Bleed out sheds?

[swwaoutdoorsman]

I've discovered over the past few years to let my sheds hang to let any excess blood drip out. I remember the first one that I found that still has blood in it and let me tell ya it's usually a rotten smell with it. I had few antlers on me and I kept smelling what I thought was a dead elk. Turns out it was shed that dripped down my pant leg. Lesson learned.... Anyway never seen or heard anyone else on here talk about it. Here's a picture of one I found yesterday hanging I the tree.

[MtnMuley]

Huh?  I've picked up several hundreds sheds, probably in the thousands, and have never seen or heard of anything like this.  Found plenty that had fresh blood on them, but in a day it was dried up.  There's no blood in the antlers after they loose the velvet, and definately none in during the time of year that they shed.  Maybe I'm missing something, but I've certainly never heard of or seen such a thing.

[boneaddict]

Ditto

Some blood on the freshly shed pedicle....other than that.

[bonkellekter]

Found a moose shed this year that was this way.... smelled terrible!

[boneaddict]

I wonder about fungus growing, which looks more like this pic than blood.   The only stinky shed I have found is one that was rotting.

[lewy]

If they are super fresh they can have quite a bit of blood still in them, never heard of older ones that way tho-

[erk444]

I've only had it happen with west side elk sheds. The smell can be really bad. I had one leak all over my pack once . My buddy wouldn't even walk next to me . I've found quite a few like this over the years. Found a big fresh 6 point with a broken eye guard once. Left it at my sisters house for a day and when we got back it had leaked a whole pool of blood on her floor from the broken tine. I've found some that were a few years old with a dirty, bloody type of liquid in them. They were not pleasant to say the least

[blackveltbowhunter]

This has happened to me multiple times. Mostly with horns like erk described, but occasionally with intact sheds that were pedicle down in very moist areas.  Here is my theory, and thats all it is, a theory. 
   Antler is bone, bones have marrow. Marrow is vascular. When a shed is dropped the marrow which was live and feeding the bone dies. If the antler is sealed it simply dries and hardens. However, if the antler was broken prior to being shed that area is now a conduit for moisture to infiltrate the marrow and rot. Which produces the mess. Either way its nothing, a couple days on the floor of the garage cant fix before they come in the house!

  Cool ATL in the tree

[MtnMuley]

Interesting. I've never picked up a westside shed.

[swwaoutdoorsman]

Not found in the tree hung it there just in case and sure enough it's a leaker. It's seems that most of the leakers had been dropped pedicle down in mud blocking the pourous end if the antler. Guessing this prevents the blood from draining or drying internal 

[Mike450r]

I was told (will try to find something written) that antlers are living bone until they are shed and blood flow is necessary to keep them alive and firmly attached.  When they are shed it is due to lack of blood flow so while I have never found a stinky one it makes sense why some people do.

[Bigtine96]

I dont even know what to say I'm so confused, I've found sheds with blood on the pedicles but it dries up and thats that.

[swwaoutdoorsman]

I've probably found close to 200 sheds and have seen probably 15 do this. My wife actually reminded me to hang it before bringing it in just in case. I had one leak in the house and it's a hard stink to get rid of. Not sure what causes it. The liquid that drains is dark red or black so I assume its blood and stink like rotten blood. It never is coming out until the antler is moved around. It's like it pooled up inside and then runs out when repositioned. 

[boneaddict]

x-Files


Just weird, as I have picked up hundreds if not thousands of sheds and never had it.   Weird  My money is still on fungus/water. 

[lewy]

Don't think so bone, my buddy was coming out of the woods in the crew bus and had a nice 6 point run across the clear cut in front of him and drop a side, he ran out and grabbed it, thing drained blood everywere