As we discussed last week, this spring we’ll be featuring some of the best sheds found in 2012 by the Wired To Hunt Nation on the blog! Today we’ve got one of our first submissions, this one coming from Adam Rottler. He found this giant Kansas shed, measuring 80 3/8″ on January 29! Where specifically? A wheat field.

Morale of the story? This shed was found in a popular late season food source, and these can be some of the hottest shed hunting areas out there. Corn, beans, wheat, brassicas. Wherever the deer are feeding late in the year, you’ve got a good chance of finding some bone.

Congrats Adam! And for the rest of you, if you want to send in your shed read up on details here and then send us your picture and information!

With February now upon us, the unofficial start of shed hunting season is pretty much here! And with the ever growing interest in shed hunting, I’ve decided that we can do a better job here on Wired To Hunt of  showcasing some of the awesome sheds being found out there. So how do I plan to do that? With the Wired To Hunt Nation’s help of course!

What I’m proposing is this. If you find a cool shed this winter/spring, we want to feature it on Wired To Hunt! If you’d like your shed on the blog, send an email to wiredtohunt@gmail.com with the following items:

- A great picture or pictures of your shed. Preferably one of the pics would be of the shed as you found it in the wild.

- Details regarding the state you found the shed, the date of your find, and a description of the terrain where the shed was located.

Hopefully this will result in all of us being able to check out some awesome sheds, while also learning a little bit more about where/how sheds are found!

So with that being said, whether you are starting now or in a few weeks, get ready to strap on your boots and get walking. As a little bonus, whoever sends in the pic of the “coolest” shed (admittedly this will be pretty subjective), will win a Wired To Hunt trucker hat! Let me know if you have any questions, otherwise good luck shed hunting and I look forward to seeing what kind of monster bone you guys can find!

Well. He’s certainly not anything to get too excited about, but this little fella is the first buck I’ve seen so far this year that’s shed an antler. And THAT is exciting. The first phase of the 2012 season will be kicking off soon with shed hunting and I can not wait. My plan for the next few weeks is to keep a steady supply of Big & J’s BB2 and a few other attractants well supplied in front of my trail cameras. And when I see the majority of the bucks without antlers, I’ll start searching. Also by having an attractant/supplement like BB2 or something similar available, it can help draw bucks into a smaller area and hopefully will result in a few of them shedding their antlers nearby!

Anyone else seeing shed bucks already?

Interested in getting ready for shed season a little early? Here is a link to our compilation of the best tips and tricks for shed hunting from some of the best in the hunting industry…

The Ultimate Shed Hunting Resource – Expert Shed Hunting Tips, Strategies and Suggestions

I finally did it. After dreaming of having my own four legged hunting buddy for years, I finally bought my own dog. So, may I now introduce you to Booner. Affectionately named after the legendary giant whitetails we chase year in and year out, Booner will be my companion in the woods during the off-season and back at home during the fall.

Growing up I always wanted a German Shorthaired Pointer, but over the last couple years I’ve gone bird hunting less and developed a need for a new kind of dog. In particular, a shed hunting dog. So after researching shed hunting dogs for the last year or two, I finally decided this spring that a lab was most likely the best choice for me because of their renowned status as the best shed hunting breed and their more laid back temperament. And so far, I couldn’t be happier with my choice. Booner is a bundle of energy, but when we’re not playing, he’s also really good at relaxing and chewing on one of his toys. Or even better, a shed! I’ve already introduced him to some of my sheds, and they’re quickly becoming one of his favorite toys! In the coming months we’ll start playing fetch with them and then eventually start hiding them for him to find. It should be a fun journey and I’ll be sure to share my experiences training him with you all along the way!

That being said, while on the topic of shed hunting dogs, I thought I might offer a few key things to look for in a potential shed hunting pup!

1. First off you need a breed that can do this kind of work. Naturally, shed hunting is a good fit for retrievers given the task at hand. Labrador retrievers have been found to be the ideal breed, but Golden and Chesapeake retrievers are good options as well. On top of retrievers, many other hunting and working breeds can be taught to find sheds as well. I’ve heard of German Shepherds, German Shorthairs, most bird dogs and various other breeds working as shed hunters too.

