Shed Hunting Begins at Timber Life

The time has come to get out and search for the antlers that had been gracing the stately bucks of the timber just a couple week ago...Yes, it's shed hunting season!

I was viewing my Facebook thread around the 3rd when I saw that Tiffany Lakosky posted that her little Lab/shed hunter had starting finding sheds at their place in southeast Iowa. My thoughts had shifted in that direction about that time when the deer were showing up without bucks being evident any longer and the bunching up behavior had begun .

The last picture I took of a buck still carrying was of this guy the evening of December 30th, when he was on his way out of the timber for the evening browsing in the neighborhood.

I have been a little slow in getting out, because of the snow depth we still have around from the storm that arrived not long before Christmas.

Being short in stature I find the drifts to be a challenge to navigate even with the melting that has occurred the last few days. That being said I have been out looking around in an attempt to find the trophy sized tines this year before all the little creatures use them for chew sticks. High coyote activity in our area has them gnawed up before I can get to them.

                                                      Some Examples of Shedding Rubs
These are just a few of the shedding rubs I discovered on my second day of searching. My total hunting experiences in the past and so far today haven't automatically led to the immediate reward of finding antlers.

  
I usually find sheds along trails, beside fences, tucked under bushes, or tall grass and occasionally on the remains of mature bucks too tired to leave the comforts of home.

Our forecast for the next couple of days is rain and warmer temperatures. My hope for the short-term future is that the leftover antlers will be revealed once this snow has been washed away and I can see their contrast to the landscape.

I enjoy the time out looking around the timber, not only for the sheds, but for the birds flitting by and identifying tracks of animals that passed sometime ago.

It is my hope to be able to bring some pictures of "where-it-lays" soon, to let you know of the possibilities you could search in your situation.



Do you find shed collecting to be a hobby you pursue every year?

Shed Hunting Comes to an End

Yesterday was the last day of shed hunting here at Timber Life.

We found our last antler on Monday, along with the top side of  a canine skull. I may have seen it last year in my rounds, but left it. This year I brought it back to the house to do some research to define which predator species coyote, or fox had found it's rest among the trees.

Coyote Skull - 6 3/4" from back to jaw tip

Back to the final tally for the active shed hunt season: Sadie- 2 - CDGardens - 3, plus 3 in cooperation for a total of eight. I would see something, head in that direction to check it out, and Sadie would run ahead to confirm it with the sniff test.

I have four antlers in good shape and four antlers in various states of gnaw or rub damage. I stated it was the ratio of three good and five damaged on another website, but looking things over again, I need to readjust the number by one.

Now that I have recorded the take Sadie will get to add the damaged ones to her stash of chew sticks for as long as they last.

Plans for antler art = chandelier are coming together with each yearly addition...

Hunting Sheds

One activity that seems to be growing more popular the longer I read the hunting blogs-the search for the prominent adornments of the male Whitetail Deer.

I have taken  some time recently to search for the tine cast-offs of the bucks passing through. They are feeling the pain - taking it out on trees from less than an inch,ripping them totally off, to 4 + inches in diameter. The only thing now is to find those big antlers causing so many headaches.

Since starting my quest for the year I have found four singles; classifying them from good to best.

Sadie,Miss Kitty and me, were out February 2, and walked over a spike shed twice before realizing it was there underfoot. Sadie, was the one to draw my attention towards the ground - her action cued me to tell her to "drop it"! There wasn't anytime to get a picture of it, "as it lies".

After finding the spike , I led the animals back to the house, and went to the other side of the property on my own,  rambling about where a bunch of small trees were being coaxed into a sure death with a complete loss of bark.

February 2, 2012 4:57 p.m.

Spending another hour and a half wandering the trails I looked to my left...

AH YES! There on the ground by a shedding rub was a small four pointer at the end of the deer trail. I was headed out of the timber, resigned that I  wasn't going to find anything over here, when my surprise came.

The shed is laying about halfway between the two trees closest to the front of the picture. Make a triangle and you will find it at the top.

Can you see it?

February 9, 2012

Taking Sadie for a long walk, about a week from our last antler search ,I decided to follow the perimeter fence in a pasture.

Wandering for no more than 15 minutes that afternoon before this find came into view across the field.

Last year I found a small matched pair at the opposite end of this little pasture/crop field corridor.

So far the tally for this year is CDGardens - 3, Sadie - 1.

The active searches should take me into mid March, and passively looking will never end as things become uncovered over time.

