Shed hunting advice

[jnevs23]

The only time I find sheds is when i am not looking for them.  I have a spot here in Spokane where I always see bucks but never find any sheds when im out looking.  Here is what i look for, fence lines where they might drop them jumping, trails where there are over hanging branches that may knock them and feeding areas when there is snow.....no snow in spokane right now.  Anything im missing?

[boneaddict]

I'm about to write up a whole tutorial I think.  I get asked a lot.  I need to wait for the Mrs to go to work first though

[Grizzly95]

I have found that looking down at the ground rather than high in the trees works best 
Seriously, I am with you man. I have only found like 2. One was in Wenatchee, I was sitting in a spot up on a little knob looking over a stubble field. I was sitting in the same spot for like 2 hours before I noticed a shed not 5 feet from me. On the other hand I have a buddy that would see a spike shed in a slash pile from 50 feet.

[boneaddict]

What does it take to find a shed.........I am going to use deer as an example in this but it applies to most critters.   Antlers fall off sometime between the middle of December and the first of march (later for elk) on average.  (Of course there are exceptions).  That means that whenever, wherever that animal could be during that three month period you could find an antler.  THATS JUST how random it is. 
The way to improve your shed hunting is to work on that RANDOM.  What factors effect the randomness of where that antler is going to fall off.  Time is one of the biggest.  Where does the deer spend the most time in that period...either eating, sleeping, or in between.  Sooooo, there is your first step.  Snowpack helps concentrate them and they travel less.  IF THIS IS your first year shed hunting, you'll be discouraged.  As I said earlier, the deer are absolutely scattered and can and have been going EVERYWHERE.  Alot of talk goes into watching fencelines, etc for bones.  Yes I have found them along them, but also find them in the woods when they jump over a log, next to or in the road when they jump off the road bank.  Again, totally random.  What I'd pay more attention to are the crossing or the trails up to the fencelines....again, TIME spent, by the animal.  If he saunters by ever time he goes to eat, versus walking by once in those three months, what has the best probabliity of the randomness of that antler falling off. 
What other factors help improve odds............time spent or walking in the woods.  Simply put, the more miles you log, the more likely you are to randomly encounter a shed.  I went out yesterday NOT shed hunting but trying to photogaph bucks, and I found 5 sheds.  I was in a local where bucks were and I knew they were there (that helps as it takes bucks to be there for their antlers to fall off)

[boneaddict]

so when you ask for help and they tell you to wear out a pair of boots, they aren't being evasive or mean, its the best advice they can give you.   What else does it take....the antler has to be there to be picked up, meaning if someone else has walked it, and have picked it up, there won't be bones there.  That being said, I have been travelling right behind shed hunters and have found countless bones.  Just yesterday I was in one of my favorite areas for shedding.  Mostly checking snowpack and seeing if the animals were there, and I stepped out of the truck, walked 10 feet and seen a shed I HAD WALKED BY TWICE last year, withing 5 feet and didn't see it.  It must have been buried in snow.  My truck is parked in the pic in the same place I always park.  I also rattled in a buck right here this fall.  I plan on checking th epics to see if the antler is in it..

[boneaddict]

So the next advice is to be able to spot tine.  You can walk all day and never see a bone.  You have to stay focused.  Its pretty easy to get lost in your mind about family issues, football games, pretty girls, bills to pay etc.   I remember a few years ago I was bone hunting with Fletch and was standing there and he said are you going to pic up that antler or what.  I was STANDING on it.   I can also remember tripping over one LITERALLY.  When I got up off the ground, I looked to see what I tripped on.    Another story is perspective.....You have to choose constantly, do I go left or right.  If you go left and don't find anything, maybe you should have went right.   If you go right and find a big one, maybe you should have gone left and found a bigger one.   ITS THAT RANDOM.   I was circling looking for a match to an awesome shed when I tripped and landed on my face (yeah I fall alot) It knocked my air out and as I was peeling myself off the ground, I looked down under a bush next to me and there was the match.  I'd have never found it standing. 

[Lowedog]

Good advice Bone.  I would also add to use your binos a lot.  I probably have found more sheds using my binos to scan around me than by walking up on them. 

[NWBREW]

All good advice. When I'm shed hunting I usually walk a zig zap pattern ...a lot like when I'm bird hunting' Like bone said....you never know if you just walked past one that is only five feet away..........or five miles.  . I find lots of deer sheds.....I just need to work on finding elk sheds....haven't found a single one. 

[boneaddict]

It helps if there are bucks in the area.   Remember just because you are seeing a lot of sign it doesn't mean its an area to find sheds.  There were three bucks together in this brush pile.  A HUGE one, and two smaller ones.  All three had shed.  This isn't an area I have ever found a shed.

[shoot-em-dead]

I found this broken piece last year and all I could see was about a half inch of pearl white. Something just didn't look right and I almost kept going but decided to kick it. Must have broke off during a fight.

[7mmfan]

Having an eye for them is spot on too. My girlfriend has the eye, just wish she was willing to use it more. She'll spot deer or elk a mile way while driving down the freeway that I missed with my face glued to the window. I used to find a lot of sheds where we elk hunt, during elk season, but since i started actually shed hunting there in the spring, I haven't found a single bone. Weird...

[wastickslinger]

Lots of time spent out hiking is #1. Get your eyes trained for white tips and other horn charactoristics. Most of the time alot of luck. Alot that I find I practically step on. I was proud of this spot the other day. Over looked by many for a few years I am sure.

[NWBREW]

WOW....I've never found one hanging in a tree. That's cool.

[buckmaster_wa]

WOW....I've never found one hanging in a tree. That's cool.

