Shed Antlers

[lungdeflator]

Wondering if anybody is seeing any bucks without their headgear? Also has anybody ever tried some sort of trap to get more sheds? I think I heard somewere that chicken wire was illegal, but what about putting corn under a downed pine? Or a 2x4 over a feeder?

[ate1cropy]

I heard bucks are starting to drop all over the state. I have not noticed any yet. last week I got pics of bucks still fighting so im not sure how ready they are in my area yet. I did put some corn down in some real thick stuff thinking when they do start they might bump their rack on some of the branches and drop. Kind of a long shot but I have to try something.

[gonefishing70]

I have a about 8 different bucks comeing to my feeder in the yard and we only have one eight pointer with half his rack. they started to drop the last week of december, The earliest I have seen.

[SSSTaxidermy]

Got a buddy just outside of Bemidji stating 2 weeks ago or so…He’s been heading over to his uncles silage piles a couple times a week, picking out sheds stick in it or around it.

I told him I was going to turn him in for baiting for sheds!

[james_walleye]

Christmas eve i headed to the in-laws taking the backroads and had a few deer cross the road in front of me. There were 4 bucks, 2 of which were half racks in which i assumed had shed 1 side.

[shedfreak]

They are definitely dropping. I have found it to be the same scenario year in and year out. Every year you will have your early droppers. Say mid december to january 1st. I found my first freshie last year dec.14. You will also see bucks carrying both sides in April. I would say the majority however drop by mid february. As far as " shed traps" go, I dont believe in them. Shed hunting should be as challenging as hunting if not more. Shed hunting is also one of the best scouting excerises you can do. You are able to tell where deer are traveling, where the feeding areas are, as well as bedding areas. When you use feeders to bring in sheds, all your doing is taking the deer away from their natural habitat. It tells you nothing, except that they migrate toward easy feeding. Does it make shed hunting easier... without a doubt. BUt for me, finding a shed over a bait pile or in a trap is pointless, it does nothing for ya. Its like going to a game farm and shooting a boone and crockett buck. Wouldnt you rather be able to say you shot a booner fair chase?? I do all my shed hunting on public property in Northern MN. In the past 2 years, I have picked up 50 sheds, 29 2 years ago, and 21 last year. If you read up on it, and study it, you can become succesful, the same as hunting. Can anyone go out and shoot a boone and crockett deer? Yes and No, in my mind. It has a little to do with being in the right place at the right time I suppose. but I also believe a hunter that puts in his time in the field, scouting, checking trail cams, figuring out deer movement, etc, has the best chance hands down at having a big buck down.

Its been a slow year thus far for me, with all the early snowfall. I have only found one so far this year, and it was actually in the woods behind a house that feeds...So yeah I found one, but it just didnt do much for me, I kinda knew there would be one back there, ya know? I like the thrill of not knowing, trouncing through the woods, and seeing that bone poking up through the snow in the brush... But like I always say, to each his own, everyone does things different, there is no right and wrong way here, just matters of opinion. Anyone else want to weigh in on the issue of " shed traps"???

Shedfreak

here is a few of my finds over the last 3 years

[Big River]

nice collection shedfreak! looks like you put in your time.

[eric29]

I think its illegal to use any sort of trap that is made to knock the antlers off the deer. The antlers are made to fall off naturally and if they get knocked off you can injure the deer. I really would not reccomend trying this.

[kr8r.tom]

i've seen drawings in hunting magazines where they use fencing in a "w" shape and put corn in the pockets of the w and hope for a bucks antlers to get caught in the fencing. my take is if your supplamental feeding and they're coming in on a regular basis you'll probably find them near your feeder or on the trail to/from their bedding area.

[kr8r.tom]

anyone ever see the video where the buck is knocking off his antlers? they were stuck on pretty good he looked pretty disillusioned for a few seconds after they came off.

[BLACKJACK]

i've seen drawings in hunting magazines where they use fencing in a "w" shape and put corn in the pockets of the w and hope for a bucks antlers to get caught in the fencing. my take is if your supplamental feeding and they're coming in on a regular basis you'll probably find them near your feeder or on the trail to/from their bedding area.

There was an article in the local paper last week where the guy talked about taking a cattle panel and making it into a 'V', baiting it with corn, and then collecting sheds. I couldn't figure out the concept then but I suppose if you put the corn at the tip of the 'V' he might knock his antlers off.

Shedfreak, I understand your dedication to shed hunting vrs just collecting sheds at a feeder, it is fun when you walk up on a big shed on the trail but its also frustrating to walk miles and miles and find nothing. If I was still feeding deer in a trough (I stopped because of potential disease spread) I wouldn't hesitate to put up a 'antler knocker off-er'. Nothing wrong with it. A person would have to be careful though so you didn't accidently get a deer caught by the leg or neck....

[eric29]

Does anybody else know the laws regarding this? I remember reading an arcticle in the outdoor news last year about this and if i remember right i thought it was all illegal.

[Hodgy17]

I thought it was illegal any way you try it.

[leech~~]

"Holy sheds" shedfreak, are you sure you don't live by a Deer farm! Nice sets of racks!

[lungdeflator]

Very nice collection there. It seems that most deer go into winter feeding/bedding patterns. Where do most people find their sheds? Bedding areas? I am going to try to use the GPS to mark winter bedding areas and wait til snow melt to really look.

