Let’s get ready to go shed hunting
I found this shed antler a couple years ago in a deer bedding thicket in Botetourt County. I walked 3 miles that day and this was the only shed I found.
When I was talking to fellow shed enthusiast Rob Schroeder yesterday, for my story on shed hunting that ran in today’s Roanoke Times, Schroeder said something pretty insightful about the activity.
“I think,” he said, “That finding a [good] shed is harder than killing a deer.”
I think he’s right.
I spend quite a bit of time out in the woods, and I find a couple sheds a year. At best.
It makes sense, really. When we are deer hunting, deer are pretty big. And they are moving. So they’re pretty easy to see. But finding shed is a lot like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.
This year I’m trying to increase my odds by using baited shed traps. I am going to have trailcams out over corn anyway and my homemade shed traps cost next to nothing to make. So there’s no harm in trying.
I’ll be honest; I’m not hopeful. Has anyone else tried them? Any success?
One thing that’s easy to find is deer tracks in snow. I’m heading out shortly to do some recon on a couple of my Roanoke County spots in hopes I can pinpoint a couple good sites to put stands for some urban archery hunting. And, no, those stands won’t be anywhere near my corn-baited shed traps!
February 8, 2013 - 10:34 AM
shed hunting is fun but its hard u very seldom find one but when u do its like an addiction i found 2 so fair 4 an 5
Gary & I love to shed hunt, he found a couple very small ones yesterday, for me finding a shed is as thrilling as seeing a good buck. Mark, post pictures if your shed traps work, we tried using rabbit wire over the corn to hook loose antlers a few years ago but no sucess.
Good job killin bambi. You are REAL men.
Mark, take a dog. Dogs often will find fresh sheds in places you might not go. I once tried putting salt and corn in a hole in some rocks big enough for a deer’s head, sans antlers. Didn’t work. The people I know who find them more routinely than others seem to have a knack. Their trick is to go where they think the big bucks are, and then just follow the deer trails, looking for jumps and tight spots that might jar the headgear. Like all of the good hunters and fishermen, time in the woods is key. Sheds will show up in the same or similar areas year after year. Smaller sheds can be found in wide open spots, I wonder if the young deer are sparring and knock them loose, but probably they just fall off while feeding. Main thing seems to me to be, spend the time and compound the knowlege just like a good hunter, fisherman, or morel hunter and you’ll up your odds. Hope you strike gold. I’ve always been too lazy to put in the work. Or too busy chasing fish. Or both.
Thanks, Jerry. And keep your head high. The world needs gatherers, too.
Perch has a point. Use a dog!
I’ve found 2 in a lifetime. My dogs have found more than 20. If there was a way to post a picture here, I would show some that I kept.
One good dog is better than a hundred human eyes! No exaggeration there!
Bird dogs rule!!!!
thanks jerry,we enjoy it
Geez, jerry. Bambi gonna die anyway. Can’t speak for them that I don’t know, but those folks I do know give that deer more respect in the harvest and partaking than most of who/whatever ends that deer will otherwise likely encounter.
Sheds are a favored target of artists, artisans, and deer afficianados. Don’t have to shoot ‘em to hunt their sheds.
Many years ago, decades, I went to the barn for fire wood and there laying by the barn was 1 pair sitting side by side. My mom took them and attached them to a chain and they are still hanging on the wall. I’ve never found another, though I don’t really look for them. It is a 9 pt. Just one of those odd stories from growing up the woods. When my boys get in wood for their granddad they always look for them.
GO84 — That’s a cool story. My brother had kind of a similar story. He was deer hunting out in Oregon and decided to sit down next to the trunk of a big fir tree. He sat down, got situated and there about 2 feet away was a matching set from a nice buck. Only antlers he saw that day!
Mr. Taylor, you know it’s curious i’ve got deer, bear, and other assorted animals all over my area. I have never seen shed’s except that one time. I never really thought about it until I saw this post. I’m going to start looking down more, my wife and I are usually admiring the view and talking. I guess I need to make a point of not staying on the path.
This was a great article / post (not sure what to call this, I’m new).
I’ve read these for some time but I’ve only resently started posting. Everyone here seems happier and friendlier. Everyone on Mr. Casey’s seems angry and snarky. Anyway, I enjoy reading your blogs.
I FOUND MOST OF MINE DURING WALKS AROUND CREEKS AND FENCE LINES,WHERE THEY CROSS THEY SHAKE THEM OFF,CHECK YOUR RUBS AND TRAILS
Another thing is to be timely. Sheds are seldom found later in the year because of the very reason dogs are good at finding them. Coyotes and foxes probably chew them, mice, wood rats and squirrels absolutely chew them, for their mineral content I would guess, with birthin’ time on the way and food scarcer from winter.
