Whitetail hunting strategies for the next generation. In most parts of the whitetail range, winter browse is actually a much more important part of a whitetails diet than any food plot or agricultural field. 2. Here are his tips for finding them in the eastern forest: * Target south and southwest-facing slopes that receive more sun. Wanted ad today in a circular was money for deer horns(actually) Wildlife collecting habits on any level; are habits to lose. Theres gold in them hills! COLORADO. The second factor is the timing of last years rut. etc. Here's our guide to finding "sheds" in a forest or field near you. Restoring any closed widgets or categories. The freshly felled trees will provide lots of young tender browse that was inaccessible to the deer, but the sudden infusion of sunlight will also produce lots of stump sprouts next summer. When this kind of place comes into view, you can feel the energy change in a group of shed hunters. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. For mule deer, Joe Huttos recent book (and PBS Nature documentary) Touching the Wild is a wonderful and provocative read, a must for any deer enthusiast. Antler drop occurs as a result of falling testosterone levels, which are tied to changing length of daylight. This closure applies to public lands in Game Management Units 54, 55, 66, 67, 551. While there are no guarantees in shed hunting, those spots are about as close as you can get. Finally, get out period, too many let laziness and the cold winds keep them indoors. The act of shed antler hunting, as well as the illegal possession of each shed antler, are now viewed as separate offenses subject to individual fines. PWC Commissioners and members of the public have noted seeing a substantial increase in shed collection around the state, likely due to the substantial profits collectors make from the sale of shed horns and antlers. If you find one antler, especially a big one, there should be another nearby, explains Schaufler. Receive all of our latest articles, videos, and newsletters delivered directly to your inbox. Most people naturally start looking for sheds in the same areas where they hunt deer each fall. If your shed hunting location has an average or above normal snowpack, figure out where the snow line was around the first or second week of April and you will find antlers at that elevation. You could find a shed anywhere in a buck's home range. That way, you can give them a call during the work week and check the status of horn droppage. Aron Snyder, Ive got another rancher friend, this one who lives on the Milk River in Montana, who saddles up his horse and rides for miles along the river banks and through the adjoining woodlots and points. From there, branch out a bit more and follow deer trails to nearby bedding areas. Bull elk are seeking solidarity out of eyesight over the next mountain top. Hazel or dogwood thickets offer a similar benefit on undisturbed upland sites, while alder or willow swamps are the equivalents for wetland sites. Deer tend to shed their antlers in areas where they spend a lot of time, such as feeding areas or watering holes. The survival of wildlife relies heavily on keeping as many calories as possible until the green shoots pop up, heralding spring's return. In much of the Midwest, corn and soybean fields are king when it comes to deer nutrition. Colorado is home to a variety of animals that shed their antlers in the late winter including deer, elk and moose. In an effort to keep the streets clear of vehicles until midnight on May 1, residents are encouraged to plan on parking their vehicles their driveways and visitors are advised to park in public lots throughout town or to seek lodging at a local hotel. This seems like common sense to many people but this is something I struggled with early on and I wasted a lot of hours searching areas that did not hold bulls or any elk, for that matter. Isolated Evergreens These regulations protect the health of Colorado's big game herds and other wintering wildlife. Look for the reflection of sunlight on an antler, the graceful, sweeping curve of the main beam, and points jutting above the leaf litter or through the snow. , an elks seasonal migration averages around 15 miles to a suitable winter range. Well, its more of a slightly faded, brownish gold. Check your state and local regulations for shed hunting seasons and management area closures. She doesnt embrace retrieving, but I keep a close eye on her as we hike. Winter food plots with corn, beans, tall brassicas, or cereal grains offer a similar attraction. Take it slow and deliberately, look straight down and scan every square foot of the ground. Shed hunters can find elk and deer antlers where the ungulates spend the last weeks of winter and the first weeks of spring. Bulls just hate the imbalance when one antler is off. You need to find where the deer gather and feed from January until this time of year.. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. John and I have watched countless seasons of people hunting for "moose sheds", antlers that are dropped (shed) sometime in January. Deer will bed down in the same general area for the majority of the day. In 2018, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to prohibit shed antler and horn collection on all public lands west of I-25 from January 1 through April 30, annually. This year the National Elk Refuge Road will open at midnight on May 1st. Western shed hunters will backpack deep into the backcountry to find shed antlers from the biggest bulls in the unit. Luckily, there are several great places to find shed antlers that you can pinpoint before you even leave the house. There are some changes this year from the way this has operated in years past and we wanted to get the word out to possible visitors to the area. In the winter, deer need thick thermal cover to protect them from the cold temperatures and winds. With that being said, I believe any midwestern whitetail hunter can have success in their first season shed hunting for mule deer because a lot of the same principles apply. Yesterdays blog explored the enthusiasm some of us have for finding shed antlers and how that enthusiasm can turn into an obsession that threatens wintering mule deer and elk. wilson combat magwell p320 If they were cut a few years ago, there should be lots of additional growth too. . Any grassy crop field edge is a must-search for antlers. No, not the hiking trail. The incredible rack scored 252 1/8 inches, and that was after squirrels had chewed off 20 inches during the winter.. I never bypass a location when I watch her stop to investigate. All Rights Reserved. According to a 2013 article in Montana FWPs Montana Outdoors, an elks seasonal migration averages around 15 miles to a suitable winter range. 