[HunterLee]

It's illegal to use something that is intended to knock off there antlers. I do not know what the exact rules are though. Putting feed between tree's might be alright, but using something like fenceing over the top is a big no-no. We have a couple guys that like to look for sheds, and they told me that they called the DNR. If there are bucks using an area, they aren't to hard to find unless they are covering alot of area. But if you can access there bedding area, and trails to food, you should find most of them.

I don't go at it, more then one or two times a year, but found 7 sides in about 20yds one time, all the right side, for some reason, and have walked alot of good area and not found anything. Have to find the buck area's. The deer in my area seem to lose them about mid febuary, or later. See a couple nice ones in Mid march every year though.

[certified jumbo]

It is awesome to see this thread again, its one of my favorites. Good discussion as well. I don't even know where to start. First off, I guess i'm not a big fan of putting up shed knock er offers, might be illegal too??? not sure. as far as picking sheds off where people feed them, doesn't bother me too much. I look for antlers in 4 different area's around the carlton area. One of the area's we do feed the deer and occassionally have them drop their antlers in the feeding area. As many hours and days we spend looking to find an occassional antler on the pile feels kind of good and i usually need a pick me up. I go many long hours/days without finding any. The other 3 areas we look are winter yarding areas. all 4 spots are private and their isn't anybody else looking besides us.

this year has been interesting to say the least. it seems to me as though all the bucks in our area have dropped their antlers. we've found 10 so far which is surprisingly early for us. last year most dropped there antlers between feb. 18 - 25th. this year they dropped between dec 25 - jan 10th. the pics we got last wkd from trail cams showed no antlered deer left and many you could see where their antlers were gone. unfortunetely, this is going to mean not much more action for us until the snow melts. 4 of us went up friday evening and looked for 5 hours in the dark with lanterns and only found one. the reason we looked in the night was because they were forcasting 3" which we got. oh well, i guess we will be busy in april and may this year.

here are some pics of the nine my fiance and i found 2 wkds ago, thank goodness she had a good eye, most were partially covered by snow.

[kr8r.tom]

i don't have very good spots but i have about 7 hours for every one i've found.

[Odonata]

Have been out walking on 3 different occassions. Have not come up with anything....yet. I walk the trails, check the beds, cruise the browsing areas, watch river crossings, look at spots that cause a buck to jolt/jump(obstacles), any other "magic" spots as Lungdeflator asked?

Neighbor found half a nice 10 pt. and have seen bucks still with and without head gear. Anyone have pics of recent finds?

[Odonata]

It is awesome to see this thread again, its one of my favorites. Good discussion as well. I don't even know where to start. First off, I guess i'm not a big fan of putting up shed knock er offers, might be illegal too??? not sure. as far as picking sheds off where people feed them, doesn't bother me too much. I look for antlers in 4 different area's around the carlton area.

I don't know if you can be more specific, but I search many areas in Carlton too. Any chance we cross paths/snowshoe tracks?

[certified jumbo]

2 of the spots we look aren't to far from hay lake, south of carlton. we also have some land not to far from the old hitching post on 23. probably haven't crossed paths with you, we look on private land and have never seen anyone else. we have a group of guys who look, we generally find around 10 - 15 antlers a year. so we don't find a ton, but this year we are off to our best start ever of 10 already. but like i mentioned earlier, i think things are really going to slow down. the antlers were almost buried two weeks ago, so if we get anymore snow. its gonna be a spring thing.

good luck, if anyone gets pics. i would love to see em.

cj

[Odonata]

You're in my area somewhat. I search the area near Carlton/Thomson in town and towards the state park. If I figure out how to post a picture, I will show you the results of our area. We have a good chunk of property off of 23 north of the Sioux Line. I primarily look on my own, but cover a lot of ground.

Good Luck, if anyone can post a picture for me, I will get them up.

[fishermn]

Aaron, Nice looking display! I like the way you finished that room, it looks a lot like my basement, same color scheme as well. Only difference is I went with sheetrock on most of the ceiling instead of the pine.

I know ther are still a good number of big guys in some of the prime areas this year. Saw a lot during the prime rut period, and had to let one of em walk on Oct 25th cuz I didnt have my doe yet!! 145+ for sure and HEAVY... Never did shoot one, but I know where they were living in November...

Well, hope to see ya in the woods, I havent started yet, but I will be out after I get my fill of BWCA laker trips!

[eric29]

I talked to a CO and he said it is illegal to use any sort of a trap, any way you try it it not legal. Whether u use chicken wire or panels to trap a deer or if you strategically place a downed tree or 2x4.

[shedfreak]

I am guessing about 50% or so have dropped by me, I see atleast one carrying both sides everytime I go out. I havent been able to walk as much as previous years as I have a 3 week old baby at home these days. My walking consists of 20 minute power walks after work. I work until 430, so when I get to a spot its about 445, and i usually walk til dark. I have found 3 so far this year, nothing with any size, but they will come in time, as long as none of you beat me to em!! The last one i found had the bloodiest base of all the sheds I have picked up, so although it was small, it was pretty cool knowing I picked it not too long after it hit the ground

And lastly, the reason Im spending a bit more time at home these days. Parker James White born January 3, 2009