Best spots to search.

[rcornelius]

I have found 1 set of sheds, and 2 single beams. So three different times. I am in North central Wisconsin. Where is my best spot to look for sheds? Do you just look all over, follow runways? Just curious what works. Up here do I wait til the snow is gone like in march? Or is it worth looking in January and February with snow on the ground. With the amount of nice bucks I got on camera this year, and the lack of killing our group did I am guessing most larger bucks made it.

Thanks for the advice.

PS. What eats them? Mice? Moles?

 

[las]

Great questions! Your best spots to find sheds are where the deer will spend their time from Late February to early march. Seems simple but too many people look in 'dead' areas and assume only certain people find sheds. You may have captured 5-10 good bucks on camera as late as December, but if there are not any food sources close by or an easy food source opens up within a mile, the deer willl be there instead of your land. You have to hunt for sheds as hard as you hunt for deer. Once you locate a group of deer (5-50) get permission to walk the land and you will be surprised at what you find. Even in areas where the ground is littered with tracks and droppings, it will take a lot of effort to locate a shed. It's never easy, but keep walking the trails, bedding and transition areas and you will eventually run across one. Too many people walk areas where they seen deer in September through November and wonder why they don't find sheds, it's because the deer moved a quarter mile to a food source. Warm years like this make it harder to find sheds. The deer don't yard-up, so the sheds could be spread out anywhere - just keep walking in warm years and hope to stumble upon something. Also; bucks tend to drop sheds in same areas each year. Good luck and keep us posted on how you do.

ps. Mid February is as early as you want to start looking in your area, but then again - my buddy found a set last thursday (last years set,) you just never know?

 

[gonehunting]

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PS. What eats them? Mice? Moles?[/b]

Yep.....I have seen shrews chowing down too

 

[Grumpy1]

Great response las,deer yards are the better spots to search,but I have found that with the milder winters that we've had in the past 15 years or so that the fringe areas of deer yards are goodspots too.The older bucks seem to be the last to show up in the yards,and I think(I'm no biologist),that they don't yard till they've dropped there antlers.I always go the first week of May to find sheds,but this is just cause the weathers great and the most of the snow is gone.I do finds sheds all year long,but find the best ones are right after melt down.They still hold the colour and some of the bark that they had been rubbing on the previous fall.As for what eats them...any rodent from a field mouse to a beaver will chew them for the calcium and the wear down there teeth that don't quit growing.I'vee also found them around the opening of fox dens as well.

Lots of fun finding them Gonehunting,so don't give up!

 

[las]

I agree grumpy; fringe areas are great spots to search. There are so many factors that can determine where a buck will shed its horns? Especially tough in mild years! I believe there is still a tendency for bucks to drop them by bedding areas (covered draws, ridges, river bottoms) and food sources. And always remember the Southern slopes! Interesting you mentioned fox holes, I've never found any by fox holes but I'll keep my eyes open from now on. I've often found little sheds by bases of trees, I used to assume the deer knocked the antlers off on the trees but now I have a different idea. I think that if the shed is small enough, the squirrels will drag them to the bases of trees where they are easy access. The sheds are probably to awkward to carry up the tree. I wonder how many spike and fork horns end up in squirrel nests?

 

[fossilman]

Its also been note-ed that deer will eat the shed antler too,its because of a loss of certain minerals in the area.And of cource calcium....Even birds to a number on them.