Actually I have found quite a few hanging in pieces of sage brush or in buck brush. They can either stick out like a soar thumb or blend in really well. The best advice I can give is to use your optics. If your in steep terrain you can cover a lot of ground with your binos.  Good luck.

[boneaddict]

They fall where they want.

[rasbo]

on the wetside I find them in the areas they go to after the rut,thick stuff and dark timber which also happens  to be where I scout for bears...

[ICEMAN]

For Muleys, I look at areas where bucks will bed in the absolute wide open, areas of hills which curve out and if you were bedded there...you could see in all directions, no risk of a cougar finding you asleep... These areas are not usually on the heavily treaded areas and not always covered with browse... I felt that nap time was a good time for a shed to drop cause the deer spend actual time there...not moving all over hill and dale....  I feel that fewer deer hunter and shed hunters are going to walk way out into the open like this to look for a shed, and they just follow trails.....   Good for me!

I also never walk trails. I rather parallel trails and try to hike at a distance where the crown of the hill would have precluded someone walking the trail from seeing a shed on the ground. My ankles pay for doing this but it is worth it...

Use binocs. Move slow. Look and hike to the most difficult areas. Enjoy the crap out of the day.

[carpsniperg2]

i find allot of mine along our fence lines

[bow4elk]

Great advice all.  I try to start big picture, then continually narrow my focus based on food, cover, weather, rutting areas, travel routes, and bedding areas.  I've never done all that well on blacktail sheds.  I probably average 2-5 per year and I work for every one!  I know some guys who do 30-50 blacktail sheds per year without dogs.  Not sure how they do that without living in the reprod for months on end.

In contrast, during one elk season in New Mexico I found over 30 mulie sheds, but kept 26 since some were really old and chewed.  And I wasn't even looking for sheds.  The open country and migratory animals are key to this sort of success.

I know I walk over, past, and literally on top of many blacktail sheds each spring.  While standing knee-deep in salal and oregon grape, if I look down and can't see my own feet, finding sheds will be tough.  My hunting partner literally kicked a huge blacktail shed last spring while we were shed hunting for elk sheds on the Oregon coast.  It was a year old and was as fresh as the day it dropped because it sat under a canopy of salal in the big timber.  Binos are often useless over here.

When you do find one, it's a quick payoff that pacifies you for a minute or two.  Then you shift to thinking about how many more hours may be ahead before you find another one. 

[billythekidrock]

For blacktails I like to look for feed/bedding trails and then work my way around hill tops and draws. I look for creek/trail/road crossings where they may have to jump as well as the edges of really thick stuff where they may have to go under over hanging branches.

[CastleRocker]

Great thread!  Definately use your binocs.  I use mine in the timber, looking across those little draws in the timber.  I spotted a big bull shed last spring that was inly 30 yards away on the other side of a creek and draw, got over there, and couldn't find it, looked back across at my wife and kids and they were laughing at me so hard they couldn't even talk!  I was within a couple feet and couldn't see it.  Boot time!  Especially over in this wet jungle side!

[Lowedog]

One of my favorite glassing techniques is to scan across terrain, like when you are a steep hillside and you can scan almost at eye level.  You can see things sticking up that you might not from a more straight on angle.

I spotted these tines sticking out of the snow from about 200 yards. 




I found this one laying on the stump in the middle of a big patch of buck brush from a couple hundred yards through the binos also.


This one I almost stepped on.    Found the match bleached white a year later 50 yards away and had spent countless hours looking for it.  It was in tall grass and I had walked within feet of it and not seen it. 




This one I was only about 20 yards from but in the trees it looked like all the sticks that were sticking up through the snow.  I was scanning along under the trees with my binos and found it. 

[boneaddict]

Cool finds and nice pics Lowe.

[rasbo]

like that pic with the vally view

[ICEMAN]

Sometimes I like to spend a bit of time hanging out where I find the shed. Here I set up my stove to cook up some coffee and soup for lunch during my deer hunt.

Sort of a cool older chewed shed here... and I need to go back cause I left my deer drag rope there after lunch.... Oh well....

[Smokepole]

Nice shed pics everyone.

This is the first set of blacktail sheds I've ever found.  I found both together in a deer bed while I was hunting during the 2009 late hunt.  I think the reason I found them is because I was tracking and looking for sign on the ground.  I've spent years hiking miles and miles on the west side, but never found a blacktail shed.  Found lots of muley sheds in Methow Valley.  Anyhow, both horns were within 3 feet of each other.  Cute little set, I keep over the fireplace now.

[bow4elk]

Sometimes I like to spend a bit of time hanging out where I find the shed. Here I set up my stove to cook up some coffee and soup for lunch during my deer hunt.

Sort of a cool older chewed shed here... and I need to go back cause I left my deer drag rope there after lunch.... Oh well....

My PBJs are nearly unrecognizable after a few hours in the pack...nice job.  I love setting up shop like that now and then.  Coffee just tastes better that way too.

[Deep Forks]

like that pic with the vally view

  Nice sheds Lowe.  I was up and found a few one drainage
N West of you.  Can almost see my house in that pic.  I glass quite a few bucks on those ridges, great winter ground.  Happy hunting and if you see size 12 air bob soles it was probably me.    

[Lowedog]

like that pic with the vally view

  Nice sheds Lowe.  I was up and found a few one drainage
N West of you.  Can almost see my house in that pic.  I glass quite a few bucks on those ridges, great winter ground.  Happy hunting and if you see size 12 air bob soles it was probably me.    

Didn't happen to find the match to that one did you?    I think that was 3 years ago.  I spent most of the spring on that ridge.  Doesn't look it in the pic but that is an 80" antler.