Outdoor Logic with BioLogic

SHED ANTLER HOT SPOTS

UNCOVERING THE LOST “CROWN”

BY TODD AMENRUD

Lace up your boots, grab a pair of binoculars and a walking stick, and hit the woods. Combing through the late-winter or early-spring countryside in search of a whitetail’s shed antlers is a cure for cabin fever, gives you a jump on getting in shape for turkey hunting, and may even teach you something about your deer herd or a specific buck you might want to target next fall.

While deer may shed both of their antlers within minutes, even seconds of one another in the same spot, this is the exception rather than the rule. Once, while walking a tract I used to hunt in Manitoba, I found a matching pair of 5x5 sheds stuck upside-down, side by side in the snow. It was as if the buck stuck his head in the snow and placed them there for safekeeping.

Sometimes you’ll discover just one and never retrieve the other side. In other cases, you may find it, but far away from the other half. While you may not get lucky and find the opposite side right next to the other one, chances are the match is somewhere in the area. Following are some of my favorite spots to target when searching for shed antlers.

1) Winter Food Sources

During this time of the year whitetails aren’t moving much unless they must and they spend most of their time in their bedding area. They’ll still travel a bit, possibly to and from wherever their major food source is at that time and maybe they’ll move a bit to browse, reposition or stretch, but during the winter don’t expect them to expend much energy unless they’re sure they can “take in” more than they “put out.”

If there are brassicas or corn in the area, these would be the best places to begin, but any major food source is a good bet for sheds. I would estimate I find 1/3 of my sheds in my brassica food plots – and hopefully I find them before my tractor tire does. Winter feeding stations are also popular shed pickup spots.

Favorite browse locations are another place to put on your list. You can sometimes notice these areas by seeing where their major travel routes start to branch out, just like they would if you were approaching a bedding area. Obviously in this case, there would be a favorite browse species in the area. Search for fresh activity – they will usually nip the end 2 to 4 inches off of each twig.

You can also create browse areas like these that can be utilized immediately, by hinge-cutting softwoods like poplars so the deer can reach the tree’s top. Simply felling the tree and leaving the top would also work, but then it’s only an immediate browse source. By leaving trees, like poplars, half-connected (maybe a little less) to the stump (root system) they will continue to produce browse that is within reach of your herd for several more years.

Winter food plots are favorite spots for the author to find sheds. You’d better find them before your tractor tire does! (Photo Credit: Jesse Raley)

I would estimate I find 1/3 of my sheds in my brassica food plots – and hopefully I find them before my tractor tire does. Winter feeding stations are also popular shed pickup spots.

2) “Deer Yards” – Conifer Swamps with Ample Browse Nearby

Whitetails spend most of their day in their “bedroom,” during the winter I would say that is even more so the case. Most of the locations mentioned could qualify as their bedroom, or maybe what some would call their “core area,” “secure area,” or referenced similarly – it’s basically the spot where they’re spending the greater part of the day. These spots will usually have protection from the wind, thermal cover and ample browse nearby.

3) Thick Stands of Conifers or Other Thermal Cover

When driving an ATV or snowmachine during this time of year you can definitely feel when you’ve crossed into an area with warmer temperatures, often caused by conifer trees absorbing and holding the thermal heat from the sun. Even on a cloudy day, the dark canopy is gathering and holding radiant heat sent via infrared and ultraviolet energy from the sun. The heat transmission process includes the mechanics of thermal radiation and convection. The sun heats the conifer trees and the air current moves the heat around. Whitetails take advantage of these areas – less energy expended means more reserved.

4) South- and Southwest-Facing Slopes or Benches

Here again, we’re talking about your herd taking advantage of the sun’s energy. Because of the more direct angle to the sun on these southern exposures, besides the radiant energy, these spots likely have better, thicker cover and more browse due to increased stem density. The sunlight not only grows more plant matter for them, but it also physically warms them during the day.

The author refers to features like fence crossings, narrow gullies or creek crossings as “shed shakers.” Follow freshly used trails and look for places where a buck may have to jump or otherwise jar his antlers loose. (Photo Credit: Austin Delano)

5) Freshly Logged Areas

In newly logged areas, here again, we have the warmth of the sun making it to the ground and obviously “newly accessible browse.” Even though browse is poor nutrition and difficult for deer to digest (when compared with cash-crops or food plots), whitetails still must have it for some reason. This is especially so during the winter months.

6) Fence Crossings and Narrow Gully or Creek Crossings

These features I call “shed shakers.” Follow freshly used trails and look for places where a buck may have to jump or otherwise jar his antlers loose.

Oftentimes I create fence crossing points by tying down the top strand of barbed wire to the one below. Whitetails will almost always cross at the lowest point. I create these in an attempt to funnel their movement past one of my ambush sites, but these also seem to be hot spots for finding sheds. You can even go as far as to add another “fake strand of wire” above the top strand on either side of where you want them to cross by stringing twine between the fence posts.

Three Things You May Want to Bring Along

Always bring binoculars - they can save a lot of legwork. If you see something that looks like an antler far away, you can often cut down excess walking by examining it through your optics. Set up a grid, but concentrate on the spots where there has clearly been more activity…read the sign.

Also “always bring kids!” Most youngsters love to hunt for sheds if given the opportunity, so bring your kids, grandkids or a neighborhood youngster – the more “eyes” the better for this task. To them it’s like hide-and-seek or a mystery to solve.

Many are training dogs to find sheds for them. I did. The first shed my Labrador Annabell found was half of a side of a small forkie. We celebrated like it was from a Boone & Crockett! They can cover so much more ground than we can, they can get into areas humans simply cannot, and besides being able to recognize antlers by sight, they can smell them!

I stated that sheds may drop as early as December in some areas, and I know with as popular as shed hunting has become many want to be the first to get there to find them before others do. However, my advice is to wait until at least mid-February, and limit the amount of trips you make through an area. February and March are when the vast majority of antlers are shed and each time you invade their turf, you put stress on the herd. As you may know, the winter months are the most difficult for your deer herd and the less pressure/stress we can expose them to, the better.

With shed hunting all the rage nowdays, there are clubs and organizations devoted to the sport and shed hunting has become so popular that guided weeklong “shed hunts” in prime areas can cost you $2,500 or more with food and lodging included. Fear not, however, sheds can be found in your own hunting area or on public land…for free!

“When” antlers drop can vary from as early as the end of December to as late as April – and then antler genesis begins all over again. Limit the amount of trips you make through each area to keep herd stress low. (Photo Credit: Critterbiz)