Nine years ago I set foot into my first pasture with aspirations of finding a treasure.  The treasure was a shed antler.  That amazing thing that came into existence 8 months prior would hold my attention like a diamond would to a woman and still does to this day.  Shed antlers are the journals of whitetail deer.  They show the progression of a young buck to a mature monarch and everything in between.  A shed antler will tell you how aggressive a buck is or if he sustained an injury in the past. A shed will document the existence of that giant you thought you saw for a second during the season.  It will bring you closer to the animal that you chased for months during the season and could never get close to.  These amazing treasures will push many whitetail addicts to spend countless hours afield with numb legs and growling stomachs.  Logical thinking tells you that they are nothing more than calcium formed into a unique shape, but anyone reading this article will ignore logical thinking.  I also choose to ignore this notion.  Anything that steals my attention like a shed antler does is something special.  Something that deserves to be saved from slowly decaying back into the earth.

Over the last nine years I have come to a realization which has more than doubled my shed count each year.  This simple fact that I chose to ignore for years is that whitetail deer are not reclusive.  There is a perception that they are because when we are out and about during the day they are just that, reclusive.  What people don’t realize is that when the sun sets these reclusive animals head to the open for the best things in their life, food, water, and socializing.  I find more than half of my sheds out in open crop fields and pastures in the exact places that bucks go to spend their nights.  With short days in the winter months, a day can be broken down to find that it is dark for over 12 hours in the winter and bucks will spend most of this not in a thick bedding area but in the open, feeding and interacting with other deer.  After adjusting my hiking routes to include these open fields I jumped from finding about 25 sheds a season to 60+ every year.

After having this awakening and boosting my shed numbers I came to another realization.  Walking open fields is BORING!  Walking back and forth across wheat stubble is not a fun thing to do and will wear on a guy after awhile.  That being said, maximizing your time in these fields is key to success before burnout.  One of the most important things in this aspect is scouting late winter.  Finding the buck groups and watching which fields they are using is extremely important.  It’s amazing how bucks will religiously use a certain field when there is one identical to it right next to it or maybe even closer to their bedding area.  Knowing that the bucks have been in these fields will give you the confidence to spend the time combing the field.  Another key to success out in the open has to do with the weather.  Extremely bright sunny days will wear on the eyes after awhile.  It also produces very hard shadows and glares off bright objects.  This combination can make for extremely hard circumstances especially when in milo and corn stubble.  Obviously no one has the time to wait for a cloudy day so if it’s sunny help yourself out and put the sun at your back.  By planning your walk prior to getting started you can succeed in having the sun at your back the entire walk.  You can also try and go mid-day when the sun is straight up which will prevent any long shadows. Cloudy days take care of the shadows and glares and are ideal in my opinion.   These rules also apply in the timber.

Another thing I came to realize is no field is flat.  Not even here in Kansas.  Every field is filled with small elevation changes and even a change of six inches can hide even the biggest sheds if lying tines down.  For this reason no field can be effectively be glassed from the road.  I have frequently scanned a field and saw nothing only to find a decent shed not a hundred yards from where I last glassed.  One more key element is walking slow.  This can be extremely difficulty if you are like me and regularly have two brothers walking with you.  Needless to say competition is always present between brothers no matter what the case.  If you find yourself walking too fast then you have a couple options.  Option 1, leave your brothers at home.  While effective this isn’t as much fun.  We solved our speed walking problem by designating who gets the plunder from each walk prior to starting so no one cares who finds what.  It can really help having extra eyes with you especially when grid walking open fields, which will reduce the amount of trips it takes to cover the field.

So to all the fellow shed addicts out there, I hope that you spend a little extra time out in the open this spring and hopefully find a treasure staring up out of the wheat stubble.

-Matt White, avid bowhunter and member of Heartland Bowhunter

The snow is melting, birds are chirping and the peak of shed hunting season is officially upon us! In my opinion there is no better time to hit the woods in search of fallen bone than these first couple weeks of March. That being said, its also the time of year when we are searching for any piece of info that could give us the edge for finding more sheds and I think I may just have the ticket. Joe Shead, author and creator of the book “Shed Hunting: A Guide to Finding White-tailed Deer Antlers” and the DVD “Go Shed Hunting” was kind enough to send over copies of his book and DVD for me to check out. Boy, am I grateful. These two resources offer a boatload of knowledge and insight into the shed hunting world and I am confident that what I have learned will translate into me finding more sheds than ever before.

