By Alex Comstock
We’re in peak shed season right now. At least for most of the country. We had a string of warm days here in Northern Minnesota, but a late winter push with cold temperatures and some recent snow has things on a stand still for me. Luckily, I’ll be heading to North Dakota for a few days next week and hopefully I’ll scoop a bunch of antlers during those three days.
Today’s blog post though is going to focus on what you should do if you’re not finding sheds. Have you been shed hunting a bunch the last few weeks or even couple of months, but have struggled to find antlers? Here’s a few things I’d recommend doing.
Find New Areas
This is a good place to start and one where I think a lot of people get too comfortable. It follows the same pattern as actually hunting too. A lot of deer hunters hunt the same stand or same spot year after year, even if they’re not shooting deer. When it comes to shed hunting, if you’ve been spending time walking in spots you always look, or you’ve gone to a spot multiple times already because you think you should be finding sheds there, consider looking for some new ground, or looking in areas you’ve never thought of. Regardless, I’d consider doing some scouting, finding where deer are right now, and getting into some fresh spots.
After checking out a small new area back in February, I was able to find the sheds off a buck I had been looking for.
Scouting or Shed Hunting?
I’ve touched on this in a lot of different ways in the past, but I feel as though it’s important to cover it again. In many cases, scouting and shed hunting can be drastically different. There are a lot of factors, such as if deer are using the areas that you hunt during the winter and spring, what you’re attention is on, etc. The biggest thing here is twofold.
First, when it comes to shed hunting, you may not want to be searching for antlers where you hunt during the fall. If there’s no good winter food source in the area, it doesn’t matter how many bucks you were seeing back in November, they may be a mile or more away when they’re dropping their antlers. So, if you head out for a long walk in an area like this, and are coming across a ton of rubs and scrapes, that’s awesome for scouting purposes, but don’t get down when you’re not finding antlers. Many times, scouting and shed hunting is done separately, and has to be done in different areas.
Scouting and shed hunting is often done separately.
The second way scouting vs. shed hunting can hurt you when you’re in search of antlers is if deer do happen to winter in an area they also spend time in the fall is that you’re attention will be drawn to these rubs and fall sign, opposed to the ground where antlers will be. What I mean here is that if you’re shed hunting, but all you’re doing is noticing rubs, trees where you want to hang stands, etc. that’s taking away from your eyes being peeled to the ground. When it comes to shed hunting, you need to be hyper focused on the smallest of details to help yourself find antlers.
So, if you haven’t been finding sheds recently, consider these two things when it comes to scouting vs. shed hunting. You need to evaluate whether you’re spending time in the right areas and if you believe you are, then are you spending your time there efficiently to help yourself find as many sheds as possible?
These tools can help you find more antlers.
Go With a Buddy That Finds Sheds
If you are having trouble finding sheds, I can’t stress this point enough. It’s something I did A LOT when I was younger and I struggled finding sheds year after year. If you have a buddy that finds a lot of sheds, go for a walk with them. Even tell them that anything you happen to find, they can keep, especially if you’re walking with them in their spots. But what this does is it can ultimately help you get first hand shed hunting advice. When your buddy finds a shed, have them wait to pick it up until you see it. Maybe you’ve been having trouble simply picking up on the look of antler. Ask them why you’re looking in the places you are. Pick their brain about every little thing.
Like I mentioned, when I was younger, I wanted to find sheds so bad, but I never could. I’d be lucky to find one or two every year. So, I started going with friends that found 20 or 30 or more every year. I’d do the things I covered in the last paragraph, and suddenly I started to pick up on it. It’s amazing, because once you start finding sheds, you’ll notice that you’ll start to find more and more because you know where to be, when to be there, and what to look for.
Conclusion
There could be a million reasons under the sun why you’re having a hard time finding sheds. If this is the situation you find yourself in, hopefully this blog post can help you get on track, and you start scooping antlers in no time!