2. Once you’ve selected the right breed, you need to find a specific dog that has the hunting and retrieving drive to make a good shed hunting dog. Most literature suggests that you can’t assess this fully until a dog is around six months old. But if you’re buying a puppy, there are still some tell-tale signs you can look for. Keep an eye out for a puppy who is healthy, playful and active for as long as you are. You’ll want a shed hunting dog that can hike the woods for as long as you, so if you’re dog is getting bored when playing with you in the living room, you can bet he’ll get bored after 4 hours in the woods. You can also test for basic retrieving interest by throwing various objects for the dog, and seeing if he attempts to fetch them at all. At a young age a puppy may not know to chase the object or fetch it consistently, but a general interest and willingness to play and retrieve on occasion is a good sign that your dog has a chance at having shed hunting chops.

All that being said, we’ll be sure to share all of the shed hunting training experiences and lessons we encounter along the way. And hopefully come February next year, we’ll be able to find Booner his first shed! Speaking of, as I sit here typing, Booner is sitting at my feet gnawing on an old 2 point shed and I couldn’t be more proud. Here’s to Booner being on his way to becoming one heck of a shed hunter!

As we cruised north on Interstate 75 heading home to Michigan, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied. To be honest that was in part because I just relieved myself after 3 hours stuck in the truck. But also because of the results of our weekend in Ohio!  Did we have a good shed hunting weekend? No. Not at all.  But regardless of that, it was still a very successful weekend and a fun one on top of that. Two days of nonstop whitetail talk, shed hunting, and hiking the rolling hills of Ohio. Not too bad of a way to spend a weekend in March If I say so myself.

Like I mentioned this Saturday on W2H, on day one we got permission to shed hunt on five properties and we put a lot of miles on our boots. Unfortunately  we only had one, year old shed to show for it. Day two was much more of the same, with a 7:00 AM wake up call pushing us out the door and into the early morning chill. The second morning involved lots of walking, plenty of prickers in my face and one seriously small shed. We also came upon a dead 2.5 year old 8 pointer on the same property, but that was it! After hiking a few more properties and braving some rain, we decided to call it a day and head for our final gauntlet of the weekend. Asking for hunting permission on our top property.

Luckily fate was on our side, and we obtained access to our #1 spot! Lady luck was definitely with us, but I also have to give a big shoutout to my buddy Corey, who put in some tremendous time and effort into locating our target properties and mapping out who to talk to and where to look. It really paid off for us in the end. Once we knew we had one piece locked down in Highland County, we headed East to meet with Mike Murtland of Whitetail Properties.

Mike is an agent for Whitetail Properties in Ohio and we were hoping to pick his brain about property in the area and shoot the deer hunting shit. And that we did! Mike is a great guy and a hardcore deer hunter just like myself and Corey, so we had a good ole time swapping stories and talking strategy. Needless to say, Mike has some really great properties for sale, that any whitetail freak would give a left arm for. We’ll most likely be checking out a few this summer, and we’ll be sure to keep you guys posted. But if you’re interested in the meantime, check out some of the properties Mike has in Ohio by visiting Mike’s page on the Whitetail Properties website.

So all this being said, the weekend was without a doubt a success. Despite the fact that our shed finds are laughable at best, we did end up coming back with access to a dynamite property and a lot of good stories. Our next trip to Ohio is planned for midsummer, when we’ll be putting out trail cameras and BB2, and then hopefully capturing some great velvet footage of some Ohio monsters.

Hopefully it will be footage of bigger bucks than the one that left this behind!

As usual here on Wired To Hunt, we like to feature the monsters of Michigan and ain’t this one a beauty! LoL.

As I dodged thorns and pine branches on Saturday afternoon, a shot of adrenaline rushed through me when I heard the word “FINALLY!!!” come echoing across the swamp. My buddy Corey had found our first (and last) shed of the day! And although his shed won’t be winning any prizes, it was still a relief to know we wouldn’t be going home completely empty handed.

Corey and I were planning on heading to SW Ohio this past weekend in search of new hunting property and monster sheds, but unfortunately at the last minute a wrench got thrown into our plans and we couldn’t leave town Saturday morning. Despite the change-up, we’ll  be making our journey next weekend, with a full two days at our disposal. So in an effort to still accomplish something this weekend, Corey, myself and our buddy Jeremy headed out shed hunting in South Central Michigan. And although we ended up only finding one shed, we did  cover some really good looking ground, came across several deads and bumped a whole slew of deer along the way. Surprisingly one of the deer we bumped was a small 8 point buck still holding both sides!

So while we came back home to our ladies with only a small spike to show, you still couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces that can only come from a long day in the woods with good friends. And despite our slow day of shed hunting, we’ll be back at it again soon in Michigan and Ohio. We’ll keep you posted!

