Sheds & Snow

[deershed]

Before this year I thought finding sheds in the snow was next to impossible.Now after this year and doing some serious shed hunting in the snow.
I think with the right conditions and the timing of the snow and when they drop,your odds of finding sheds is not all that bad.
We got snow in my area before the deer really started dropping and it stuck around.We got a good 1 1/2" of snow and with the cold tempertures not much has melted.And we haven't had any snow after to amount to anything.
With that amount of snow the deer are staying on the main trails that are already cut though the snow.There's not as much wandering around at random which narrows my search area down.
I find a good feeding area then walk the trails leading away.I've been finding some in the feeding areas,but alot of my sheds are right in the trails.What's really nice is there's a thin crust of ice on top of the snow,so any sheds dropped stay on top of the snow.
Any sheds dropped before the snow are safe til melt down.
You guys that get alot of snow during the shed season.Do you find alot of sheds in the trails the deer cut though the snow?

 

[IowaShedHunter]

Deershed,

I made it out last night for a quick walk. Most of the bucks here are still holding both sides. It should be anytime now. I did find a 17" wide 9 pointer. I was walking a good trail when I saw tines and when I reach down to retrieve what I thought was a shed, I pull the whole skull and all up through the snow. I was a bit disapointed. Then I couldn't get it broke lose from the hide that was still attached to the rest of the body. To top it off I left the knife in my truck. So I came home with nothing. I got some good exercise though. Sounds as though you are doing well so far. I think things will pick up by the end of Feburary here.

Chris

 

[Dawgs]

a good twist and the skull would have come right off

 

[Shag]

I think you're right, that when deer are trailing and the snow's melted up or shrunk up some, any recent sheds can be really easy to find. Trails and around bed all can be good in those conditions. One very irritating problem I've had up here is that when the weather's really rough and the snows are deep, deer will linger within thick spruce and pine thickets for long periods of time with only a little venturing out on trail systems to attempt to feed. The sheds can be found there when you're lucky but those pine thickets (the ones where the pines are so tight that all the inner branches underneath are pretty much dead) are lousy with red (pine) squirrels and as you know, those littel ba$tard$ will find and ruin the sheds pretty quickly when they're also foraging for food and see this nice piece of calcium/phosphorus sticking up out of the snow like a sore thumb. Our deer are tough, long-legged cusses and I routinely see trailing signs where they've been out pushing snow with their chest as they walk around, literally. Trails outside the thickets and those going between bedding areas and feeding areas will hold sheds safely until you come along and fine em. Part of the trouble up here is that the snow falls virtually almost daily and there's new snow on everything every day, so it's tough but I see our weather changing in subtle ways already even in the mddle of February. Keep the fresh digital pics coming Deershed.

 

[IowaShedHunter]

Hey Dawgs, I twisted it and broke the skull free from the back bone. It was the hide that it was attached to. It was hooked across the neck and down both sides of the neck. Beings it was in the wet snow it just rehidrated the skin and it let me twist it about 20 turns. A knife will fix the problem.

Chris