By Alex Comstock
Being that we’re now into April, for most people, shed hunting is just wrapping up as your minds are probably turning to Turkey hunting. For me personally, as I look out my back deck window, all I see is snow still covering my backyard. Up here in Northern Minnesota, I’m typically a few weeks to a month behind most of the midwest when it comes to spring and April is usually my best month for finding sheds. So with that, today, I’m going to bring you ten of my favorite shed hunting tips.
1. Walk Slow!
This is huge when it comes to shed hunting. The quicker you walk, the more likely you are to walk by antlers without seeing them. A common phrase is “miles=piles” and yes that can be true, but you want to put those miles on slowly.
2. Bring Binoculars
I’ve talked about it numerous times, but when shed hunting, bringing binoculars can no doubt help you find more antlers. My binoculars continuously save me. Many many times I think I find a shed a long ways off, but instead of having to walk a hundred yards to double check, I can simply throw up the binoculars and either confirm or deny whether or not it’s a shed.
3. Utilize Cloudy Days
When shed hunting, if you can utilize cloudy days, do it! Antlers are much more difficult to see during sunny days. The sun casts a lot more shadows, and the harshness will cause you to be squinting compared to a cloudy day. When it’s cloudy, it’s going to be drastically easier to spot antlers, not having to squint or worry about shadows.
4. Pre-Scout Food Sources
Just as you scout when it comes to actually hunting, scouting for shed hunting will help you in the long run as well. I like to pre-scout winter food sources and identify areas that deer will be spending their time feeding in the winter. Too often, people will just shed hunt in areas they hunt in the fall. But, what they often times forget is that deer will shift where they spend time feeding in the winter based on the situational circumstances.
5. Learn Winter Bedding Habits
This goes hand in hand with number 4. Just as you want to pre-scout winter food sources, you need to understand areas deer like to bed in the winter. Up where I live in Minnesota, very common areas are any type of southern facing slope, as that is what is exposed to the sun more during the day, giving deer an area to get out of the cold and into the sunshine while bedding. Another great winter bedding spot in my area is any type of cedar swamp. The thermal bedding under cedars or pine trees is a very attractive spot for deer to bed during the winter.
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6. Walk Good Spots More Than Once
This tip has lead to me finding a lot of sheds over the years. If you walk a spot that is loaded with deer sign, but don’t find any antlers, don’t get discouraged. It can be easy to not want to go back if you didn’t scoop some antlers, but if the sign is there, there’s a good chance there’s sheds somewhere. Moral of the story, come back again.
7. Don’t Get Discouraged Easily
Shed hunting is a very mental thing. Once you get discouraged, your mind starts drifting to other things and the chances of you finding antlers becomes less and less. It’s important to recognize you might walk five miles with no finds, and then the next mile could pick up a handful. As long as you keep your head in the game, you’ve got a fighting chance.
8. Shed Hunt in The Rain
Trust me on this one, I’m not crazy even though it might not sound like the most fun thing to do in the world. When it’s raining, antlers simply stick out more. The entire forest floor is matted down, and sheds can as my good friend Drew says, “shine.” Give it a try sometime, you might not be disappointed.
9. Look Small
When I say look small, don’t be just looking for big five point sides laying tines up. You almost have to train your eyes to see tips of tines, the curvature of a main beam, etc. The smaller you look, the more sheds you might have at the end of a long walk.
10. Walk A LOT!
I think many shed hunters think that finding sheds is easy, and then if they aren’t finding many, they get discouraged and stop doing it. This tip I really want to stress. In order to find a lot of sheds, you need to walk a ton. This spring I’ve found 10 antlers thus far, but have logged nearly 80 miles on the boots. It’s not a great mile to shed ratio. The more you walk, the better chance you have at finding sheds.
