice dead water full of trout. Someone came back later and hatcheted off it's antlers. It has been dead for awhile when I found it. Moose like following deer paths to it seems.  :

That was a great fishing paradise until greedy forest grunts poached it to death.  I mean instead of the legal 30 trout, ice chests full.

[beenthere]

Gonna look for some sheds (mainly that 10 pointer) when this snow melts down a bit... ;D ;D

[ely]

guys here will bury a five gallon pail almost to the top and put corn in the bottom of it. leave a little space under neath it and a couple drain holes in case it rains. deer hate soured grain. anyway they will get down on their knees to get at the corn and rub the antlers off on the bucket as they eat. usually from about now through feb.

i seen two really nice bucks sunday that were sporting their racks still yet.

[semologger]

Nice pitchures of those deer beenthere. Are they walking or laying down. If they are standing wow thats some deep snow. Hope you are a good shot. You are not going to get a broadside shot on them. Did you take the pitchure?

Never heard of the bucket idea sounds pretty neat i need to try that on. I need to do that during season maybe they wont run as fast if you miss one the first shot.  I would like to put a game cam on a spot like that.

[SwampDonkey]

Was snow shoeing today, not near as much snow as that, maybe 18" and 3 feet in the brush thickets the wind drifts around. I did see where a moose walked about a week ago according to the last snowfall. Lots of coyotes and rabbits around (tracks). Saw 30 gold finch in the weeds eating seeds. A few chickadees, and blue jays. A raven followed me around, ever watchful for anything to eat. Too bad, no scraps this time.

[semologger]

Might be a stupid ? but do Moose and Elk loose their antlers. If so seems like it would be alot easier to find those big suckers.

[SwampDonkey]

Moose do yes. But, there is a lot more acres of woods versus moose carcass to look over. :D The other wildlife consume them quickly.

[SwampDonkey]

This guy got froze in solid.

[ErikC]

   Elk also lose their antlers. I have found them a couple of times, But I'm not sure they are any easier to find. Might be less of them I guess. I was pig hunting in mendocino county this weekend, and found three sheds, all last year though. The bucks I saw while I was out still had them on.

[SwampDonkey]

As you can see in my picture, the coyotes were fascinated by that antler. Tracks all over.

[Mooseherder]

I know of some people who'll walk through the woods looking for Moose sheds.
They must find them because We have Moose all over at camp yet I have only found a half set.
My wife and I found this one down by the brook.  It was full of mold and looked to have been nibbled on by something.  We almost missed it.  I bleached it, left it out in the sun for a few days and it has stayed white since.  It gets use as a hat rack.

[Corley5]

I found an elk shed with a tractor tire once.  Wasn't pretty  >:(  I've mentioned before that I hate Michigan elk  ;) ;D

[ErikC]

  About a week ago I saw the dogs chewing on something in the driveway.  It was an old small buck skull with antlers still attached they found out in the woods. I ran over it with my truck and popped a tire 2 hours later. No one to blame for that but me. >:(

[semologger]

my  lab seems to find sheds better than me. i have got to teach him to find them for me.

[Frickman]

Mooseherder,

Mice, voles, and other critters knaw on shed antlers as they are a good source of calcium. That's why I rarely find them, they all get eaten first.

[Bibbyman]

 



I've found a bushel basket full of antlers over the past few years. Almost all were singles.

This summer son Gabe hit one with the lawn mower just feet behind the house.  Then later the dowg came in with the mate to it.  She may have found them both and brough them to the yard.  She didn't want to give up the one she had in her mouth.

I went out walking one time this winter but the weeds are still too tall.  I hunt along fences where they cross and in places that look to be bedding areas.



Here are a couple more I found on the same day about 50 yards apart in a new wheat patch.  They don't match and I did not find either mate.

[kderby]

Looking for deer and elk antlers is like walking on the beach after a storm and picking up sea shells.  If you are the first one there you can find some pretty special mementos.  I like thinking about the buck or bull.  I celebrate that if the animal shed his antlers, he is going to be even larger this year.

The best way to find sheds is to cover the most ground.  Some people don't "get it"  but it is a huge treat for me to go horn hunting.

KD

[Bibbyman]

Found my first deer shed of the year.  Don't you want to know where I found it?



The eye guard looks like it's stuck in the tire but it broke off.  The point only stuck in the lug.

[Magicman]

And, you were lucky two ways...... :D

[Chuck White]

I've been shed hunting before, but it just ended up being a hike,
never found anything.  I guess I'm just not lucky like that.

[Magicman]

The only sheds that I usually find is during Turkey season.  I found one match set....lying one on top of the other....