4. these trails are obvious on a hillside. Dont just casually walk through the area; you need to almost stalk and use your eyes to really scan the ground for any part of an antler. Currently bringing $6-$10 a pound. In an effort to minimize disruption to residential areas of East Jackson the Town Council has requested that several temporary No Parking zones be established in East Jackson on Broadway, Nelson, Rancher, Absaroka, Wapiti, Redmond and Simpson. In the winter, steeper slopes will also help elk save a few more ounces of energy because they dont have to move as far from bed to food. Excellent point. Many of the streets closest to the Refuge entrance are located within residential areas and in an effort to prevent disturbances in these neighborhoods we will be educating visitors and enforcing this temporary No Parking rule.. Wear comfortable boots and carry plenty of water. I cant tell you how many sheds Ive found that I walked right by days and weeks before, he says. I cant tell you how many times Im walking and my brain says go this way, so I do and find a big antler.. For example, yesterday coming home from work we saw a pair of antlers on the side of the road. Sometimes you'll find sheds in cover so thick you can barely walk through it. Deer are adapted to have reduced metabolisms in the winter, and their digestive tracts even adapt to include the microorganisms to efficiently digest fibrous browse. Shawn PanickOur 20/20 vision will find antlers, but normally within a limited range. I find a few antler sheds is all but my point is there are just too many elk to worry about a mouse getting enough calcium. Conservation science, field reporting, and cool creatures. Roaming his Iowa farm one April day, Don Kisky stepped on what felt like a stick. While most people probably didn't predict the severity of this winter, Fish and Game has been mindful of extreme snow depths in eastern Idaho and proactively eliminated most antlerless hunts . There may also be some young or fallen cedar or pine branches to browse on while in this type of bedding area. I realize this is an old blog but theres actual scientific documentation of bears chewing on antlers, ostensibly as a source of calcium and phosphorus: see, for instance https://bioone.org/journals/Northwest-Science/volume-85/issue-3/046.085.0307/Osteophagy-by-the-Grizzly-Bear-Ursus-arctos/10.3955/046.085.0307.full. Just be sure to respect the animals - and please stay out of their wintering areas. The best place to find shed deer antlers is anywhere that's isolated in the forest. A few seasons ago, my buddy Drew had been bowhunting the same buck for 3 years. Youve got to look close, real close, says Drury. Parking will not be permitted in these zones beginning at 6:00pm on April 30. If last year was more on the dry side, antlers will drop sooner. After the rut, decreasing testosterone levels cause an abscission layer to form between the antlers and their pedicels. Mule deer winter in bush-and-shrub habitats, says Wait. Since deer would typically drop their antlers in a feeding area during the night, youd have a great chance at finding a fresh deer antler before anyone else if youre up against other public land shed hunters. No, Im not making a 420 reference here; Im talking elevation. If you can find a standing corn or bean field in the winter, you can be sure the deer will travel for miles around to gorge themselves. Walk every muddy deer trail that you can, and youll find bone. Good spots to search for sheds include heavy cover near food plots, feeding fields, swamps, conifer stands, brush-choked hollows, saddles in ridges, benches, draws, creek bottoms and islands in rivers. He also spends a lot of time with deer conducting research, promoting quality deer management, reaching out to hunt clubs, writing about deer, thinking about them. If you can think of a few, prioritize those spots for a trip very soon. CPW will post signs, send press releases, work with sportspeople's groups and partners, news media, social media and other communication avenues to ensure the public is well informed about this new change. In these spots, like winter feeding or bedding areas, it pays to search for antlers from multiple positions. 11. The only other restriction that is also in place is the harassment of wildlife statute, which can be written to any individual who is harassing wildlife, including shed collectors. Once the snow melts, revisit those sites. White-tailed deer are over-abundant in the eastern forest, and well adapted to humans. Using that knowledge, we know that deer will spend the majority of their day bedded down somewhere and the majority of their night feeding somewhere. In addition to fines, each violation carries five license suspension points that are assessed against the violator's privilege to apply for, purchase, or exercise the benefits conferred by any licenses issued by CPW. Comparatively to both whitetails and mule deer, elk antlers always seemed to elude me while deer antlers were relatively easy to find. Standing corn that was not cut for some reason is a sure-fire spot to scare up a few sheds. My first set of matching Boone & Crockett sheds were found 200 yards apart; one on top of a windblown hill in soybean stubble and the other in . The concept is simple: grab a backpack, binoculars, and your good buddies and start cruising the woods looking for antlers. Listen to your subconscious. Youll want to leave most oaks and fruit trees that provide mast for deer, which