hey guys, i was wandering if some of you guys or gals could tell me the best place to look for sheds. do you just walk the trails or do you look on the field edges or what. pleas help me out.
Fence crossings and ditches will somtimes jar the antlers off as the buck jumps them.
Late season feeding fields, trails, and bedding areas.
Normally, I just walk the trails. But hav'nt seen anything ina few yrs.
Look on the travel routes from bedding to food and so on. Bedding areas are good places to look. Staging areas are good as well.
Have found 17 so far this year. One thing often overlooked is this. If you can help it, do NOT miss looking on a dark, overcast, rainy day. It helps a ton to have dark background, and those antlers fairly glowing.
Today I walked 4.5 hours HARD, and found one dandy antler and a few small ones. But it was sunny, bright, and it's been incredibly dry here. The antlers I did find, I stumbled on.
I realize you have to look whenever you can find the time. But believe me on the dark days with rain. It ups your odds.
I find more at several spots.
1. year or two old cutovers or south facing fields
2. areas with thermal cover (on cold winters) spruce /cedar swamps
3. open south facing slopes or south facing open stands of timber
4. choke points on trails, were deer have to jump, duck under, go through thick understory.
Look in hay fields if there low enough use binoculars to look they can save on foot steps.
In my area, if you can find a swampy area that doesn't readily freeze when all othewr water is hard...deer tend to hang out here in the colder months. I've found two such areas and we have found more antlers around and in these areas than we could hope for.