Tips for shed hunters
02-20-2002, 08:52 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Moscow IA USA
Posts: 23
Tips for shed hunters
Here are some things that i have learned about shed hunting. Look for sheds in good wintering areas, places where the deer can find food, feel safe, and have good cover for bedding. Look in areas of friction( places with a lot of brush that will help loosen the antlers and sometimes knock them off. When shed hunting, bring a shed with you that you have previously found, you can use it to help train your eyes to look for that shape and color. I used to always worry that if i looked for sheds too early, i would then spook deer into the neighboring timbers and not find any sheds at all because they would shed elsewhere, fact is, you should worry more about not getting in there early enough because of rodents and K9's/coyotes. I didn't believe it at first when i heard about the k9's and coyotes, but i recently attended a seminar on shed hunting given by a shed specialist that has researched the shedding process for years. He said coyotes will find the fresh sheds and actually burry them, or take them straight into their den, where they will devour them within a few hours. This is sometimes why we dont find many sheds. This shed specialist is the guy i was talking about in my post called "For the shed hunters". They are the owners of the "antler trap" and part of their studies are to video tape sometimes all night and take pictures with trail cameras. One night, they video taped a deer dropping a shed, they must have left the area so as to not spook deer away from the antler trap, when they came back the next day to retrieve the shed, it was gone, and sure enough there was a trail of coyote tracks to and from the spot where the antler dropped. If you havn't yet, check out my post " for the shed hunters" and check out the website on the antler trap. Hope this helps everybody out.
02-20-2002, 10:34 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Moscow IA USA
Posts: 23
RE: Tips for shed hunters
I have a hand out that was given to me during the seminar, and yes, it says on the handout that the reason for most shed hunters not finding any sheds is because of K9(fox,coyotes,dogs, etc.) But he only really discussed the coyotes part.
