hunting for sheds

[DiGi]

I have a forest preserve behind my house and i decided to go look for sheds to nock my bows with some horns. Are there any tricks? I've looked for two days for about 2 hrs each day, and cant find any. The funny thing is I'm finding more skulls than sheds. I've got two skulls, teeth and all, a femur, and some spin, yet I can't find any sheds. Any tips would be welcome!

[NTD]

Train a dog to find them for you   It's actually one of the things I'm gonna teach my GSP pup.

[sailordad]

find a game trail and follow it
animals are creatures of habit
they like to use the same trails as much as possible
this is generally where you will find deer sheds
i dont recomend going into beding areas,but its a good spot too
you also may want to walk back the same trail you walk in on
sometimes you will see things going one way that you miss going the other way

[terence pinder]

concentrate on feeding areas, i like to leave the bedding areas alone until the snow is gone. the less stress on the deer the better. im also training my pooch to retrieve sheds. im also training my boy how to find them, heres a pic of his new ride bought specifically with shed hunting in mind

[DiGi]

Thanks guys! Nice Terence, hopefully he will behave! hahaha

[sailordad]

Terence, thats a cool ride
wish they would of had that kind of kid gear when mine were that size

[terence pinder]

last year we had a cheap harness from wally world and it was ok as long as you didnt wear it too long. this one should be easier on the back and more comfortable for him. just add snacks and juice and were gone. last year my daughter who was 3 at the time found her first shed and she is still talking about how the antler she found was bigger than the one her mommy found.

[DiGi]

Is there anywhere specific I should look? I've been especially looking by the scraped up trees that look like the deer rubbed against them. Is there anywhere else?

[gstoneberg]

If there are fences on your property, fence crossings are a good place to look.  Sometimes landing from a jump will jar one or both antlers off.  I've also found that tractor tires are magnets for antlers, rib bones too. 

George

[CherokeeKC]

Look on edges.  Edges of fields, cutovers whatever. Deer naturally follow these edges of cover.  Also if it is a thick cutover you could pick a trail and follow it since the antler probably would get hung up and fall off in there.

[HickoryBill]

Try looking for sheds around fence crossings and near fallen logs across trails. The antlers jar loose when the deer jumps over the obstacle and lands on the ground.I've found many sheds this way.  Good hunting!!!!

[tattoo dave]

That's a great idea NTD. I trained my chocolate lab to give him something to do in the spring. Here's a pic of his first one, just found it this morning. It looks like it's a couple years old, can't really use it for anything, but I'm still a proud dog owner.

[Elktracker]

allong with fences I have also found a few at creek crossings the main thing is cover lots of ground and really scan the area as you go, I cant remember how many times I have walked right over them and my buddy behind me says walked over another one lol

[osage outlaw]

I put in around 6 hours walking around looking for sheds this year.  I only found a little 3 point.  I borrowed my brother-in-laws quad to pull out some osage logs and on the way into the woods, I spotted a couple of 4 point sheds within 30 seconds.  Both of them were in real thick brush.  It was a hard winter and I guessed that they knocked them off while they were browsing on whatever they could find.

[crooketarrow]

   You got to remember your looking where bucks spend the winter. Lots of people look where they hunt not always the case. Feeding areas is where bucks spend all there time in late winter. Most times the pressures off and they'll bed in the closest cover. I wv anything green exspecially honey suckle patchs.
  THERE REALLY HOT FOOD AND COVER. Fence crossing where bucks have to jumb and jar there anters whenthey land. Trails leading to food scores.  Add alot of walking, take kids more eyes the better dogs are good I have a blue heeler that I taught he finds a couple a years.