ILbowhunter88

I've never had any luck shed hunting so i thought i would ask for a little help. i'm in central illinois, when are most sheds on the ground? Where is the best place to look. thanks for any help you could give

Bols

I think by February you will have the best luck finding shedssince almost 95% of bucks will have dropped their antlers by this time.

You may find some fresh sheds now, but you will maximize your chances of finding sheds if you hold off until February.

ILbowhunter88

thanks

Kybuckhunter

I see a bunch of bucks as late as the end of March with racks. Some will drop in December so you can start looking early but be sure to go back and look later on.

Feeding areas and bedding area and the trails between the two are where you need to look.

glew22

how long do they usually last before the squirells and mice get to them?

Scott/IL

I was always told that most deer drop their racks around late Feb. and early March. I've had the most like finding sheds in bedding areas, along field edges, and places where a deer has to jump over something (for example, fences, creek banks, logs blocking trails).

I'm not sure when squirrilsand other rodentsget to them, but when we go mushroom hunting we find plenty of untouched sheds. I even find some during deer season from time to time that have been chewed on very little.

kevin1

Make yourself a shed trap and set up a trailcam over it to see what left them . With the secondary rut winding down the bucks will be looking for some high quality food to replace some of the fat they lost during the rut .

bob d

found my first of the year last monday nice 5 point ,have to get back in and look for the other half after season ends on thursday

shed33

I don't know Illinois, but I do a lot of shed hunting here in Idaho. For one Its important to know when your deer do most of their shedding, I say this because you have to decide if its worth bumping several packing bucks versus finding one bucks sheds ..say if its too early in the shedding process for your area. Here its not, many bucks have dropped, guys are finding fresh sheds daily.

Make sure you look for sheds in the areas the bucks are using right now, where they are feeding and bedding and in between. Even on flat ground like I have shed hunted in Saskatchewan, I have found that deer really do like the sunny areas this time of year if you have snow and or cold temperatures. I also have found that once the hunting stops in my area and the deer are left alone, the bucks will bed much closer to food sources and I find sheds right in the food sources. Deer here do a lot of browsing because of the thick timbered and brushy habitat. They really arent hitting any agricultural crops right now because we really dont have much for winter ag. I am sure many states are different. So I am looking on southern faces where there is a lot of winter type feed.

I have no idea if any of this helps since we live in different habitats, I will say this, I believe most of my shed finds come from two things, knowing exactly where BUCKS like to hang out and feed this time of year and putting on miles and miles of searching..time time time.. Never giving up even if I go all day without finding a shed. Somedays I may find 1/2 a dozen sheds..which is a really goodday forme inthis habitat...somedays..I find none..just keep after it.

I have shed hunted for mule deer sheds in open terrain and have found as many as 30 ina day...again habitat, visibilty and finding winter feeding/ranging areas that don't get picked over by other shed hunters all plays into find success rates..good luck

Troy