Shed hunting

[msbadger]

 Welcome to the BB nickdeeranddeer lets go with ndad in the future..is that OK?

Glad you had a good day afield...I've walked and walked but sheds here a few and hard to find before the various squirrel get to them...also we have a lot of swamp that they can get through but I'd sink to my knees in....lol

So... do you and your husband hunt together?....gun/ bow? We have relatives in Keller and Houston...but I haven't been to Texas in 40yrs...Can't seem to get my husband farther South than PA...maybe he'll leave NYS when he retires[;)]   

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: nickdeeranddeer

Hi!
I am new to this forum! This is my first post....just wanted to share that I went shed hunting this last weekend in The Pineywoods of East Texas in Polk County and found 2 sheds! Both were 4points each but not a matching set. One was larger and the smaller one was I believe last years because it is covered pretty much with green junk on it! The bigger one I found hanging in a brushy/briar bush. So don't only look down...this taught me that leason. I also happen to find what I thought was a spike shed when I look down at it but discovered after picking it up it was a broken off antler....had no base. My husband found two sheds the weekend before laying just two feet from each other but were not a set. You could tell they weren't... one was a lot smaller and the bases were very different in size! I walked and walked but enjoy being in the woods so much....makes me want to be a deer! ha! ha! Only think is in this area this time of year things start to grow rather quickly and the deer trails you followed during the winter are becoming hard to see as deer also are not having to travel for food like they do in the winter but it sure makes it hard to get through the thicker part of the woods without the trails.

 
Welcome to the forum...Sounds like you had a great weekend!!!!!

[flaDAWG]

All my year's of hunt'n and just B'n in the woodz i have never found a shed till last year,if his left is like his right i found,he was a symetric 10 pointer...nice one....found it out in the open of an ol dead grove....

[teej79]

start now and walk with a muzzleloader if you have one, I only hunt archery, but I have a buck on camera with neither antlers on his head just two red spots.  If you aren't taking the muzzleloader, I'd wait till after the season if you're on public ground, one you may get shot, two people wouldn't be too happy if you were trudging through the woods for sheds while they're hunting ha 

[ishman]

In my experience, it depends on if you have competition or not. With none, I like to wait til the middle of march. Even then i still see quite a few bucks still carrying. Finding a horn in the snow is extremely difficult. Not saying it cant be done because i have found them in the snow. Its better to wait until the snow is melted. Wait for a cloudy, rainy day. It seems like the horns just glow in those conditions. Dont get discouraged if you dont find anything. It took me a long time to find my first one.

[DaveYak]

In everyone's experience, do the sheds get chewed up by mice and other rodents a lot if you wait until the snow melts?

[mnmaverick]

Last year i found one in March that had every tine chewed off. It would have been my biggest shed ever. I think it is hit or miss. It largely depends on whether it falls off near a squirrels tree or not!

[tex3012]

i agree with mnmaverick.. iv found sheds in spring turkey season that were chewed all up, but i have also found one in the fall archery season tracking a wounded doe that was in perfect shape. and no it wasnt a shed from that year because the deer had steped all over it, buryed partically into the ground and started to dry rot.. also seemed as if it was tinted black..

[ishman]

One thing i have noticed is that if i find a horn near a corn pile or lots of feed, its seems they get more chewed up. Ive found couple year old horns that were not touched, and ive found horns that were super fresh and all chewed up. Out of all of the sheds ive found, id say 80% are not chewed. I usually start looking towards the end of feburary.

[DaveYak]

[font="times new roman"]I am heading up to the farm this weekend to take my tree stands down, I think I will take a walk around on some well used trails and see if I can find any fresh sheds laying on top of the snow or at least close enough to the surface that I can see them.  I've never found a shed before, in fact I don't recall ever really looking for them.[/font]