Have you guys been having better luck shed hunting?

I’ve got to be honest with you all, I’m really excited about today’s post. Now that the first days of March have dawned, the floodgates have been opened for shed hunting and bone should start being found in bunches! That being said, I know there are tons of people looking for helpful shed hunting tips every day. And while there are plenty of tips available all over the web, it seems like you usually just get one random person’s opinion and a few tips. There seemed to be a need for a more definitive and comprehensive shed hunting resource, so it only seemed right that we should make this available on Wired To Hunt!

So that being said, I reached out to a number of expert shed hunters from across the hunting industry and with their help I was able to put together an incredible array of shed hunting tips! So read on for some super helpful shed hunting insights from the who’s who of the hunting world!

Bill Winke – Midwest Whitetail

“A very experienced shed hunter told me that you find the sheds in the places where the deer spend the most time during the winter.  In winter, it is sometimes hard to tell fresh sign from old sign, especially right after snow melt.  He recommended looking for fresh droppings and lots of them.  A deer can’t hide droppings and the melting snow won’t wash them away.  He really slows down and spends a lot of time in areas with lots of fresh droppings.”

Mark and Terry Drury – Drury Outdoors

“Shed hunting is definitely a numbers game. The more eyes the better chance you have,  the more ground you cover the better. We’d also recommend you use Reconyx cameras to establish when the deer have shed.  The worst thing you could do is hunt too early and push them on to your neighbors where they drop their antlers.”

* Check out the Drury Outdoors facebook page soon to enter a giveaway for an all expense paid shed hunting trip with the Drurys!

Scott Bestul – Field & Stream’s Whitetail 365

“Unless you’ve got a photographic memory (I don’t), find a method for labeling your antlers. This will help you remember the location, date, and score of every horn. Write the information on a piece of masking tape or a small piece of paper and attach it to the antler.

Mix it up: If you’re in an area where you know there should be sheds, but you’re just not finding them, vary your routine. I’ve spotted some of my best sheds after walking hard, then just sitting in one spot for awhile, looking around….Or walking loops or squares in a pattern. Another trick, which I learned hunting morel mushrooms, is to kneel down and scan from a different angle. I don’t know if these changeups just reset my inattentive brain, or if weird light angles are just preventing me from seeing antlers…But I do know they’ve let me spot a shed I was missing before. And yes, I’m usually looking for antlers a whole lot smaller than most guys!

Jason Smith - Whitetail Properties

“Before you start, throw a few sheds on the ground and stare at them, get your eyes accustomed to looking for them.  It’s easy to lose your concentration when shed hunting and walk right past them.  A few years ago I actually stopped right next to one to take a break and didn’t see it until I looked back because I heard one of my fellow shed hunters coming.  It seems crazy but if you don’t train your eyes you can miss them.  When I am walking I identify everything I see on the ground.  I am constantly looking at one item and I say to myself what it is… stump, stick, grass, droppings, snow, ice, acron, walnut, thorn, branch, cedar….I name everything I see and it helps me to look at each and every item on the ground.

When you find one antler the other side is probably close.  I begin walking a circle around the location I found the shed.  If you bring a bright cloth with you, tie it to a branch where the first shed is at so you can keep track of your location in relation to it.  If you are in grass lay it out on top of the grass.  If I still can’t find it I get in a high location and use my binoculars to try to spot the other side.

Feeders help me concentrate sheds in one area.  Deer don’t like to move far from food sources in the winter.  I keep my feeders full after season closes and besides getting great photos, my sheds are always within 3-400 yards of the feeders.”

Kandi and Don Kisky – Whitetail Freaks

“You have to look at the right slopes. 75% of our sheds are found on east and south slopes and food is key.”

Todd Pringnitz – White Knuckle Productions

“Like in most cases when it comes to hunting whitetail deer, I hunt the sign, whether I’m shed hunting or bowhunting.  Like during hunting season, you are hunting deer on a pattern between food and bedding.  You have to locate the primary food sources in your area to locate the likely positions of most of your deer, including bucks after the hunting season.  I continue to use trail cameras to monitor shedding throughout the winter months and don’t start walking until I start to see the my primary shed animals dropping.  Once I know there are sheds to be found, I walk starting from the feeding areas and moving outward toward the bedding areas.  If snow is present, this will make your job easier in determining the primary travel routes.  Re-walk all your best stuff every 10-14 days to find the antlers as they drop.  If you aren’t finding sheds, you aren’t where the deer are.”

