shed hunting

[ChompChomp_YANK]

A buddy of mine lives near Lindstrom, MN. he watches the deer every night in his back yard (some think he is crazy ) he has had 13 different bucks from small to big comming to his feeders lately and only about 1/3 of them have dropped. The largest of them (130" eight pt.) still has both sides.

[certified jumbo]

Well, i got back on the board this last weekend after a month of finding nothing. Snuck out for a couple hours over the weekend with the wife. I found 2 small non matching antlers. But, i will take them. I've had a difficult time finding many big antlers this year. A big reason I beleive is because the bigger ones are under the snow in my area as most dropped the end of december and first part of january. This means i should have some good action in april though. Which will be fun!! Up to ten now on the year, not a lot of size though. Sorry no pics on these two in the field, no cam. Here's a couple pics at home.

Good Luck,

CJ

[buglefever]

The deer around here really hamnmer the cedars on heavy winters so there's "blue pee" everywhere. If you can find the cedars they've been chewing on, those can be some really easy sheds to find. Even when there's heavy snow the area around those trees will be beaten down, sometimes to the ground. Especially if they're feeding on a line of trees facing the south. And the antlers stick out like a sore thumb!

I got permission for one of those such spots yesterday. I'm the only one that asks now, but again this year, just like the last few, somone beat me there. Somone walked the line of cedar trees before our last snow. I didn't find a single antler in the easy spots. But I did go way to the back of the property to a little pocket where they have it tore up and managed to find a "tough" antler. It was a beautiful 6 pt....a basic 5 with split g-2s and really dark color with bark still on the base. All that was sticking out of the snow was about 1/2 inch of the brow and about 1 inche of the beam tip. Now I just have to beat the competition when the snow melts to find the other half!

[mooneyes]

I have never gone shed hunting...seems like a fun hobby to add to the list...not like a few more hours in the woods could hurt a guy! best part is there are no ticks unlike morel huntin

[shedaddict]

Jumbo, Buglefever,great finds guys! Bugle, any pics?

[Musky Buck]

mooneyes, it is a good hobby, maybe in all of this snow it might be tougher sleddin, just figure out where you plan to look and then find out if they have shed yet. I used to think man it's tough finding sheds well the bucks in my area roughly 90% hadn't lost them yet, our trailcams are a great help, still waiting for them to begin, about mid-march is prime time from then on in my area. Don't go too soon but the spring thaw can really mess up shed hunting in my area if it comes too soon. My window to find them is short. Speaking of bucks saw 2 big ones Saturday at 2:00pm east of Akeley, 1 was shed the other wasn't, it was nice to see a couple really good bucks and nicer yet I didn't connect with them on the highway, just kinda daydreaming along and deer!!!!!!!! Screech........

[lungdeflator]

gosh i cant wait til this snow melts. I was looking forward to looking this weekend but after that snow and the drifting that occurs in ND im pretty much shut down for awhile again

[buglefever]

shedaddict: I would love to be able to share some pictures, but I'm rather illiterate on the computer and havn't figured out how yet! I know it's probably simple but just havn't figured it out yet.

And mooneyes...as far as ticks, I don't want to scare you, but they will be out sooner than you think. In the spring of '08 while there was still a lot of snow on the ground, in a matter of a couple outings I pulled 15+ deer ticks off my dog and 10 off of me. Last year was the same. I actually stopped bringing my pooch with me cuz they were so bad. Amazing that they're out in the snow. And what's really funny is that it's deer ticks, the wood ticks don't show up til summer.

And sad news is that in the last 36 hours we got a LOT of snow, so my shed hunting will be delayed by a week or two at least. Though on bright note, a buddy saw a good 10 this weekend. That was the only buck with a rack he's seen in well over a month! So most of ours are buried. Now it will be who's there first when the snow melts.

[shedaddict]

Not much going with all the snow.

Do any of you guys moose shed hunt? I've been thinking of giving that a go this spring.

