Antler Hunting

[ChumpMcgee]

#3682

I live here in Minnesota and was wondering roughly when bucks shed their antlers? I have never gone out looking for sheds but I have stumbled upon a couple as a kid walking in the woods. When does everyone like to go out in what month? I have heard of people going out during the thaw of winter when some snow is still on the ground and the antler color stands out against the dirty snow.

[Stephen Graf]

#23561

Well since nobody who knows anything is going to chime in here, I guess I’ll chime in since I don’t know anything much about it…

Down here in NC you don’t find too many sheds. I don’t know why that is, except that maybe most of the antlered bucks are shot out each year since the seasons are so long and there is little deer management.

Out west is another story. Almost every time I have walked around I have found a shed or two. So that I don’t even bother to pick some of them up.

Down here the deer start losing their antlers about now. I usually start looking for them the 1st week in Feb. We’ve lived on our place for 7 seasons now, and I have found but 1 6 pt shed.

Good luck!

[Brennan Herr]

#23588

I never looked for them but here in PA they start to fall off in feb. I would say looking for them as soon as the snow is gone would be a good start.

[David Coulter]

#23602

I’m in eastern PA. I’d agree that once the snow is melted is a good time, although the snow is not so reliable. I don’t find a lot of sheds, but get lucky once in a while. I’ve found them in real thick brush and right on a wide open trail. dwc

[Etter1]

#23643

It totally depends on the genetics of the deer in your area. It seems to me that deer in the northern regions, who have a short and specific rut, drop their antlers earlier than those down here.

I often would see deer in PA’s late flintlock season without antlers as early as christmas.

Down here in Ga, I have seen mature bucks chasing does on opening day of turkey season (Late March) with bone still.

I typically start finding them in February but always stumble on the most of them during turkey season (March thru May)

The numbers of rodents in your area will determine how much is left when you find em.

Good Luck!

[Tony n]

#23644

Here in Kentucky around now through March is a good time. I find a good place to look is along well used trails and fence lines. Seems when they jump the fence the jolt of the landing knocks an already loose antler off.

~Tony

[ChumpMcgee]

#23664

Thanks for the advice everyone! I am going to see what I can find and basically be out in the woods more often. That to me seems like it would best my odds 😆

[BuckyT]

#23666

Tony n wrote: Here in Kentucky around now through March is a good time. I find a good place to look is along well used trails and fence lines. Seems when they jump the fence the jolt of the landing knocks an already loose antler off.

~Tony

I usually find sheds while out hunting or scouting.

One time I actually went looking for them and found 4 that day. My prize shed is actually a 2″ long spike!:D Can’t believe I saw that little thing.

Most of my territory around here in Ga is wooded, so sheds aren’t as easy to locate as they are in agricultural areas.

Years ago, I was bow hunting and climbed a new tree that afternoon. From the get go, I noticed what looked like antler tips protruding from the leaves about 30yds away in the little hardwood drain I was hunting. I was going to investigate when I climbed down.

This little doe came in from behind me and I ended up putting a good shot on her, and she ran right over the suspected shed I’d been staring at all afternoon.

I climbed down and started following the blood trail. She had indeed ran right over the top of a nice 5 on one side shed and sure enough, the matching side was laying 2 feet away! My doe was laying another 30yds up ahead.

[Tony n]

#23683

Two springs ago while setting up a brush blind for turkeys I found what a pair not 10 yards apart on the edge of a winter wheat field. They each had 5 pts. That was a lucky find!

~Tony

[ChumpMcgee]

#23694

BuckyT wrote: [quote=Tony n]Here in Kentucky around now through March is a good time. I find a good place to look is along well used trails and fence lines. Seems when they jump the fence the jolt of the landing knocks an already loose antler off.

~Tony

I usually find sheds while out hunting or scouting.

One time I actually went looking for them and found 4 that day. My prize shed is actually a 2″ long spike!:D Can’t believe I saw that little thing.

Most of my territory around here in Ga is wooded, so sheds aren’t as easy to locate as they are in agricultural areas.

Years ago, I was bow hunting and climbed a new tree that afternoon. From the get go, I noticed what looked like antler tips protruding from the leaves about 30yds away in the little hardwood drain I was hunting. I was going to investigate when I climbed down.

This little doe came in from behind me and I ended up putting a good shot on her, and she ran right over the suspected shed I’d been staring at all afternoon.

I climbed down and started following the blood trail. She had indeed ran right over the top of a nice 5 on one side shed and sure enough, the matching side was laying 2 feet away! My doe was laying another 30yds up ahead.

Ha ha Ha that is awesome shoot a doe and get a buck!!!

[Etter1]

#23699

You and me are just alike tommy.

I killed a turkey back on “the point” and when I ran up to pounce on him, I almost tripped over a big five point shed.

The next week I was “guiding” a cute blonde from the forestry school in the same area. I took a break from hunting for a minute to chase morels and I walked right up on the other matching side.