Starting left to right -  1.)Third finding - pictured above on 2-9-12. 2.) Spike and small 4 pointer found 2-2-12. 3.) Far right antler was found late afternoon last Sunday, on a spur of the moment jaunt to exercise Sadie's nose and legs. I was glad she didn't see it first, it had already been gnawed by animals...small teeth marks scored the antler with the G2 tip becoming extremely thin and the G4 tip gone.

Are there any other methods to collect sheds other than the time consuming wandering some of  us choose to do?

A couple of ideas have come to mind in order to find some matched pairs of racks around here.


Wire Cages

The first option I might consider for upping my count are tall wire cages that I had initially placed in the middle of my small sampler deer food plots.

After getting the plots sprouted, the cages gave me a good showing of plant vigor. Everything outside the cage was eaten off.

Come winter 2009, on my chicory plus plot, before shed time,my cage got ripped out of the ground, and flattened by a mad buck. He had gotten caught too early...Sadly, no tines left behind.


Handy Gadget

Another idea that came to my attention through a recently received email from  Wildlife Obsession was this Rack Trap.

It looks like a great way to snag an antler or two! Less effort with a big benefit.

Here is what they say about this Bio-Logic product:

Collecting Shed antlers is one of the best ways to identify how many and which bucks on your property survived hunting season. When used correctly the rack trap is a easy way to attract deer and collect their antlers. This easy to install device includes heavy duty camo ratchet straps and can be attached to most trees.

Unlike other shed traps that entangle the deer's antlers causing potential harm,The Rack Trap Antler Trap is designed to simply and effectively apply pressure to the antlers, encouraging the natural shedding process as the deer is feeding.

Whether you decide to walk the deer grounds as I do, set up an antler trap of one kind, or another... Good Luck in your search !

CDGardens - 5 Sadie - 3

It is finally time to be out looking for antler sheds at Timber Life!

The first week of January I began some preliminary searches,February 24th, I started to look some more without any luck,or so I thought...The bark was starting to be stripped right and left off small diameter saplings. Bucks needing to be rid of their now bothersome antlers are making marks everywhere.I can't begin to tell you how disappointing it is to see so many trees in this state and not finding antlers close by...

While there was snow on the ground I kept watch on coyote activity originating out of the thicket where I had secluded myself for one of my short morning hunts in December.

I went to look around and ran across the skeletal remains of a button buck in my search of the area.

Sadie had been hovering around during my investigation. Camera in hand I took a picture of her with her find. I really hadn't paid close attention - thinking she may have found a rib or two to carry away. I was more interested in getting pictures and excavating the little skull from the frozen ground.
The weather had turned nippy again so I wanted to get things done.

It wasn't until later in the afternoon when we went out for another walk that I discovered what Sadie had found. I hadn't looked at the pictures on the camera card yet...She picked up her treasure; I got a closer look.

Oh my! It was an antler shed. Where there is one just maybe there would be another. I headed back out to the fence line by the thicket,then I went back to the edge where I found the remains of the little buck. There not 10 feet away was the match for the antler Sadie had taken. My interest sparked, I headed for the adjacent pasture ,and found another little shed. The last one for a few days until weather and time allowed.

We have done some intermittent searches with varied results.

I have found skeletal remains from an estimated four years old to positively the present. Running into 7 hide piles and miscellaneous bones - it looked like they had been ambushed in the deeryard. There were three in one group yesterday and four in the group I found today.

 For some reason I  kept forgetting to take a picture of the shed before I picked it up. This time I remembered!

Now, I am going through some trail camera picture to see if I can match the tines to the bucks. There are a couple of pictures that I believe puts a flesh and blood owner to the one pictured on the ground and to the left in the group shot.

Take a look and see if you agree. It seems this Roman nosed fellow just might be a good match. The antler to your left as you look straight at his picture...He has been a camera hog on more than one occasion. He even tried licking the lense one night.

It looks like he is around to start a new set of antlers for me to find again next year.

Time to see if I can find owners for the rest of them.






To date me and Sadie have jointly found 7 antlers of various sizes and one that I removed from the buck that I was given by hunters hunting our property in December.

Five out of the eight antlers has considerable wear or an injury during the developmental stage causing some thickening at that point. The big 4 point to the right appears to have potentially been a five but the  tine was broken off early in development,leaving a hole in the middle. All have character.


A few more days and another direction should  be enough to finish the Whitetail Shed Hunting season for me.

I want to wish all of you that have an interest for collecting ... Good shed hunting!