How do you shed hunt

[Jester052]

I'm an avid sportsman and outdoor enthusiast. I'm out either Hunting, hiking , or fishing all year around. I love taking my family out with me hiking and we always look for sheds but have never found any. I found one in Boy Scouts on Blake Island running around the woods playing tag. So except for that fluke, everytime I've been out actually looking I bust out. I was told to along Creek beds and impact points. (a place a deer lands after jumping a fence or creek) But some of the talk on here is bedding areas. I live in Seattle and usually drive about an hour plus to hike the areas I hunt, so I'm not watching a feeding station. Or herd regularly. How do I catch up with the curve?

[Jester052]

Typed this on my cell phone. Sorry for ALL the errors.

[Eric M]

Look in the areas you hunt for rubs. A lot of sheds are found right at the base of a tree with a fresh rub. Walk slowly. However slowly you are walking walk slower. Don't just walk the main deer trails look at the lesser used trails those are the ones the bucks use. I haven't found an elk shed yet. Get out early and often. Spend some time watching the guys on Youtube. Good luck!

[Boss .300 winmag]

I usually aim dead center of the lock, then after its blown apart I hope up my dead shed and see what I got. 

[Eric M]

I usually aim dead center of the lock, then after its blown apart I hope up my dead shed and see what I got. 

I have no idea what that means

[Old Man Yager]

Look in the areas you hunt for rubs. A lot of sheds are found right at the base of a tree with a fresh rub. Walk slowly. However slowly you are walking walk slower. Don't just walk the main deer trails look at the lesser used trails those are the ones the bucks use. I haven't found an elk shed yet. Get out early and often. Spend some time watching the guys on Youtube. Good luck!

And look in areas where deer or elk bed. Most Blacktails are home bodies, they don't go too far, except during the rut. So, if you've seen bucks during the year, look where you've seen them before. Elk are going to range quite a bit more than deer. Elk usually run some kind of a circuit, they'll hang in one place for a bit, and then move on to thier next area, eventually making it back to the same areas. If you see elk, look where they've been. If it smells like a barnyard, they have been there recently, I also look for rubs, imo, their antlers start to bug them and they will rub this time of year to knock them loose. I hit a lot of reprod areas where the trees are 3-15 tall, and grassy swampy areas have been good to me. Another thing too, I will follow thier trails down into some nasty stuff that others might not go. I haven't had a lot of success dinging Blacktail sheds, I'll find on every once in a while, but I do ok on the elk. Good luck

[Boss .300 winmag]

I usually aim dead center of the lock, then after its blown apart I hope up my dead shed and see what I got. 

I have no idea what that means

Open shed.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Are you looking west side or East? The hardest shed to hunt up is a mature "coastal" blacktail IMO. They tend to live in out of the way spots and vegetation is nearly always an issue. Your on the right track hitting fences and creekbeds, although I find few sheds in the bed itself as much as the trails above it. Bedding areas are great but finding a bucks core bedding area at that time is the trick. The cliche is true there is no substitute for miles or coverage. But if I had a tip its this. Live on the edge. Clearcut edges, Benches in clearcuts, field edges, river bank cliffs, the edge of different types of trees, in rocky mountainous areas look in rock ledges and areas where the cliff gives way too more gradual area especially if it holds feed, lake shores, swamp edges, road edges, even of they are traveled. Even lawn edges  .  Anywhere terrain changes however subtly is a spot where a decent buck will hang out much longer than he will in the open. I recently had a conversation with a forester who is in contact with planting crews reseeding clearcuts. They essentially grid entire clearcuts, they had picked up around 30 deer sheds, not bad, but of those none were big. Even though the area holds some great blacktails. Even when not being pursued they spend little time in the  open.

[Old Man Yager]

Are you looking west side or East? The hardest shed to hunt up is a mature "coastal" blacktail IMO. They tend to live in out of the way spots and vegetation is nearly always an issue. Your on the right track hitting fences and creekbeds, although I find few sheds in the bed itself as much as the trails above it. Bedding areas are great but finding a bucks core bedding area at that time is the trick. The cliche is true there is no substitute for miles or coverage. But if I had a tip its this. Live on the edge. Clearcut edges, Benches in clearcuts, field edges, river bank cliffs, the edge of different types of trees, in rocky mountainous areas look in rock ledges and areas where the cliff gives way too more gradual area especially if it holds feed, lake shores, swamp edges, road edges, even of they are traveled. Even lawn edges  .  Anywhere terrain changes however subtly is a spot where a decent buck will hang out much longer than he will in the open. I recently had a conversation with a forester who is in contact with planting crews reseeding clearcuts. They essentially grid entire clearcuts, they had picked up around 30 deer sheds, not bad, but of those none were big. Even though the area holds some great blacktails. Even when not being pursued they spend little time in the  open.

Ya, what he said 😄 !!

[Jester052]

I usually aim dead center of the lock, then after its blown apart I hope up my dead shed and see what I got. 

Walked right into that one! 

Thank you for all the help everyone. Looks like one of my biggest mistakes was following the main trails. I'll try out these new tactics and check back in. Thanks and good luck everyone.