whitetaildeer87

Im want to start hunting for sheds...I found 5 last year...some people claim its the same as hunting...a guy down the road from me found a set that was 12 points that was 6 feet apart...he got it mounted with a different cape...is shed hunting the same? I think it's hard to find sheds...any tips?

Dip182000

Not the same, i mean you cant eat sheds, but shed hunting is fun and you can make some neet stuff out of them.

NY Bowhunter

Not the same to me. You're lookin for bone on the ground instead of trying to harvest a living animal. It is a great way to learn about your late season hunting land.

BIGSCRAPE

Not even remotely close in my opinion.

However, I would say it is far more difficult to find a shed let alone a pair than to actually shoot a deer.


Drew.

bullcan

Not even close in my opinion. However it is still very cool to find a nice shed and I keep all that I find.

WisconsinJeff

I would also say that shed hunting is not nearly the same as hunting but it still can be a good experience.

A few years back during the bow season I had a really nice whitetail walk withinn 20 yards of my stand but never came out of the brush to give me a shot. I described it to my friends as a 12 point with a crab claw tine near the end of the rackwith a lot of mass. I described it as the biggest buck I had ever seen. We'll through the rest of the season not a single person saw that deer again andI think a few thought I was embelishing.In March we went out to adjust our tree stands and on thetrail we walk on to get to the stand I therelay a both sides of his rack side by side, 25 yards from my stand. He was a non-typical 16 pointer that would have scored 180 or more. I had described his rack perfectly the year before except I didn't get all the points correct. It is now on a plaque hanging on the wall.

Finding the sheds was aweome but doesn't come close to comparing to actually hunting the deer.

takeakidhuntin

Check where deer jump over fenches,Also thick brushy places that can knock their antlers off.
Where it's legal some guys put up chicken wire and put corn underneath it.The idea is that when the buck eats the corn his antlers get caught in the wire and pull off.
I'd be afraid that the wire could hurt the deer if his antlers are not ready to come off.

skipsbroan

I don't think it's quite the same as hunting but you can spend alot of time in the woods, like scouting.
Anybody here go shed hunting, and what do you think is the best time of year to go? I read somewhere that most bucks lose their antlers in February.

NEB.BuckHunter

I have went out several times to go shed antler hunting, but never found one. Last year when I was hunting in Wyoming, I found a great left shed from a whitetail that probably would have scored 160-170. Excellent buck, but never saw him. It's much more difficult to find sheds than bucks....at least from my experience.

Bill Yox

As a shed hunter I find anywhere from a dozen or so a year to as many as 40 to 50. In this region thats ok numbers for a guy with no time. Some years they seem to shed in a small window of time, other years they shed over a couple months time, and that means those antlers could wind up anywhere. I find sheds easier to find then bucks during the season, sometimes those sheds are hard to miss once you get the hang of it. Honestly, I hear all the stories of sheds near fence, etc, but I feel youll find the antlers where you improve theodds. A buck spends a couple hours walking and feeding, and many hours bedded. So, I opt for bedding areas to increase my odds. As a person who respects the animal, I absolutely cant stand finding wire and chicken wire out there as silly shed traps. Ive found deer wrapped up in fence dead in the past just from regular fences, so those things rub me wrong. Id rather see someone do it with a few well placed branches instead of wire. Antlers dont become "loose" before shedding anyway, so the timing would need to be near perfect to shed on one. I raise deer and am a taxidermist, so I know what it feels like to have an antler shed off, its almost like a exact fit that breaks away.

As for which is like which, I would love to shoot a big whitetail any day, but finding a whopper shed and knowing the buck might still be out there is thrilling too. But is it like hunting deer? I tell you what, Ill climb up a tree in a good bottleneck, and if a shed walks by ME, THEN its like deer hunting! Just funnin'...shed hunting and deer hunting are two different things...in two different places. Where we often find sheds isnt where we were deer hunting earlier.