Mark, please try to let us know if your traps work. I thought mine would, there were plenty of bucks around when I did that and I didn’t hunt them there at the house so they shouldn’t have been spooked, but no luck. Your trap sounds better.
I am in the woods year round… I hike/scout in the mountains at least once or twice a week. I call myself “shed hunting” but mainly I’m just keeping up with critter movement always trying to learn more about them. I very rarely find a shed antler although I hike deer trails/areas where I know bucks live. Of course in large expanses of the national forests the deer densities are low so it really is like looking for the proverbial “needle in a haystack”. I didn’t find any last year and none so far this year either. However in 2010 I found three including one very nice 4 point. That year there was snow on the ground and that’s what helped me see the sheds. I don’t have dogs but that is obviously a great way to find sheds…. I have a buddy whose dogs roam the woods and they bring back antlers regularly.
Perch — I have a camera over my traps and am very eager to see if deer are at least visiting. We will see.
As for dogs, my neighbors recently got a pair or red tick coonhound puppies and they give them antlers (store-bought) to chew on. They could possibly be trained to be shed dogs (they’re not hunters, though they would let me train them for coons if I wanted to, or knew how to). The one thing is, at least at this point they are not very good at returning. The last time they took them to the woods the puppies took off, as hounds do, and they were lucky to get them back!
Dogs are the way to go. I just lost my golden retreiver right before Christmas, she was 13. I would take her shed hunting and she found way more than me. I now have a 11 week old male Golden ( Max ). While he is to young for this years shed hunting, I hope to have him ready for next year. The Goldens have outstanding nose’s and easy to train. I have found sheds in and around my small food plot for the last several years. Have not looked this year yet, hope to look this Saturday. I have also found nice sheds where a down tree has fallen across deer trails. The deer jump the tree and the jolt on landing will sometimes knock them off. My last Golden could also find Morells ( Mushrooms ) as well. I miss that old dog…: )
Hate to hear about losing your dog, Todd. That’s never easy. Here’s hoping that Max turns out to be a good shed and morel finder!
Todd,
Sorry to hear about your retreiver. They are beautiful animals, indeed. Kudos to you, though, for providing a good home to another. We lost our dog (a beagle/basset hound mix) not too long ago, but cannot bring ourselves to provide a home for another just yet. Some day, but not yet.
Todd, as someone who has buried a few dogs in my time, I share your pain. Even the laziest shoe chewer is hard to say goodbye to, but a dog that could actually find morels….now that’s a new one on me. Anyone who loses a good hunting dog, be it sheds, birds, ‘shrooms, whatever, has lost more than just a companion.
Here’s hoping your new dog can pick up where your old dog left off. It must be nice to be able to actually pick a dog, also. We usually get picked by the dog some ne’er do well drops off in the country, but we love their useless hides as much as the very few dogs we’ve been able to actually pick ourselves.
And Todd, if it’s not too painful to discuss, how did you go about training your dog to find morels? Did the dog like to eat them? I know Europeans use pigs and dogs to find truffles. I am intrigued.
@ Perch it all started because I would take my dog when I went Morel hunting. I never took her to find them, but she would watch me as I picked them. She was always curious and would run over and sniff what I had in my hand. Then the next thing I noticed she would put that nose on the ground and started finding them. At 1st she would sniff them out and bite them off and chew and then spit them out. After a few firm corrections when she put them in her mouth she stopped biteing them. Then she would just sniff them out and stand there and look at me untill I came over and picked them. I would always praise her when she located them and she just got the hang of it. From then on all I had to do was find the 1st one and let her sniff and she was good to go the rest of the day. I did this the same way when finding deer sheds at 1st. She learned very quick and was always trying to please me. Her sense of smell was great. I hope Max learns as quick as my last Golden. Hope this answers your question. Todd
It does Todd, and thank you very much for responding. She sounds like she was a very smart dog and your training technique was classic. Good retrievers can be taught not to chew the birds, sounds like you used her natural abilities, her breeding, and your connection with her to good end. When I told her about your dog, my wife informed me that when she was surveying once in Giles County, they came upon an old fellow with an old mutt. The man had a paper grocery sack nearly full of morels. He told them his dog had figured out what he was up to a few years back and since then he’d found more than ever. Good luck with Max, Todd. And thank you again for the story.