[SwampDonkey]

Most sheds around here are moose. Eight moose where bedding down several nights by the house. That's more than all the deer around here. ;D

[Bibbyman]

First time out looking for sheds this winter season.  Did pretty good. Don't you think?



Easiest shed I've every found.



I about didn't go look at these.  I figured they were just sprout stumps from where I'd bush hogged last summer.  I've found pairs before but never like the buck just took them off and laid them down just right.



This pair was in sight of our house on the hill about 1/4 mile away.

[CX3]

Bibby nice ones man.  Thats a real treat right there. 

Hey Chuck White, try snooping around the south slopes of brushy hillsides.  Deer bed there in the winter, also try oak flats where they are still feeding, and also look in spots where they jump the fences.  Sometimes when they land the "jolt" will knock the antlers off.  Also food plots are a good spot, just look in spots where deer spend the most time in your area in the late winter.  Good luck

[Magicman]

Finding that matched set is a real treasure Bibby.  Good for you.   

[woodtick#2]

I am a hunter, outdoorsman, and logger.  I spend most of my time in the woods and I have only found 1 shed.  I was cutting oak and i happened to trip over the antler.

[Magicman]

The only ones that I find will be during turkey season.  I have only found one matched set and they were lying one on top of the other.

[thecfarm]

Bibbyman,nice find.  smiley_clapping  I really like the ways it just lays there. A very unique find. My step son is coming up to mark the trails around here.He buys the feed and I feed them.Lots of trails where they have been walking.We still probably have a couple feet on the ground. He wants to mark the trails and yards so he can find them with no snow.I put this post in favorites so I can show it too him.He will like to see it.

[Troublermaker]

A friend sent this to me about a Record Minnesota Elk Found Alive With Antlers Stuck in Mud on December 12, 2010. It goes on to say that they thought he was trying to jump a fence and being old with such a big rack it was more that he could hold up. Do any of you people from Minnesota know any thing about it?

http://www.gothunts.com/record-elk-found-pinned-alive-with-antlers-stuck-in-mud-in-minnesota/

[Burlkraft]

Wow 

That was a nice one

[clww]

Bibby-That's a serious set of antlers there. Nice job on the matched set!

[Bibbyman]

Too bad the rodents got to them before I did.  Most of the points have been gnawed on.  :-\

I made another circle around another field this afternoon.  Nothing.

[Autocar]

Ive found three whitetail and a once in Newfoundland I found a moose horn and a few steps further I found the other side. I tied them to my pack board and figured I would bring them home but after a while I layed them on a stump  ;D they sure were heavy plus walking in the muskeg was just to much for this old man. One of the whitetail antlers I found it had snowed over night and I was starting a new job I carried my saw into the woods and cut a deer track and there laying was a four point with a bloody stem where it feel off. So I walked the track out of the property bur he never dropped the other side. The biggest one I ever found was a river bottom in southern Illinois.

[Bibbyman]

 



I've been lucky this deer shed season.  This makes #4. My record was 5 a few years back.  I found this in the middle of an old logging road on the back side of our property.  It was about 20' from the line fence and within sight of the neighbor's house.  I looked long and hard for the mate to it. It could have fallen off a week earlier or later a mile from where this one was found. It would have been a nice trophy if taken while on the deer.

It really is a good time and season for shed hunting.  The heavy snows we had earlier has mashed down the vegetation in the pastures and matted down the leaves in the woods.  The wind has not had a chance to cover them with stuff.

It's a lot easier to spot sheds with the points sticking up.  Seems like if they're points down, they tend to look like just another stick.

[Magicman]

That's a nice find and a very nice buck.  And, you have proof that he is still there.   ;)

[Bibbyman]

That's a nice find and a very nice buck.  And, you have proof that he is trill there.   ;)

Not an assurance as I suspect we are surrounded by a small army of poachers.   I've heard rumors of the land owner that joins us to the south shooting deer in his field (that he leases out) in the guts so they run off and die somewhere else.  I find the remains of a couple of deer a year and I'm not really looking for them.  Our dowg comes up with a fresh deer bone every now and then when the season has been over for months.

I have never seen so much buck sign as I have this fall and winter.  Along every trail the scrapes are so often you could almost jump from one to another.  Every place a limb reaches out about 4' off the ground has a scrape.  Rubs are everywhere.  Our property is somewhat rugged and over half of it is woods. I don't know if the pressure from the area drives them to our place or if the conditions are more suitable for rubs and scrapes.  I've not trespassed on areas off our farm to see if the buck signs are as heavy.

