Finding mountain sheds

[tuffcrk14]

I fell into whitetail hunting last fall in the mountains of NW MT only because of a buck I had gotten on camera for a short period of time last October. Ever since, I’ve been trying to dive into the world of mountain whitetail. There’s a lot to them and I’m slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together on how to hunt them. Recently, I found a matching set of sheds (Not the monster I got on camera) midway up a mountain on an overgrown logging road where I had found a car hood size scrape last fall that I was going to check for any spring activity. I’m pretty sure I discovered this buck’s late season safety zone. I put tape to his antlers and tried to be as accurate possible with how the rack would sit on his head. He measured 129” gross and 126” net. I’m pretty stoked to get back there and set cameras over a mock scrape later this spring to see what bucks have made the winter. Where is everyone finding the majority of their shed antlers?

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[Prairiekid]

I’m in the mountains of Alberta. I tend to find them 2/3’s of the way up. Usually on a south facing or south west facing slope. But it’s not easy, that’s nice set! It seems by the time I find them often the squirrels have too.

 

[tuffcrk14]

This was on a south face that was thinned out sometime in the 80s. I’m just basing that on the old Vitamin R beer cans I’ve found while I’ve walked this hillside. I spoke to a mountain whitetail guy about my find and he said after the rut they just rest and recover like a bull elk does in post rut. They won’t travel any further than necessary and they’ll hang where they feel safest until the snow pushes them out. Finding areas like that are where he finds the big sheds.


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[98_Tacoma]

i shed hunt in pa and have found a few sheds off of deer that filter through but most are ones i have on camera but i cant ever seem to see them during the season always wanted to shoot a buck that i have sheds off of but never seem to get it done

 

[tuffcrk14]

I’m pretty sure this is the buck I found those sheds to last spring. These pictures were about 400 yards from the area I had found them.


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[98_Tacoma]

I’m pretty sure this is the buck I found those sheds to last spring. These pictures were about 400 yards from the area I had found them.


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nice hes a good buck id have the elvis leg shakes if he would be standing in front of me haha

 

[tuffcrk14]

nice hes a good buck id have the elvis leg shakes if he would be standing in front of me haha

Omg I about spit my coffee out when I read that my legs would definitely be doing the same thing! I found a few more sheds this fall in the surrounding area and they were on little finger ridges on the east side of a north/south running ridge. These little ridges have a south facing aspect with decent openings for feed and dense timber/downfall for good cover on the north side. While I walked one of these in search of a lone bull elk I was tracking, I couldn’t help but scan for sheds too. I’ll be damned if I didn’t find a decent 4 point shed, not much smaller than my matching set on the crest of that ridge right just inside the tree line.


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[98_Tacoma]

Omg I about spit my coffee out when I read that my legs would definitely be doing the same thing! I found a few more sheds this fall in the surrounding area and they were on little finger ridges on the east side of a north/south running ridge. These little ridges have a south facing aspect with decent openings for feed and dense timber/downfall for good cover on the north side. While I walked one of these in search of a lone bull elk I was tracking, I couldn’t help but scan for sheds too. I’ll be damned if I didn’t find a decent 4 point shed, not much smaller than my matching set on the crest of that ridge right just inside the tree line.


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haha that's funny i usually get the elvis shakes going when one i haven't seen pops out. a buck i have sheds of for 2 years came out during archery this year and it was hard to stand up lol unfortunately he hung up at 80 yards and could never send an arrow at him. I usually i wont find any during the early to late fall unless i step on them i usually start looking February until it starts to get green

 

[tuffcrk14]

haha that's funny i usually get the elvis shakes going when one i haven't seen pops out. a buck i have sheds of for 2 years came out during archery this year and it was hard to stand up lol unfortunately he hung up at 80 yards and could never send an arrow at him. I usually i wont find any during the early to late fall unless i step on them i usually start looking February until it starts to get green

Are set up over community scrapes or travel route/choke points?


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[98_Tacoma]

Are set up over community scrapes or travel route/choke points?


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we have a little food plot by a choke point his doe ran into the food plot and he was on lock down with her hes an old smart deer so she walked by me and was hoping he would but he went into the bush maybe 30 yards and paralleled he and they met back up in the bush was a bit of a bummer and ended up shooting a 9 on the 2nd to last day of the pa archery season. bitter sweet but hoping to find his sheds this year if he makes it through