The Book

“Shed Hunting” is an easy to read, well paced, info packed book. It begins by discussing the science of antlers, which I found particularly interesting. Did you know that antlers grow faster than cancerous cells?! Antlers are truly an amazing marvel in the animal world. The meat of the reading covers how, where and why your should search certain areas for sheds. It all comes down to finding where sheds are, because no matter how hard you search, you can’t find sheds that aren’t there. I think Joe does a great job explaining why he favors certain areas to find sheds and how he then goes about searching these spots. I particularly enjoyed a section where he gave an example of a piece of land he likes, including a diagram, and then he breaks down in detail how he would pick it apart. This insight has definitely helped me better utilize my time while searching my land. In addition to this core information, the book also covers related topics such as shed hunting dogs, shed hunting organizations and how to shed hunt with buddies.

The DVD

The “Go Shed Hunting” DVD is the perfect companion to the book that Joe has written. This DVD follows Joe throughout an entire season of shed hunting, as he treks across the woods and fields of Wisconsin. Being able to actually see the areas that the sheds were found and how they lay was really helpful and I’m sure it will improve my eye in the woods. Not only did the video show sheds, but also plenty of great scenery and deer. It was an overall enjoyable and educational film, that would definitely be helpful to anyone looking to increase their shed hunting success.

Check out this clip from “Go Shed Hunting” to get a better feel for the DVD.

Final Thoughts

In closing I would say that both the shed hunting book and DVD created by Joe Shead are  terrific resources for the up and coming shed hunter. Full of information and enjoyably written and produced, both resources would get a big thumbs up from me. If you had to choose just one, I would definitely say go with the book. But the DVD is certainly a nice companion. So if you’re looking to up the ante when going after sheds this year I would highly recommend checking out either the Joe’s shed hunting book or DVD. I’m confident that it will make you a better bone collector.

For some more great tips that Joe shared with me recently, check out this post:

Shed Hunting Tips from Expert Shed Hunter Joe Shead

To pick up a copy of “Shed Hunting: A Guide to Finding White-tailed Deer Antlers” or the “Go Shed Hunting” DVD follow these links:

Buy “Shed Hunting: A Guide to Finding White-tailed Deer Antlers”

Buy “Go Shed Hunting” DVD

We’re keeping the shed hunting tips flowing and this time it’s from author Joe Shead.  Joe is the author of “Shed Hunting:  A Guide To Finding White-Tailed Deer Antlers” and creator of the DVD “Go Shed Hunting.” He has also worked as managing editor of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine and written for numerous other publications. So I think it’s safe to say that he is one of the most qualified shed hunting experts in the hunting community! Lucky for us, he was kind enough to offer the Wired To Hunt Nation some great shed hunting tips. So check them out and make sure to share some of your favorite tips too!

Joe Shead’s Shed Hunting Tips

1. Look for southern exposures, such as south-facing hills and the south edge of a forest. The south face receives the most direct sunlight in winter. Deer bed here to soak up radiant heat, much like a cat lying in a window. Direct sunlight also reduces snow depth here first, making it easier for deer to bed, travel and find food.

2. Check under scattered evergreens. Whether it’s a lone cedar in the middle of a fallow field or a handful of scattered pines in a hardwood forest, check under every one, particularly under the south side. Deer are drawn to these odd features on a landscape the same way a fish is drawn to weeds, rocks or logs in an otherwise featureless lake.

3. Walk slower than you think you need to. There are a lot of things on the ground that look like sheds and many other things that can cover up sheds. Sheds look a lot like sticks, brush and cornstalks so your eyes need time to separate the grain from the chaff. Your pace should be dictated by how fast your eyes can thoroughly scan the ground, not how fast you can walk.

4. Look for pieces of an antler. Sometimes you see a deer’s tail twitch or you see a glint of antler before you spot the whole deer. It’s the same way with sheds. Sheds can be buried under snow or grass or may be projecting only part-way from behind sticks or logs. Look for a piece of tine, a round base or the M-shape of an antler lying tines down or a W-shape of an antler lying tines up. Many times that 3-inch piece of antler you see sticking out behind the grass is attached to a much-larger antler.

5. Keep your eyes on the ground. As simple as this sounds, it’s amazing how often you’ll catch yourself looking at deer, birds, rubs or other things above ground level. Last week I watched 2 deer jump up out of their beds and bound uphill. On the way out of that area that night, I spotted a 4-point shed that I had stepped within 3 feet of when I was watching those 2 deer.