Mike Hanback – Remington’s The Buck Stops Here with Mike Hanback

“A rainy day is great—sheds shine and catch your eye. Bones can be tough to see in brown grass lit with harsh sunlight.

The biggest mistake people make is to wander around, looking too far out front and all around. Mark off small grids of land, walk slowly over each grid and look straight down at the ground for sheds.

Wear soft-soled boots. One April day Iowa shed expert Don Kisky stepped on a stick, or so he thought. He dug through the leaves and uncovered a five-point 75-inch shed. With the other antler and an 18-inch spread, that giant would have pushed 170. With his new rack, he would go Boone and Crockett that fall.”

Bryhn Craft - Whitetail Properties

“Looking for shed antlers takes a little practice to become efficient. It’s like when you first started deer hunting. You know what I am talking about, your dad is trying to show you a deer and you just can’t seem to see it until it moves. It was because you were looking for the whole deer. As you learn to look for just parts of the deer, maybe an ear or a leg, or maybe just the tine of the antler, you all the sudden increase your sightings. It is the same with shed hunting. If you walk around just trying to spot a whole antler lying on the ground, you may find a few, but you will be missing a whole bunch more. Try looking for the just the tip of the tines, or just the base of the antler and you will increase your odds of finding more antler significantly. You can always tell if a guy is a good shed hunter if he not only comes back with the big ones, but comes back with the spikes as well.”

Tony Hansen - Realtree.com Contributor

“Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to spot the movement of antlers in the timber on rainy or overcast days? Well it seems to be the same with sheds. Bright sun makes everything glare. I have a much easier time spotting antlers when it’s overcast — not sure why that it is, but it holds true for me. I also have a friend who ‘collects’ sheds by using rubber bungee straps pulled tight across two trees near a feeder or food plot. He picks the most used path of entry or exit and stretches the bungees across about chest-high (he’s about six feet tall). Then when bucks duck under to pass, they brush the straps and often leave sheds behind. It looks kind of goofy but there’s no arguing with the results. He finds a lot of sheds lying right under those straps.”

Jeff Lindsey – Drury Outdoors

“My favorite places to look are on south facing slopes as close as you can get to the last available food source. I also like to look in the grasses on the edge of crop fields that bucks like to lay in and mill around in throughout the night.”

Pete Alfano - Whitetail Properties

“If your crunched for time and want to get in the most effective walking on your boots, I would start with south facing slopes located not far from late winter food sources where I’ve seen deer herding back up in January and February. Another great spot that is over looked is grass water ways or areas in fields that are the first to be exposed from melting snow.”

In addition to all of these great tips, I’ve listed all of our prior shed hunting articles below for you to reference! We’ve got some great posts that include tips from Joe Shead, the author of the one and only shed hunting book, Mike Hunsucker and Matt White of Heartland Bowhunter and much more. Between the expert tips above and the strategies you can learn about in the articles below, you truly will be ready to make 2011 your best shed season ever!

Shed Hunting Tips From Expert Shed Hunter and Author, Joe Shead

Shed Hunting Tips From Heartland Bowhunter

Book/DVD Review: Shed Hunting – A Guide To Finding Whitetail Deer Antlers

Shed Hunting 101 Webinar from Deer & Deer Hunting

Let Shed Hunting Season Begin – 5 Tips For More Sheds

3 Easy Tools To Increase Your Shed Count in 2011

Out In The Open – Matt White

Have any other shed hunting tips that folks should know about? Share them in the comments!

“Antler growth, mineralization, and casting is largely controlled by hormones and regulated by photoperiod (the amount of light per day).”

- QDMA’s Whitetail Report 2011

In a nut shell, there it is. Deer lose their antlers every spring because of their changing hormones, specifically testosterone and that’s all there is to it. But the process of deer growing and eventually losing their antlers is a topic of endless fascination, so I thought today we’d dive into it a little bit further.

As was just mentioned, the growth and casting of antlers is due to testosterone, which is controlled by the amount of light received per day. Testosterone levels take off in July, peak in late October/early November and then begin a downward spiral into late winter/early spring. The rise towards peak testosterone levels results in the shedding of velvet and hardening of antlers during early September, and the  eventual decline of these levels then signals the final drop of a buck’s head gear.

