Shed Antler Hunting: Your New Favorite Winter Activity

The months of February and March can be kind of a drag for deer hunters. The hunting season is over, the weather is lousy and next season is a little too far away to be in Go Mode preparing yet. Fortunately, there is one bright spot: the testosterone in bucks and bulls is dropping! This can only mean one thing… a mad dash race against squirrels and other rodents who might get to the antlers lying on the ground before you do.

Biology of Antler Casting

Antler growth is an energetically costly biological process, and after the rut is over, hormonal and photoperiod changes cause cells to break down at the base of the antler, allowing it to drop off of the animal. During stressful conditions such as a particularly harsh winter or injury, antlers may be dropped earlier. Although the peak antler casting period varies geographically, in most of the United States, this process occurs sometime between December and April. Male cervids (species in the deer family Cervidae, including elk and moose here in North America) use antlers as signals of fitness during the breeding season as well as tools for fighting other males. When breeding has been completed, the cycle of growing a new, bigger set of antlers for next season can begin as photoperiod and testosterone increase.

Why Hunt for Shed Antlers?

Hunting for sheds is a popular activity for people during a time of the year when many species are on wintering ranges or hibernating. While many hunters enjoy shed hunting because of the excitement of finding antlers, identifying individual bucks or bulls, or learning more about the winter habits of animals, there is a market for antlers. You can make some extra money selling antlers to companies that make dog toys, furniture, and other uses. Personally, I keep all of the antlers I find but there is money to be made from fresh brown antler. Shed hunting is becoming increasingly popular, which has pros and cons. In some areas, shed hunting activity pushes vulnerable animals off of their winter ranges at a time of the year where being spooked and moving is energetically costly for animals. Before you go out, check your state’s regulations on shed hunting, because state game agencies may impose a season on shed hunting to help prevent the negative effects it can have on wintering wildlife populations.

Going out on a shed hunting excursion is fun and rewarding! Here are a few tips for success.

• Lighting matters. Sunny winter days seem like a great way to dispel some cabin fever and get outside, but the glare makes it tough to spot shiny antlers. Cloudy and rainy days are the best lighting for finding sheds. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying a nice day outside, though!

• Train your eyes to spot sheds. There are articles and online groups with photos shared of antlers found in situ to help train your eyes to develop a sight picture of what to look for when shed hunting. It’s great to look at some of these photos just before shed season each year to refresh your brain.

• Using binoculars is a great tool in open areas, especially in big meadows or fields. Especially in western regions where you may spot a shed a mile away, getting a good picture of a shed through optics can help you before you hike twenty minutes only for the “antler” to be a stick (happens to the best of us).

• Think about places that animals use. Habitat types, travel routes, feeding areas. Bedding areas and thermal cover where bucks spend lots of time hunkered down this time of year can produce sheds. So can food plots and fields where late-winter feeding activity is taking place. Winter wheat fields are great places to hunt for sheds.

• Pinch points and crossings, especially ones that cause physical jarring such as jumping across a fence or ditch, are good places to look.

• Trail cameras can help you gauge when bucks’ antlers are dropping. By monitoring your deer on camera, you are able to see whether it’s prime time to shed hunt yet or putting in a lot of effort could be premature.

• ATVs can be great for covering a lot of ground, but spending time slowly gridding thick areas can produce as well.

• What you do with your antlers is up to you. Some hunters meticulously label each antler with a date and location and spend hours comparing it to older sheds and trail camera photos to help identify bucks that lived through the hunting seasons. Other people sell their antlers. As long as it’s legal, great!

• Make it social! Shed hunting is something kids often love, and friends can spend time doing together. Bring a dog (as long as it is well trained to not chase after wintering wildlife) and level up a notch by training it to find sheds. My family’s Border Collie would leave antlers on the back porch that she found around the farm after a couple training sessions.

Shed hunting is one of my favorite winter activities that can be enjoyed by just about anyone. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with the piles of antlers I’ve accumulated over the years, but finding each one has been a joy.

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