[buglefever]

I would love to hunt moose sheds. Been thinking about going out west to look for elk sheds. Several posts ago there were some that thought it odd to pay to look for sheds, but I love it. And I also love elk, though being from Iowa that's ironic. My work has me bound so far. But if things go well, in the next few years I will be shedding around the country....wishful thinking.

On a bright note, was out for less than 2 hours today and found a nice 4 and a neat 5pt. All i know is that if you're looking in NE Iowa, you're working your butt off for your bone!!! I was in an open field with snow well over my knees. One I found had a 10 inch g-2, and all that was sticking out was a bit of that!!! Gotta Love It!!!!

[LOTWSvirgin]

What do you guys do with the sheds after you find them and get them home. You just throw them in a box make something out of them hang them. I guess what I am saying is I got a bunch here and there around the house but kind sick of looking at them just laying there. So what do you guys do with them?? Pics would be great to see.

[shedaddict]

Right now, I have them all hanging in the garage, but once I build a cabin, I will use them for various things throughout the cabin. I know one guy that made a chandelier light out of an old wagon wheel and then hung all the antlers from that; it turned out really well. Sorry, no pics.

[scsavre]

I am still in the planning process, cause i only have a few sheds. I am going to take a crack at making a couple of lamps for the cabin, and maybe a small chandelier. I might try and use some of the smaller sheds for handles and what not on drawers and cabinets.

[lungdeflator]

Went out in ND for the first time this year today. Looked for close to 6 hours without any luck. Found some awesome yarding areas and trails though so once the snow melts its game on

[Odonata]

Saw two ten pointers yesterday....obviously still had their head gear on.

[fishhawk1750]

Saw two ten pointers yesterday....obviously still had their head gear on.

or a lot of points on 1 side

[Musky Buck]

Saw 3 bucks this weekend, 1 nice one, 2 yearlings.

[buglefever]

More snow for us sunday-monday, a few inches, plus blowing. So now I'm chomping at the bit big time. Once the snow melts it's a race with the rodents!

I make windchimes with a few of mine. I will never sell any I find, so the windchimes I make I give away as gifts, either for holiday or I gave a couple to landowners for permission. I carve their name in the antler and make a chime out of it. W/O pics it's hard to describe. I also have shelves with antlers. I have "mood" lights around the top of my living room with antlers hanging on them. Basically they are x-mas rope lights with antlers hanging off. I do have several sets that I plan on getting full mounts of also. To say I'm an antler addict is an understatement!

[Monkster]

I believe I followed the instructions from Steve on posting this picture. If not, I will try another way.

These are from my 8 year old and I walking for about 3 hours this last weekend. My son doesn't seem to like hunting too much, but he seems to really like this! He has only asked me six times if we can go out this weekend also! Next time I will also have to put something else in the pic also so you can appreciate the size. These are very, very thick. we found them about 100 yards from eachother. Lots of similarities, not positive about a match.

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/Album..._NAME=comcast2/

[matchset]

half-way point for the year. not too bad for only 4 guys.

[lovebigbluegills]

Great work Matchset...there's alot of real nice antlers you've got there.

[Monkster]

Wow! Nice racks...he he he.

Question - how often do you look over the same areas when you have already found sheds in that area?

[lungdeflator]

Nice work. About looking over the same areas more than once, I usually go in throughout february and march and let the sign in the snow tell me where they are wintering and traveling and then go back into those areas once the snow is gone. If I am positive an antler is in there than I will go in more than once but if it turns out to be not as good as I thought when the snow was there than I am wasting my time

[matchset]

as much as you possibly can before the next snow!

i like to look an area over throughly; which means hours! variety is nice, but if you know that a certain area is holding deer (sheds) why move?

[fireman]

Went out today until I wore out the webbing on my snowshoes, one foot knee deep in snow, the other on top. But it was all worth it when I found 4 sheds, 1 matched pair, looks to be about a 120-130" deer.

I have been shed hunting for several years, and never found any until last year when I found a small 2 and 3 pt. This year Im out for a half an hour and find 4 with a matched set.

Will try and post pics later.