I found my first shed deer antler purely by accident. I nearly tripped over it while climbing a fence on the way to the farm garden. It was so neat, I now spend time every year searching out deer sheds.
How do I find these shed antlers? I bear in mind bedding areas and food sources and also the routes in between these areas. You must look where the deer are concentrated during the process of shedding antlers. That oak flat which proved to be a hot spot when the mast was falling, may not have deer traffic in between January and March when most deer will lose their antlers. Don’t forget to recheck locations more than once, as an area may have had deer traffic since you were last there.
But you should also keep the health of your herd in mind as well. If you go traipsing around their key bedding areas during January and early February, these disturbances could cause the deer to move and could put them under undue stress. Early in the deer shed hunting season, through January and early February, focus your attention on those food source areas and make your best effort to stay out of the bedding areas. I may follow a few access trails back into the bedding areas early solely to identify key spots to check later in the year.
Now that you know where the deer are, there are some specific locations to key in on. While checking the food sources, and fringe areas near these sources, you should easily be able to find the entrance trails. Walk these trails back into the woods fifty yards are so. Bucks do continue to hang out in these “staging” areas before coming out into the field.
Other key locations where deer shed antlers are areas where deer may be forced to jump or jar their bodies: such places as fence crossings, creek bottoms and gullies.
A good pair of optics can save you a good amount of walking as well. I’ve been able to find a good number of shed antlers by simply glassing a food source, such as a hay or soybean stubble field for example, and looking for something out of place. You can cover a lot of ground by simply standing in one place and scanning an area with your binoculars.
Another key factor in finding antler sheds is actually being able to see them. Finding a shed antler is much like finding that first spring morel: the first one is the most difficult to see. I know darn well I’ve looked right at a shed and my minds-eye just didn’t identify what I was actually looking at.
Bring a shed antler with you and toss it out each time the terrain, field type or cover type changes. Sounds simple enough, but you do need to train your eyes and your mind to work together in order to identify what you are actually looking at. Without that recognition you may look right at a shed you actually don’t even see.
There is one experience somewhat comparable to harvesting a trophy buck: picking up what he left behind and the excitement of knowing he’ll be there next year.
Dr. Judy McFarlen http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/ - Veterinarian, Alberta Rancher, and publisher of Deer Food Plots Made Easy.
Learn about the http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/shedding-deer-antlers.html - You will also see other deer sheds being used for many other scenarios.
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