Make this Shed Season Your Best One Yet

I love to look for shed antlers in the late winter and early spring, however it can be a very frustrating endeavor. If you add up all the hours that I’ve spent looking for sheds and compare it to the mere minutes I’ve spent actually finding them, you would see an embarrassing landslide difference in time spent. I don’t like to look at it this way because it makes shed hunting appear to be an arbitrary and needless task, because those few minutes I spend each spring actually spotting and picking up an antler make all those hours spent searching well worth it.

In the last five or six years, I’ve really started making a concentrated effort to look for sheds. I don’t just spend one or two afternoons a year any more walking a couple fence rows. I get out for weeks and make a concentrated effort at finding them. Shed hunting is like any other type of hunting, you have good years and you have bad years. The same number of miles walked or work put in could result in ten antlers or maybe just two. But over the last few years I’ve learned a lot about shed hunting and my success continues to improve. I’ve learned it’s not just about working harder; it’s about being more efficient!

Tips to Find More Sheds

• Cover More Ground: This may sound like an obvious statement, but it can’t be overstated when it comes to shed hunting. You can’t just expect to walk a couple hundred yards a few times a spring and expect to fill a backpack with antlers. It takes miles upon miles to increase your find rate. 

• Try Digital Scouting: Digital scouting isn’t just useful for finding deer, it’s useful for finding sheds too. With all the different mapping services now, we have access to recent satellite imagery and crop layers. Use these in conjunction with prior history to know where the current food sources and common bedding areas are. 
  

• Take Binoculars: I can’t stress this tip enough. I’ve saved my legs many steps by taking a pair of binoculars on my shed hunts. You know that tine you see sticking up above the leaves in the distance? It’s probably a stick and a pair of binoculars help you come to that conclusion quicker. Also, they are great for glassing fields and open areas. 

• Slow Down and Look at the Ground: Most of the sheds that I find are within a few yards of my boots; very seldom do I spot one at a great distance. I know we have a lot of ground to cover, but if you make an effort to slow down and keep your eyes on the ground you won’t miss the easy ones. 

• Look Behind You: This is a tip that I haven’t seen many places, but I find it useful. After you’ve walked 50 or 60 yards, turn around and scan everything you’ve walked past. I’ve actually found a shed or two this way. We miss a lot and turning around instantly gives you a new visual perspective of the area you’ve already searched. 

• Train Your Eyes with Finds: This tip requires that you have already found at least one shed. When I have one in my hand, I’m constantly throwing it out in front of me and picking it up again. This trains your eyes to look for different antler features and puts the shed in a variety of positions and hiding spots. 

• Revisit Areas Later in the Season: A lot of shed hunters miss out on this opportunity. If you hit a good spot in early or mid-February, you are going to miss some sheds that haven’t even been cast yet. I like to take note of areas where I find high concentrations of deer sign and no finds. I will revisit them in a few weeks once more antlers have hit the ground. 

Shed hunting is becoming more of a skill than a hobby to many folks, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be enjoyed. If you like to just get out and take a leisurely stroll in the woods, then by all means don’t worry about these tips, but if your goal is to fill a backpack with shed antlers then I would abide by them. The time is upon us, let’s get to searching!

Will Bowen, Okayest Hunter Contributor