Shed Hunting?

[phil@thesidehill]

anyone else have some shed pics? lets see 'em!



same buck back to back years. 2011 and 2012.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

sometimes you walk up on sleeping grey fox....i walked up on this same fox 3 times that season....biggest grey i have ever seen. just after i took this pic i threw a rock at him...boy did that scare the crap out of him!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

here is most of the collection as of probably 3 yrs ago. Most sheds are from here in NE PA. Some from Iowa and NY in there too.




some of the smaller sheds in the collection. the matched set of little chunky forks at the top are a cool story. I have trail cam pics of the buck that fall, then in may i found the left side about 30 yds in front of where that camera was that fall. then then the next year i found the match (right side) about 50 yds further into the woods under a hemlock.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

found these 3 laying together...im guessing they had a little shoving match going on that resulted in 3 of 4 antlers hitting the ground.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

 

[phil@thesidehill]

 

[phil@thesidehill]

one of my favorite finds....saved this thing from a watery grave.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

 

[phil@thesidehill]

found these guys in one 45 min walk.

 

[SD51555]

Unreal! Nice work!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Unreal! Nice work!

thanks...i put a lot of effort into to it. lots of miles on the boots. i can honestly say that i have learned more about deer by shed hunting than pretty much any other method. its the best time to get out and walk around with out worrying about spooking everything out.....and all of the previous fall's sign is still very visible...rubs, scrapes, trails, scat, beds etc. and before green up and after the snow melts the woods look a lot like they do in november in alot of ways.

 

[bueller]

That's an impressive collection of sheds and photos Phil.

 

[Jason]

i'm really looking forward to shed hunting this year. we'll see if i have time for it. i've never actually found a shed. lol. i seem to find only skulls. i've found bear, many does, and an 8 point skull. maybe this will be my year :)

Phil - that is crazy! how many miles do you think you walk per shed find?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i'm really looking forward to shed hunting this year. we'll see if i have time for it. i've never actually found a shed. lol. i seem to find only skulls. i've found bear, many does, and an 8 point skull. maybe this will be my year :)

Phil - that is crazy! how many miles do you think you walk per shed find?

I have no clue...it varies greatly from year to year and quite often when you find one you found a few in a relatively short time....so the averages get thrown off a bit.

Spend some time scouting for sheds and it just might pay off. find the food source the bucks are on when the majority of antlers are hitting the ground then slowly back track them to where they are bedding. connect the dots between food and bed and you should be able to scoop up a few. Think of it this way....you are most likely to find sheds where bucks spend most of their time during the period of time that they are shedding. Bed and Food are the two areas they spend most of their time, and obviously they have to move between the two. Staging areas adjacent to food sources can be very productive as well...some times those late winter bachelor groups still like to spar a bit to keep the pecking order clear...that knocks some antlers off in the process.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

That's an impressive collection of sheds and photos Phil.

Thanks!

 

[Bill]

6 years worth. Doesn't include last year which was a light year.

Last year. Making it 7 years worth.

Some day I'll figure out what to with them.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

6 years worth. Doesn't include last year which was a light year.

Last year. Making it 7 years worth.

Some day I'll figure out what to with them.

Looks like a great bone pile right there bill! You have some good ones in that pile!

 

[SD51555]

6 years worth. Doesn't include last year which was a light year.

Last year. Making it 7 years worth.

Some day I'll figure out what to with them.

Get a bigger box. :D

 

[MoBuckChaser]

What the Barracuda found in 5 hrs one day last spring here in Missouri.

 

[bueller]

You guys have some awesome collections! Since I can't seem to find antlers on any live deer around here maybe I'd have better luck just trying to find some laying on the ground in a couple months :eek:.