It was 400 yards away. Still my best matching sheds. As far back in as that place was, that old buck surely died of old age.

[BuckyT]

#23888

Etter1 wrote: You and me are just alike tommy.

I killed a turkey back on “the point” and when I ran up to pounce on him, I almost tripped over a big five point shed.

The next week I was “guiding” a cute blonde from the forestry school in the same area. I took a break from hunting for a minute to chase morels and I walked right up on the other matching side.

It was 400 yards away. Still my best matching sheds. As far back in as that place was, that old buck surely died of old age.

I looked for sheds back in there last year a bit while turkey hunting, but no luck.. I’ll look again this year.:D

Another time some years ago, I was on the back of a 4 wheeler getting a lift back to camp after a morning hunt.

We were riding through some planted pines, when something “white” sticking up out of the pine straw off the trail caught my eye. I asked the gentleman driving to stop, hopped off, walked over there, and picked up a nice 4 on a side shed. I kicked around in the pine straw and found the matching side a few feet away. The other side only had 3 points on it. Big gnarly 7pt. It was a nice find.

[Etter1]

#23956

The food plots at Tom’s and all the wheat fields around the club will surely have some soon.

[Ben M.]

#24177

You’re just far enough north of me that things are different between where we live. I’m not sure how/when things happen in your area. I’ve never actively searched for antlers. Rather, I just happen upon them while on a hike, as I did this skull two days ago on a 14-miler.

(As a side note, I left these bones in situ. There are some that you just know are not for you.)

[William Warren]

#24187

Don’t know about Minnesota but in NC antlers begin to shed in late Jan through Feb. Don’t recall ever seeing a buck here with antlers into March but suppose it is possible.

Steve,

Rodents of all types will eat up a shed here in NC. I’ve only found a few. The first one I found was pretty well eat up by rodents, all but the main beam and browtine. Squirrels love them and they can chew one up in short order. It is best to start looking as soon as they shed in order to find them without tooth marks.

[Stephen Graf]

#24655

Duncan,

I know the rodents eat them… But I can’t believe they are so hungry for calcium that they eat ’em all 😯

I like finding a bone or a shed up in a tree. Those squirrels like to take them up and chew where they have a view.

This last season I was walking through the woods and noticed a leg bone up in a tree at head height. Then a few days later I saw the same bone in another tree. Then a few days later I saw it in yet another tree. Was it the same squirrel moving it around? A squirrel fight? Just the funny soap opera of life in the woods I guess. I should have sat there and watched the days of our lives play out…

[tradbowhunter]

#25308

Hi everyone Im new to this forum. Here in WI I have found most of my sheds around the beginning of January. Ive been out a couple of times this year and found a small three point shed and a pair of matching sheds (three points on one side and four on the other) right across a fence, they were just laying about three feet apart. Ive read when they shed there antlers all depends on the stress they’ve got, for instance a wounded buck will probably shed earlier than a healthy one.

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#25763

Here in the Garrison, NY woods, sheds are hard to find, since the many squirrels find them to be a Winter delicacy. I found a small 10 pointer with skull still attached once, that’s it. And still, the squirrels got to it and ate almost a whole tine even though the head was on my deck table ( before I moved back to the city, of course :))

[paleoman]

#25819

They’ re most visible here in Mi. right after the snow melts (that is if we ever get a snowy winter again??). They stand right out against the matted vegetation more than the rest of the year. Still rare to find but often enough that my wife comments “do you have to have all these antlers around”:D. An antler in the right place is all good!

[ChumpMcgee]

#25834

I am just getting into stump shooting and having a blast and figure that this will add more fun to my adventure of stump shooting if I were to find some antlers 😀 best advice is go look for some 😛

[David Coulter]

#25849

It’s the best way to collect at least half a rack out of season.

[Etter1]

#26133

I found a 2 point shed last year 6 feet up and stuck in a “v”

[wolfkill220]

#26219

Up here in the Pacific Northwest usually start shed hunting in late febuary to march depending on snow levels .Last year found a nice 6 point elk shed that I am going to use as handle matirial on some knives I am making.

[Bunyan Morris]

#27134

I’ve found most of mine in thick areas where limbs might have knocked the antlers off. I believe that’s why they’re not easy to find. Most may be lost in bedding and thick areas.

I’ve also found them in planted pine forests many were just tips sticking out from layers of pine straw. Often woods rats and squirrels gnaw on them, but of course they do not consume them.

My experience here in southeast GA The bucks typically start dropping in February. But, as Etter stated, I’ve seen bucks with bone on their heads in late March.

Funny story… My taxidermist, Elliot, told me that a client placed a buck’s head on the shop’s counter he’d killed in late December. Elliot lifted the buck’s head by one antler as he’d done to other buck’s hundreds times before. As you’ve guessed the antler came off in his hand and the hunter recoiled in shock. Of course it was an easy fix when he mounted the head, but Elliot said the mishap took both of them by surprise and he had to reassure the hunter that no real harm had been done.:oops:

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