[indiaxman1]

Found a matched set (6 pts) on the side of steep knob yesterday..first time I ever found a pair....a previous post noted the ground you have to cover to find one, so I was, and still am, smiling over the find....heard they often drop at same time, and to look for a second if you discover one...its the little things nature gives that sustains

[chain]

Found a matched set (6 pts) on the side of steep knob yesterday..first time I ever found a pair....a previous post noted the ground you have to cover to find one, so I was, and still am, smiling over the find....heard they often drop at same time, and to look for a second if you discover one...its the little things nature gives that sustains

I'm glad you mentioned finding the set, I found a matched set today [4points]. They were in my main timber trail, I apparently ran over them a couple weeks ago as one side had a point broken off by a tire. Today, I was coming down the trail with my ATV, just happened to spy them, wonder had I not blown a tire!

Also, found what I think could be feral pigs rooting in forest road. Had not seen this type of sign before in the timber but we had one or two pigs come up a creek bottom couple years ago. I will be taking along some buck-shot or slugs next month during turkey season. Have to watch the legality and not load up while hunting turkeys.

[treefarmer87]

i used to go look all the time a few years ago. i found some real nice ones, never a full set from a big buck, just the little ones. i have heard of people killing a doe the next season and mounting the horns they found the spring before. they are easy to find in a really green field with binoculars. my neighbor has a big field and there are always sheds in march or april there.

[gunman63]

A friend sent this to me about a Record Minnesota Elk Found Alive With Antlers Stuck in Mud on December 12, 2010. It goes on to say that they thought he was trying to jump a fence and being old with such a big rack it was more that he could hold up. Do any of you people from Minnesota know any thing about it?

http://www.gothunts.com/record-elk-found-pinned-alive-with-antlers-stuck-in-mud-in-minnesota/

This is a bout 75 miles north of me, it is a true story, its a bad deal the old elk died that way,  but  nature is funny, there is a small  group of elk up there, the state started a herd back in the 50's i think it was,  last i heard it was about 100 animals, they hunt a few  each  year, this is the close to the area where the state cleaned out the deer herd and bought out  alot of cattle farmers because or chronic wasting disease. they also   bought out  most of the private elk herds  up there

[Bibbyman]

I found another couple of sheds this evening.  That makes my total of 6.  Both are small 8 pointers.  I found one in a draw in the woods.  It had already browned where it was below the leaves and tips had been chewed on.  But I'm sure it's this year's shed because I don't think any last a year and in near complete condition.  I looked further up the draw and spotted a second shed about 30 yards from the first.  I was nearly a match.  But I noted it was for the same side.  Very odd deer to have to antlers on the same side.  The base of one was a bit larger.

This makes antlers from 5 different bucks I've found on our 240 acre farm and I've not been over nearly all of it and wouldn't expect to find every one if I did.  I think I'm going to have to rename the farm "The Buck Ranch".

[Ron Scott]

A worthy name! and you have proof.

[SwampDonkey]

Your pretty lucky just finding them. I find moose sheds, but I don't go looking for them. I bet if I did, I wouldn't find one. :D I've not found any real big ones, and we have some bull moose with some big antlers around here. When I came across those two bulls muscling in 2007 over a cow just down the path, those boys had some nice racks. Steam rolling off them on a frosty morning. ;D

[Burlkraft]

Here's a picture of the shed and dead roundup we had at my old farm last weekend.

It was a banner year for sheds!  8) 8)

These were found in about 5 hours on about 1000 acres

[Magicman]

Wow, that is quite a collection.  Your place must be a Wintering ground.

[SwampDonkey]

 :D I'll say.  ;D

You'd have to go 1000 square miles to find that many here. 

[Burlkraft]

I started QDM there 20 years ago.

We shot a lot of does and let bucks go for a long time before we started to harvest bucks.

The boys have been great about food plots. In the 1000 acres we probably have 400 acres of deer food.

I have not shot a buck in quite a few years.

Once they get to be 5 or 6 you get attached to them.

They harvested three  7 year old bucks this past season.

I have let more bucks go than I have shot in the last 30 years.

[Magicman]

I agree.  I established a "one buck per hunter per year" quota on my place several years ago.  It really makes a difference and it changes the hunter's attitudes.   

[SwampDonkey]

Up here they shoot bucks only and most what you see is does and fawns. The bucks have become nocturnal.

[Magicman]

Our legal limit is 3 bucks and 5 does.  If anyone is hungry, it's their own fault.

I regularly see up to a dozen bucks per day.

[SwampDonkey]

You'll see the bucks in the winter as they yard and herd up for winter.

[Bibbyman]

 



Here are sheds #7 and 8.  #7 was not found on our farm but on some public land while son Chris and I were mushroom hunting.





Shed 8 resembles the forth shed I found back in March.  But is much weathered and starting to desolve on the side that was against the ground.  Much of it has been chewed away also.  Maybe from the same buck but from last years crop??

[treefarmer87]

found one about 2 weeks ago while making a drag on my c5. im glad i didnt run over it