Sheds
 

They're dropping here in Pa. I was out for a hike on Friday and the bone dog came up with a fresh shed. Blood on the base. The antler scored 55 inches. Not bad for a Pa. Public hunting area. It was under the snow so it fell awhile ago. After all the antlers I've found it still amazes me how good a dog's nose is!

good find brother and i went new years eve and found some fresh rubs so i think its gonna be awhile before they start to drop here in indiana

I have never done any shed hunting but I have stumbled across a few later in the spring/summer. What percentage of the time do you guys find sheds when you go shed hunting. To me it just seems like a major crap shoot stumbling across the antlers of a couple of bucks that might be living on a specific piece of property. Is there any rhyme or reason as to where the deer loose them, do they rub them and knock them off or do they just fall off randomly. I would like to hunt them but would like to know where to start other then just randomly walking around a couple hundred acres.

Actually it's not as hard as it seems. The most important thing is training your eyes to only look in a 20 yd. circumference. Looking for sheds is the opposite of looking for deer. Looking for deer requires looking ahead, looking for sheds requires looking at the ground in front of you. You'd be surprised how after a while your eye can pick out tines sticking up. The hardest ones are when thay are upside down. This sport is also easier when you have a yellow lab that enjoys finding them as much as you do. This shed he found the other day was completely buried under the snow and he had no problem finding it. The fresh ones are easier for obvious reasons, a few years ago he found one that was under 18" of snow, it was at least 2 years old. Amazing! The best advice I can give you is to find where the deer winter and go back there when the snow melts. If it is a bad winter they will stay in one area for days or weeks thus increasing the odds. It also helps if you are OCD! Good Luck!

I've seen bucks shed in the first week of December and some still holding bone in February of the same season. There doesn't seem to be a defined shedding time. It's over a 3 month period. The longer you wait, the more sheds will be on the ground. Unless you have other shed hunters in the area, then you need to get out early and often.

I'm going to take my chocolate lab with me over the next couple of months. I enjoy looking for them. I have'nt found a shed yet, but have found whole racks still attached to skull....

Good Luck, do allot of walking, and when you think you've walked long enough walk some more. A dog really helps your odds, it's a great scouting tool.