May 1st

[buglebuster]

  i cant believe what i just read.

[pat2bear]

Sheesh! Who pissed in your cheerios? I didn't know it was wrong to complain about people that are breaking the law. I'm not advocating a permit, I'm simply saying that the penalty for going in early needs to be more severe. That's it. I go as much as I can but it's hard with other obligations like life and stuff. And yes, most of the sheds I find are before the opener as well, so don't judge me just because I'm not a self proclaimed "shedmaster".

[MADMAX]

Been doing it for 20 years
It used to be just for fun, the range manager used to say dont run the cows too hard and if you see any dogs shoot em.
Now its a zoo

[jake]

All u crying bout people goin in early r going ruin the shedhunting... quit complaining80 percent of my horns dont come from anywhere near feeding stations anyway... if u plan on walking one day a year for sheds u should b glad to pick up anything .. bet u think those old boot prints picked up 50 horns ur wrong .. I went yesterday to a feeding station and picked up eight while walking on boot tracks half the time.. they cant find them all... permits for sheds r coming if u All dont quit complaining then us all the people that r legal will have to pay while the cheaters keep up what they always have... stop complaining

like shedmaster i do a ton of walking, i think the point he is trying to make is people sneak in that is a fact no matter how many cameras get hung up it will continue to happen. what is going to happen is the game department will start selling permits to walk for sheds in controlled areas, to fund the man hours needed to catch people sneaking in. and guess what people are still going to sneak in, not get caught and now we are paying for permits with the same situation. is it a *censored*ty situation? absolutely, am i saying sneaking in should go unpunished? no. what i am saying is  just because you are walking a feeding station on the 1st its not going to be a gimme on finding horns. if you find 1 great, if you find 15 awesome but don't get on the forum as soon as you get home saying how *censored*ty it was because you only found 3. 3 is a good day of horn hunting! if you are disappointed with that your expectations are way to high.

[Arteman]

Maybe everybody's problem is you're all looking for horns..  I shed hunt for antlers probably more than most and yet to have found any horns    just kidding.  Like said before, they don't all get found and it's still fun just to be out.  Besides, I think it makes it easier because I'll look at what's obvious and easiest, then do the exact opposite.

[HunterDan03]

Lifted grey dodge four door.

[shedmaster]

I wasn't pointing fingers just saying the more its brought up the sooner a season for sheding will start... I agree totally on steeper fines like losing ur right to hunt for that year if ur caught plus a fine of 1000 or more... eventually they will quit if we start taking back from them!! Sorry to affend anyone... it iritates me too...

[crazyantler]

The whole issue really could be solved if they open the feed areas to FOOT traffic only effective April 15th which will allow those who really like hiking the chance to find some good bone.  Plus it would allow the animals to dispurse somewhat naturally rather than 50 to 100 cars racing like their in Nascar up the roads freaking the animals out running them into the ground such as I have witnessed.  Now, for the ones that are finding the big antlers early on, well so be it because they will always do that.  I agree that the more the one time a year shed hunter complains it is going to cost everyone else with additional regulations and FEEs to access our woods and natural resources to gather such items as antlers, mushrooms, rocks, twigs and berries etc. 

[buglebuster]

  april 15th sounds like a great idea

[Elkkiller23]

One of my buddies was lucky enough to pick up 13 sheds in oakcreek this year, ill post up some pics of them soon.

[buckmaster_wa]

I found one small 6 Point shed in oak crk this year. I am a fan of opening it to foot traffic April 15th. My first time doing the oak crk opener (ten yrs ago) I found 13 sheds. Since then the trespassers have made it worse and worse every year.

[crazyantler]

Well, who is good at starting a petition to the game department to try and get an April 15th foot traffic only opener and then the vehicles come May 1st.

[danderson]

  I like the concept of opening up the closed areas to foot traffic before the hoards of pick ups start rolling in, it reduces the stress on the fleeing elk that remain in the area, and up until two years ago that's how it was handled, midnight May 1st foot traffic only, we did the midnight shed hunting for the last few years not that we picked up more antlers but for the fun of it, the problem with opening early is that a good percentage of bulls haven't dropped yet and the whole idea behind the closed area is to give the deer and elk a safe zone to recover after a long winter, it also gives pregnant cows more time during the critical time of year when there body's reserves are at there lowest percent, increasing birth survival rates,  I'm in favor of going back to the midnight opening. Another reason to go back to the midnight opener is because it reduces the circus like atmosphere created by opening the flood gates at 6am, I'm probably one of the few people on here that have been shed hunting the feed areas regularly for the past 25 years so don't give me that bull about the Game department charging a fee to gather shed antlers, I'm all in favor of paying a small fee to pick up sheds if it helps reduce the early birds entering closed areas to pick up sheds, there no different that poachers as far as I'm concerned, and should be treated as such.

[crazyantler]

Instead of a midnight opener like the used to do I say they open it a day or two earlier on April 28th or 29th to foot traffic as two days wont make any difference to the elk other than dispurse them more gradually.  This way foot traffic hunters can have a day or TWO ahead of the atvs and circus of vehicles which I think would help somewhat naturally disperse the elk which would have less impact tham opening the flood gates May 1.     

[huntandjeep]

Opening the gates a day or two or the 15 of April isnt going to do anything. The unlawful people are in there way before the 15th. I did the Oak creek thing a couple times and did good but there was just to much competition. I finally gave up and found new spots with less people and more sheds. There are a lot of original shed hunters then theres the new ( don't flame me for the next part) ones that do it for the $ . Just look at eBay or CL the price for antlers is unbelievable, hell there was a dink set of 5x5 elk on my local CL the guy wanted $600.  That's whats driving people to get in there earlier and earlier MONEY.