Hunting for sheds

Page 31 Sheds: The hunt for deers’ lost headgear

Author and two brothers find a latewinter way to hunt deer again

Photos and Text By MIKE ROUX

Today we are going to discuss one of the fastest growing topics in the Midwest in the hunting field. Looking for, finding and collecting shed antlers has become one of the most popular activities among not only hunters but all segments of the population.

Lots of folks are now spending late-winter days looking to bring home a pile of discarded whitetail deer antlers.

There seems to be no limit to the uses for these shed antlers. The creativity of some of these decorative pieces is truly amazing. I have seen them made into everything from centerpieces to lamps to door handles. Others just like to pile them up and make their piles bigger each year. Either way, the mice and squirrels are getting fewer and fewer antler treats each season.

A MODEST COLLECTION

In the past, the only sheds I collected were ones I accidentally stumbled over while turkey and mushroom hunting.

The author managed to find these beauties just outside Columbia, Mo. – Nancy Roux photo

I have a modest collection of various sizes. I also have other items in my collection such as skulls, and skulls with the antlers still attached.

There are lots of surprising things to find on the forest floor if you are looking for them on purpose. I realized this recently when I participated in my first organized shed hunt.

I spent several days last fall hunting with some great new friends, Luke Terstriep, Sr., Luke Jr. and younger brother Lance. We had some outstanding hunts, and we are already gearing up for spring turkey season. Recently, Luke Jr. and Lance called and invited me to go with them to look for sheds on one of their properties. I happily accepted.

I figured shed hunting was nothing more than “bailing out and milling around,” looking for antlers on the ground. These guys had a plan, and they were organized and wanted to systematically cover the farm. They intended to cover every square yard of the property.

DATA DON’T LIE

Their plan was based mostly on data they had already collected about buck activity since the last deer season ended. Trail cameras showed a large number of bucks using a particular food plot during the big snow in early February. They also found dozens of beds in the snow while coyotes were hunting the farm. The brothers had a really good idea of where the sheds might be, and the plan was to cover the area in a grid so as not to miss anything.

Luke drew first blood and got us on the board with a small three-point antler. As we moved down the hill. I was between the two Terstrieps. By the time we hit the field edge, Luke had found three more sheds, including the match to the first find.

As we emerged from the timber, I was walking north when Luke yelled out about his find. I turned to walk toward him. Lance was behind me and laughed as he picked up an antler just a few steps from where I had been.

“You would have stepped on this one if you had not turned around,” he said as he raised the shed to show me.

That’s my luck.

RATTLING ANTLERS

Luke told me about something interesting he had found the day before when they were shed hunting another of their properties. He saw a number of tine points sticking

Luke and Lance Terstriep with a nice day’s find from hunting season’s leftovers.

up from a field and thought he had found a huge non-typical antler. It turned out to be a pair of rattling antlers attached by a small nylon cord. This farm had been leased to an outfitter last season, and these were obviously dropped by a hunter. It was a very unusual find for a shed hunter.

By the end of the day the Terstrieps had found 18 nice sheds and a whole bobcat skull. I, on the other hand, had found two vertebrae, two leg bones and a doe skull. Twice I walked away from spots where Lance stepped in and found a shed. It just was not my day.

To add salt to this little wound, Luke and I took a walk on one of my properties a week later. Not only did Luke find a great shed, but it was still hooked to the skull – which was still hooked to the carcass. The buck had gotten his rack caught on the tree and could not get free. There he died, and there Luke found him. But I had a great time, and I learned a lot about this growing sport. These guys, along with their father, Luke Sr. have a barrel full of sheds in their basement. Maybe my turn to find some sheds will come during turkey season when I am watching the ground for mushrooms.

See Mike Roux Outdoor Enterprises on Facebook.

SPONSORED COLUMN

SPONSORED COLUMN Put Squirrels In The Crockpot: It’s The American Thing To Do!

By DON CORRIGAN

As humans watch their protein sources dwindle from both land and sea, their eyes turn upward to the chatter in a tree. That’s where they can behold their future dinner with “chicken of the trees.” We’re talking: Squirrel!

We can argue until the cows come home on what’s causing the climate to change, but the facts are that farmland droughts and rising ocean temperatures are threatening prized fare for our dining room tables.

Alaskan crab leg enthusiasts are already moaning. Alaska made history this year by cancelling most of the crab harvest due to stark declines in the crab population.

Warmer waters are cramping the crab critters’ style. Crab leg lovers want to know what to do with all those seafood crackers crammed in kitchen cabinets. Seafood junkies must recognize the tide is turning.

Adapt or die. It’s as simple as that. Forget all the crabbing and realize the time is nigh for the dinner table to boast hot bowls of booyah, burgoo, or Brunswick stew – all made with squirrel. This was respectable food fare a century ago, so let’s bring back a little culinary tradition.

Squirrels seem oblivious to all the debate about temperature changes. Ancient squirrel-like characters have been around for 200 million years. They’ve seen it all. Squirrels that we recognize today are 36 million years old.

They were here long before us, they’ll be here long after us. In this interval of time that we share the Earth together, let’s eat ‘em. This is not the idea of some faux Daniel Boone sporting a souvenir coonskin cap; it’s the recommendation of Project Squirrel at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Project Squirrel eyes an inexhaustible supply of protein. Squirrels are so prolific that 80 percent of their population could be harvested annually without putting a dent in their numbers. While the Earth’s cattle inventory declines and seafood creatures’ crater, the dependable squirrel abides.

Squirrels are a sustainable source of food. They require much less energy and attention than cattle, and that’s no bull. Can we just stop asking where’s the beef, and start declaring: Why not squirrel?

One reason squirrels simply disappeared as a kitchen staple is that hunters quit hunting them. There’s more fun in taking down bigger game – scoring big with whitetail bucks, feral hogs or gobbling turkeys. Small game has lost its charm and small game hunters are now on the endangered species list. Let’s bring them back

The way to bring them back is to appeal to their national loyalty. Hunters need to know that it’s a darned patriotic duty to bag a squirrel; to bake or fry the little miscreant; and, to restore America’s taste for squirrel. It’s also patriotic to honor the role of the squirrel in our nation’s noble past.

Squirrels provided great training for the Colonial fighters in America’s War of Independence. Legend has it that the Revolutionary warriors were crack shots from all their squirrel hunting and thus were excellent marksmen against the far larger British Redcoats.

The Redcoats gave up andsailedback to England 250 years ago after trying to quash a revolution, but the squirrels are still here. High-profile hunter and hard rock musician Ted Nugent says the best way to recognize the squirrels’ great sacrifice for our history is — to keep on sacrificing them.

Nugent has been on a mission to bring back the guts and glory of chowing down on nutty squirrel meat. That can only happen if the crabbing stops over what’s happening in the seas and we start to champion the “chicken of the trees.”

Anyone for Louisiana Creole Squirrel? How about New England Squirrel Pie? Better yet, let’s get down and dirty with some Trash Broiled Squirrel! Nugent’s recipes for post-colonial squirrel casseroles can be found in his patriotic recipe book, “Kill It & Grill It.”