While testosterone is the main factor controlling antler drop, several other factors can have an impact on testosterone and accordingly have an impact on the timing of bucks shedding. First and probably most well known is the fact that high levels of stress on a buck can speed up the shedding process. This stress is frequently caused by harsh weather, poor nutrition, or injury. Dominant, mature bucks are also more apt to shed early, most likely because they are more active in the rut and can enter the late winter in a poorer physical condition.

Conversely several  issues, of which I was surprised to hear,  can lead to a late drop. One of these factors is the presence of estrus does late in year. For whatever reason, whether it be a late rut in the south or herds with highly skewed sex ratios, when estrus does are present late in the year, bucks testosterone levels tend to stay high, which usually leads to a later antler drop. It makes sense, but it’s something I never would have thought of! Also in the same line of thought, bucks that are involved in an extreme level of fighting can produce increased levels of testosterone, resulting in an unusually strong level of mineralization and a later loss of antlers.

I’m convinced that it’s human nature to be interested or even obsessed by antlers and every time I dive deeper into the science behind them, I walk away even more fascinated. Truly a wonder of the natural world, whitetails antlers will continue to captivate us for many years to come and with this new insight, my appreciation for them only continues to grow.

The majority of this information was gleaned from the 2011 Whitetail Report produced by the QDMA and you can access the full report online by following the link below.

QDMA’s Whitetail Report 2011

Now that most of us are through deer hunting, the next season on most of our calendars is dedicated to shed hunting! The search for fallen antlers is an increasingly popular activity and I’ve certainly fallen prey to the allure of finding bonus bone on the forest floor myself! Although the peak of shed hunting is typically February and March, there are already sheds to be found as early as January, so to kick off shed hunting season we wanted to bring to your attention a great resource for those just getting into this pastime. Deer & Deer Hunting just recently released a completely free online webinar titled “Shed Hunting 101″ by Joe Shead, in which the basics of how, when and where to find sheds is covered. Follow the link below to watch this great online course from a true shed hunting expert, Joe Shead and hopefully in a few months you’ll have a living room floor looking like the one pictured above!

D&DH Shed Hunting 101 Online Course

This time of year many sportsmen are gearing up for turkey hunting or are cleaning out the bass boat, but there a select few of us who are already preparing for our pursuit of whitetails in the fall. For those of us that dream of droptines and doe’s in estrus, there is no down time. Chasing mature whitetails is truly a year long affliction and to be successful it takes some serious dedication. So although I am excited to do a little bit of turkey hunting and bass fishing, I am certainly not forgetting about my whitetail hunting responsibilities.

So what am I doing do now to improve my chances of sinking an arrow behind the shoulder of a brute buck? Let me count the ways…

1. Shed Hunting: With most snow being melted by now, your chances of finding sheds are greatly increased. Collecting sheds is not only fun, but also a great way of taking inventory of the bucks left on your land. Knowing what bucks you are hunting and where they hang out is the foundation that you will build on as the season progresses. Here is a quick shed hunting tip for you, pay special attention to any fence, stream or ditch crossings. Anywhere a buck might have to jump offers a great chance for a shed to drop!
2. Scouting: Now is one of the absolute best times to scout, similarly to shed hunting, with the snow melted and undergrowth yet to appear, you can now see many of the secrets the winter kept hidden. Keep an eye out for signs of the previous years rut, as rubs and scrapes can now be easily identified. This is also a great time to scout out those bedding areas that you would typically not want to pressure, get in there now and you won’t need to worry about spooking that big buck.
3. Practice Shooting: It can never be stressed enough, you have to get out and practice with your bow or gun. If you work all year to get a shot opportunity on a buck, you just can’t afford to blow it in the final seconds. Nothing will make you sicker than injuring a deer or watching an arrow sail over a deer’s back. Try this exercise next time you practice with your bow. Take 3 arrows and mark a line at 20, 30 and 40 yards (if you feel comfortable out to that range). Now start at 20 and shoot til you hit a bullseye, now step back to 30 with your next arrow and try for a bull. If you miss, go back to 20 until you hit a bull, which will then allow you to step back to 30 again. The point of this is to hit 3 bulls in a row, one at 20, 30 and 40 yards. The key is that this forces you to focus on one shot, with each shot being absolutely crucial. If you screw it up, you have to go back to square one. Shooting at a deer is no different.

So what are YOU doing now to get your buck this next fall??? Lets share some ideas and hopefully we’ll all learn a thing or two that will help us prepare for the upcoming season!