Antler Shed Hunting

Spring is a wonderful time of year. The doldrums of winter give way to a seemingly endless number of outdoor pursuits.

One of my favorites is “shed hunting”, where a person walks the countryside in search of antlers recently shed by deer, elk and moose. I always combine shed hunting with another favorite activity, archery stump shooting or roving, as some call it. I will cover stump shooting and roving in a future post.

Target Winter Ranges

Antlered animals begin to drop their headgear in late winter. In my area of Montana, animals frequently have winter ranges they will move away from once the snow pack begins to melt. Whitetail deer tend to stay in their home range year round but elk and mule deer do move into whitetail deer home ranges during winter.

The areas which winter all three species can be the most productive for locating shed antlers. If you are using shed hunting as a means of scouting for the next hunting season, keep in mind elk and mule deer are not likely to be near the areas where they shed antlers. This isn’t always the case as there are resident elk and mule deer in certain lowland country.

Although elk and mule deer will usually move to the high country in spring, after shedding their antlers, they tend to winter close to the drainage they will migrate into later. So you may not find them where you find the sheds but you will most likely find them somewhere in a nearby drainage.

Where to Look

Habitat and terrain have much to do with the ideal spots to locate sheds. Elk tend to favor fertile pastures in winter. Many times there is limited cover near these pastures. Consequently, sheds may be found in the open pastures or in the timber near their bedding areas. Since looking in pastures will require permission from landowners, I tend to favor the bedding areas, which are frequently on public land. Walking fence rows between private and public property is always a good option also.

I look for mule deer sheds on south facing slopes at or below the snow line. A person can stumble into mule deer sheds in a variety of places but the most productive will be where the food is plentiful. Hunting for mule deer sheds is not for the timid, as walking slopes all day is hard work.

Whitetail deer in the Rocky Mountain West tend to favor river bottoms, though their range is expanding rapidly. Shed hunting is a great scouting method for whitetail deer. Bucks who dropped antlers are likely to survive to the next hunting season. And they are almost surely going to be found in the area where you found the shed.

The whitetail shed pictured above was found on April 5, 2008. I measured the one side at about 85 inches. If the other side of the rack was symmetrical, this was surely a Boone & Crockett buck. While I am not a “trophy hunter”, every hunter loves the idea of having a chance at a truly outstanding specimen. Especially when that animal lives on public land.

Look for whitetail deer sheds along edges of timber and along fence lines. Bedding areas can be productive but whitetails tend to bed in nasty cover. You can follow trails from feeding to bedding areas, which also serves as a great tool in learning travel patterns.

So, get outdoors, enjoy some crisp clean air, get some exercise and have fun.