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Shed Hunting

 

 

 

     One of the fastest growing areas of the whitetail world is that of shed hunting. Whitetail deer, having antlers will cast off or shed their antlers annually. Hunters have learned that by looking for and finding these sheds can be a great manner of spending time afield and to monitor bucks that made it through the hunting season.

While our television stations show hunters in the great Midwest walking through plowed fields and picking up 150” antlers, that is certainly not likely in the thick brush of the southeast. However finding sheds is possible and can be a lot of fun and educational in the process.

Annually, I will spend the January and February months wandering through my property looking for sheds. I double this by squirrel hunting and with some late season scouting. Granted, this isn’t hardcore shed hunting, but I do occasionally find a good shed, and actually get more excited when I find some that are rather small since they are more difficult to locate.

Studies show that as the winter bears down, bucks will congregate around food sources. So any late season food plot is a great location to start looking. Also with the pressure mostly off the deer with the ending of the season, bucks will also bed near these food plots, so making some sweeps around the edges will usually benefit in the locating of some sheds.

Historical bedding areas are also great areas to look. While I stay out of sanctuaries, during shed hunting, I wander through them looking for evidence. I will only make one pass through the sanctuary and look well then abandon the area until the next shed season. But these are great places to look. If your terrain has some hillsides, deer will bed on the south facing slopes to gather the winter sun as fully as possible. These also are great areas to look for sheds.

It’s exciting to find a shed from a buck that may have given you the slip during the season. It proves they lived through the hunting season and offers hope that it will make it until the next. I also enjoy finding sheds of bucks I have pictures of on my Bushnell game cameras. The confirmation is great and I can then follow this buck for some time. Lastly, when I find sheds of deer I never saw during the season or have pictures of it builds anticipation of finding him come fall.

I often make this a family affair offering some reward to my children for every one they find. This builds motivation and gets them into the outdoors stomping through the woods. I don’t know of a better way to spend a day with your kids than stomping around in the woods.

As hunters we are always looking for an excuse to be out in the woods, and if small game hunting isn’t your thing, get out there and walk your property looking for sheds, you will learn your property intimately, and learn a lot about the deer you are hunting by knowing where they bed, feed and spend their days.