I suck at shed hunting

[Tbob]

Been out 4 times now (two westside trips and two Eastside trips) and I can’t seem to muster up a single shed!! I’m taking a knife making course in July and want to use a shed antler for my knife handle, but I want it to be one that I have found in WA. Gonna go give it hell next Sunday again and going to take my brother with me (if he doesn’t flake out as usual). I figure I’ve got until mid July to find at least one descent size deer shed or an elk shed come next month..
    If anyone has any good advice or areas to check out I’m all ears.
  I thought for sure this last weekend would be a good area as we (me and the dog) saw probably 20 deer while out hiking around. Was concentrating on South facing slopes, but basically looked everywhere to no evail! Owell, it’s nice getting out there at least! Any pro tips out there??

[PastorJoel]

I hope to do some shed hunting this year.  One of the challenges is finding places that have had no hikers or shed hunters who have already gone through.  If it's easy to get to, someone has likely already been there.  (or so I would think  )

[NRA4LIFE]

I don't think I could find a shed on purpose if my life depended on it.

[lord grizzly]

I’ve picked up a fair amount of sheds and I don’t get real excited about it until about this week of the year. I know everyone’s been at it for probably months now but I’d say 90% of the sheds I’ve picked up have been with in about a week of April and after

[Miles]

Here’s a tip for the east side:  buckbrush and south facing slopes that are somewhat open.

[Dan-o]

Maybe you don't suck at she'd hunting. 

Maybe deer and elk just suck at dropping antlers where you're she'd hunting. 

Point being:   you can walk all day in the wrong areas and still not find sheds. 

Have fun. 

[PlateauNDN]

I don't think I could find a shed on purpose if my life depended on it.

  I've only found 1. And that was by accident. Stopped to look thru the binos and there it was at my feet.

[Alex4200]

Saw a buck near Chelan today that is still packing his horns

[Old Man Yager]

Been out 4 times now (two westside trips and two Eastside trips) and I can’t seem to muster up a single shed!! I’m taking a knife making course in July and want to use a shed antler for my knife handle, but I want it to be one that I have found in WA. Gonna go give it hell next Sunday again and going to take my brother with me (if he doesn’t flake out as usual). I figure I’ve got until mid July to find at least one descent size deer shed or an elk shed come next month..
    If anyone has any good advice or areas to check out I’m all ears.
  I thought for sure this last weekend would be a good area as we (me and the dog) saw probably 20 deer while out hiking around. Was concentrating on South facing slopes, but basically looked everywhere to no evail! Owell, it’s nice getting out there at least! Any pro tips out there??

Blacktail sheds I suck at finding them, Elk sheds, I do ok on. I shed hunt on the West side, I seem to find a lot of them in swampy areas, or close to a swamp. I look for fresh rubs, I've found a few at the base of a fresh rub. and if it's Late March/early April, I go real slow in an area with fresh sign. If it's March/April and you can smell Elk, beat the brush in that area. Good luck

[cougforester]

The most antlers I've found, for all deer species, are on roads or the downhill cut slope of roads. My theory is that the shock of jumping down onto the grade from a game trail pops them off. I've also found a bunch of blacktail sheds near logs, rocks, or other obstructions in game trails.  Same theory with why this is, the buck has to jump over that object and the antler (s) pop off when they land.

I've got a nice pile that I could find a few you could choose from if your efforts come up empty though.

[Tbob]

Awesome! Thanks for all the replies! Keep em coming. And thanks for the offer CougF! I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes. Just thought it would Ben cool to be like, “yeah, I found this antler out in the woods” while I’m carving a giant backstrap steak with my new hand forged knife! Ha... dreamin ... lol...

[Naches Sportsman]

5 of the 9 deer sheds I found last week in wa were 100' or less off of the road. Pay attention to the sides of roads instead of the road when driving.

[trophyhunt]

Been out 4 times now (two westside trips and two Eastside trips) and I can’t seem to muster up a single shed!! I’m taking a knife making course in July and want to use a shed antler for my knife handle, but I want it to be one that I have found in WA. Gonna go give it hell next Sunday again and going to take my brother with me (if he doesn’t flake out as usual). I figure I’ve got until mid July to find at least one descent size deer shed or an elk shed come next month..
    If anyone has any good advice or areas to check out I’m all ears.
  I thought for sure this last weekend would be a good area as we (me and the dog) saw probably 20 deer while out hiking around. Was concentrating on South facing slopes, but basically looked everywhere to no evail! Owell, it’s nice getting out there at least! Any pro tips out there??

Blacktail sheds I suck at finding them, Elk sheds, I do ok on. I shed hunt on the West side, I seem to find a lot of them in swampy areas, or close to a swamp. I look for fresh rubs, I've found a few at the base of a fresh rub. and if it's Late March/early April, I go real slow in an area with fresh sign. If it's March/April and you can smell Elk, beat the brush in that area. Good luck

You do ok on elk sheds, lol, that's the understatement of the year!!!   lol

[Naches Sportsman]

The dozen bulls 6 points or better that I ran into last week still had very good color and their antlers looked like they were really healthy.

Usually April 15th or there abouts is when it really gets good for elk sheds. Only the big one's are dropping now and chances they have already been picked up.

[Timberstalker]

The dozen bulls 6 points or better that I ran into last week still had very good color and their antlers looked like they were really healthy.

Usually April 15th or there abouts is when it really gets good for elk sheds. Only the big one's are dropping now and chances they have already been picked up.

Dang. I didn’t know all of the big ones were already picked up!