Shed hunting tips and tricks

[Trapperkid]

I’d love to hear some of your best tips and tricks on how to best find sheds in your area. I found one next to a corn pile last week.

 

[Huntin Fool]

Find where they winter, put the miles on

 

[Lvthntitall]

Bedding and feeding areas are best, colder regions look anywhere they bed that is in the sun and out of the wind.

 

[LostArra]

Fence lines, bedding areas by cedar wind breaks but usually just pure luck while hiking around.

 

[LCsmith]

Drive around. Seriously, I have found my best sheds from the road.

 

[GetWestern]

Put on a flat bill hat that says hush on it and drink some MTN ops and you’re already half way there… just kidding in all seriousness watch where animals spend their time during winter particularly around the time they should be dropping their antlers.

 

[olemossyhorns]

I find most of mine on edges. I also have some success on well known travel routes and bedding as well. Cloudy/rainy days are better than sunny days. As you’re walking be sure to turn around often and look back the way you came from and different directions. When you do find one, pause for a second and look around really good. Sometimes the match is laying in close proximity. Anytime I find a large antler, I devote about an hour looking for the match in the same area. Winter food sources are a great starting point and the bedding closest to it.

 

[skissell]

Put some miles on the hiking boots and enjoy the outdoors. Keep your eyes low if your main goal is sheds. I personally get distracted looking at new spots and trees to setup in for next season lol

 

[Ross]

Walk, walk and walk more As noted find travel and bedding places…silly whitetails around here drop them next to the road and 3000 ft higher..good bedding timber and some small southern exposure offer good opportunity.

 

[signing off]

I don't find many. Came back with one Sunday after 3-4 miles in wooded areas.

 

[IW17]

Best advice I've heard, and the best I can give, is focus 90% of your time searching 10% of the areas. If the spot has something going for it, grid pattern the entire spot. I think so many people think walking ten plus miles a day will yield results, when they'd be better off hitting the good spots several times over.

Another thing is to pick your spots. Spending all day walking a couple hundred acre field is frustrating and time consuming. Instead, look for specific spots that might attract deer or give deer some cover in an otherwise wide open area. I'll make sure to pick apart wet spots with reeds growing, small ditches, anything holding water, or the base of a steeper hillside. Small pockets of woods in fields are great spots. Also, while I normally don't walk many deer trails, I'll hit each one entering a field for at least fifty yards.

South facing slopes are ok, but I prefer east or southeast facing. Most of our winter days are gloomy and windy, so I feel like deer aren't as focused on basking in sunshine that doesn't exist, but rather getting out of the cold prevailing wind.

Pine trees, especially pine forest pockets can be awesome, but usually only if the pines are smaller and bunched together to create a thick canopy that will block rain and snow.

Keep in mind that I live in Ohio, so this advice might not be applicable in southern states.

 

[Codychapman93]

It seems like here in NC, by the time they start dropping, the squirrels and mice eat them up. Most of the ones you find, the tines will be chewed up or off even


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[kolkat53]

Put some miles on the hiking boots and enjoy the outdoors. Keep your eyes low if your main goal is sheds. I personally get distracted looking at new spots and trees to setup in for next season lol

i have the same problem getting distracted

 

[hoyt-guy]

We have a thick stand of woods right off a big cattail slough on our ground. This stand of woods then opens up to more open CRP like ground. I found the majority of these sheds in this stand of woods. Not bad for a few hours of poking around. Find where the bucks like to stage up in the winter, and you should do pretty well shed hunting there in the spring. Also before anyone chimes in on the crossbow, it's for my kids who are just starting to get into hunting.

 

[retrieverman]

My method is pretty simple. I walk miles of deer trails with my “shed eyes” on.
I picked up 27 on my March trip to my place in Oklahoma and three more a couple weeks ago.