3 Great Locations to Find Shed Antlers

If you’ve had minimal shed-hunting success, reassess where you’re searching and make some tweaks. Photo by Darron McDougal.

Whether you’re trying to connect the dots to a specific buck or out enjoying the sunshine, it’s always exciting to see antler tines protruding from the snow or laying atop matted-down leaves. While it’s possible to find a shed just about anywhere, searching these locations will definitely boost your odds.

MAJOR FOOD SOURCES

This one is a pretty obvious starting point. Deer must feed in force during the critical months following the rut, which are often marked with cold weather and snow. The best winter food sources include standing corn, soybeans, brassicas, winter wheat, winter rye, and other fields that provide deer with carbs and protein.

Quickly visit your property’s food sources to learn whether deer are using them this winter. Tracks in the mud or digging marks in the snow are dead giveaways. Deer also bed along food source edges throughout the night between feeding sessions, especially in tall grass, shelterbelts, thermal cover, or plum brush. If you don’t find sheds immediately on the food source, search where deer bed on and off throughout the night along or just off the food source.

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If you’re legally searching for sheds on public lands, food sources can be hit and miss depending on how much shed-hunting activity the parcel sees. I’ve been on some public-land food sources where there were fresh boot tracks almost daily, as searchers were looking for sheds even before bucks began dropping. There’s always the chance a shed will be missed, but most antlers on food sources in competitive areas are collected within days of shedding. If that’s the case, broaden your search.

FOOD SOURCE ACCESS TRAILS

Deep snow concentrates deer to fewer trails that lead between bedding areas and food sources, so walking on deer trails with shallow snow or no snow at all might produce mixed results since deer can travel freely without restriction. Regardless of snow presence, though, I’ve found a lot of sheds on trails that spur off winter food sources. Deer travel them often, and the fact that they’re moving or even running these routes can jar an antler just enough to make it fall.

Trails that deer use to access a winter food source — or any high-traffic trails for that matter — are worth a look. Photo by Darron McDougal.

There isn’t a big rush to search these locations if you’re on private land and the only one searching, but they can be productive on public lands if the food sources yield minimal results. That’s because the daily in-and-out shed hunters often stick to the easy spots and aren’t willing to crawl through the thickets and hike the hills.

BEDDING AREAS

This is where mature bucks spend much of their time. Many, many sheds are cast in bedding areas, but I don’t suggest checking them until spring or at least until 90-some percent of the area’s bucks have shed, especially on private land where you can control the pressure. Bumping bucks that haven’t shed their antlers can needlessly complicate the search by causing them to bed — and shed — elsewhere.

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Understand that bedding areas can change from summer to winter. For example, scores of prairie bucks bed in cattail sloughs during the summer and fall, but deep, drifted snow can fill the sloughs and make them unnavigable. This causes bucks to seek refuge in shelterbelts or even the wide open where the snow constantly drifts away to surrounding low-lying areas. If that’s the case, adjust your search to winter bedding areas.

WHERE NOBODY ELSE IS LOOKING

My wife, Becca, unintentionally taught me this tip. We were near the parking area of a public parcel after searching the three areas I mentioned above. We had found one antler. My brother and I had virtually given up and were talking while walking the main trail (where everyone walks) back to the vehicle. Becca, on the other hand, chose to walk through tall grass that almost no one would mess with. Only 200 yards from the vehicle, she scooped up a beautiful five-point antler, proving that places other than those discussed above often get overlooked.

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In another instance, she found a big antler within 150 yards of our vehicle on a different public parcel in another state. Determined, she continued walking and circling the easy-access areas near the parking area and found the match. When you’ve searched diligently in the places where deer spend the most time, don’t forget to stay on your game and check ditches near roads, around parking areas, and anywhere else that seems too easy. Not all big sheds are 2 miles from the road.

SUMMARY

Finding the most sheds usually means spending your time where the deer spend most of theirs. During the winter months, those places are food sources, bedding areas, and the trails connecting them. But, take some time to explore haunts that others overlook.

Lastly, in regions where winter is extremely tough on wild animals, don’t needlessly pressure them. These are critical months when survival requires great energy conservation. The best thing you can do in deep snow and subzero weather is to check food sources during the daytime and nowhere else or leave the place alone until the weather breaks. Their survival could depend on it.