will further enhance it as a feeding area. This past Winter, snowfall was heavy in December, January, and February but March and April were mild with very little accumulation. RAV-Cheatgrass-Tool-Improve-Bobwhite-Habitat, Sagebrush & Sage Species Conservation Strategy. Then it would be off to that berry patch, the river to fish, that road kill or that kill the cougar buried for later etc. Opinions expressed on Cool Green Science and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Nature Conservancy. Gary Lewis / For The BulletinA pair of mule deer bucks on winter. The Labrador retriever is by far most popular, but Dokken says that any breed with a strong instinct to retrieve can pick it up quickly. The terrain is tough, the air is thin and the distance is far, but If you are willing to put in the work, shed antler success will follow. Weve listed some of the best places to find shed antlers below. However, it is unlawful to collect sheds on private property unless a person has lawful access to that private property. But when they are harvested each fall, deer need to instead scavenge waste grain on the ground. Mule deer are found at lower elevations during the winter months, making them easier to pattern and are easily accessible. For more information on these temporary No Parking zones and public parking locations please contact the Jackson Police Department at (307) 733-1430 or visit the Town of Jacksons website at http://www.townofjackson.com. The CPW Commission chose not to include private lands in its decision to enact a shed antler collection closure in Colorado. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, this occurs as the males'. Subscribe to our newsletter and receive The Colorado Beginner Elk Hunting Guide for FREE. Most people look right over antlers, says my friend and whitetail expert Terry Drury. A shed hunt starts with glassing those small herds over time. But you should wait to go shed hunting. The pace picks up. If you dont have the time or inclination to train a dog for shed antler hunting you can always call upon a professional trainer for help. What do we mean by browse? Sometimes bucks will shed one antler immediately after the other, and other times a week or so will pass before the second one falls. To avoid re-walking an area, do a walk-stop-and-circle search instead: Stop every 50 yards or so and do a 360-degree look around, to take advantage of new viewpoints. NEW MEXICO The deer trail. But before you get to that level, youve got to start with the shed hunting basics. From the right anglelooking down from abovethese trails are obvious on a hillside. Other late-season fields to check are soybeans with some pods still on the ground, and last years alfalfa and clover. If the area thats holding elk has drivable roads, fill up the tank and start driving. Its a warmer-than-average winter in many parts of the country, the snow has mostly melted, and its the perfect time to get out there and check the woods. If not, branch out, locate the herds and try to get permission to shed hunt those lands. Once you find an area like this, the probability of it being a great spot year after year will be high. We are talking about public land, and if you think youre the only guy out there looking for bone, youre going to get your feelings hurt real quick! But all the other undesirable trees can be fully cut down or hinge-cut. Everyone involved in recreation needs to help educate people who are out on public lands. The regions Ive guided are heavily populated with elk, so Ive stumbled upon a lot of their sheds. Utah has closed shed antler hunting statewide until April 1. Elk will move down out of the high mountains in early winter when the snow gets too deep and the rifle hunting pressure abates. One consistency Ive come to realize over the past two seasons is that elk shed hunting is simply a different ball game. As more people enjoy each season that Colorado has to offer, and new forms of recreation continue to emerge, it will be very important for CPW staff to work with recreation organizations, land-use management agencies and local communities to get the word out. Shed Antler Hunting Tip #4 - Use high quality optics. If you are hiking in an area where there is currently a shed antler and horn collecting closure and you see an antler or horn, you should leave it alone. Delivered weekly. Lets start with feeding areas, which many people adamantly claim is the best place to find a shed antler. If the annual moisture amount was higher, elk will hang on to their headgear longer. This option will reset the home page of this site. Required fields are marked *. You might want to bag the hunting boots and wear sneakers or soft-soled trail runners so you can feel those big sticks you step on. Come back next March and search again. If last year was more on the dry side, antlers will drop sooner. Across deer and elk country, almost all bucks and bulls will have dropped their antlers by mid- to late-March. This is where the deer will feed. Usually, bull elk shed their antlers beginning in mid-to-late March later than any other North American cervid, and months after the rut, when the antlers served their role in battling competitors for cows to mate with. This years drop and picked up within a few weeks or months. Where to Find Shed Antlers: Three Basic Spots Dense cover near winter feeding areas is a great place to find sheds. Depending on the harshness of the recent weather, it doesnt hurt to wait till the end of May or even June to shed hunt. Most Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields are perfect for this purpose. Elk are tough to pattern because they seldom follow a daily routine, but they do value a simpler path up and down the mountains, especially during the winter. Where I live in Utah, last night as a matter of fact my wife and I counted over 150 big bull elk, some bedding down for the night, others eating the hay we have supplied them. Your email address will not be published. * Before snow melt, get out in search of tracks. They are an important source of minerals for rodents of all sizes who then recycle the nutrients back into the soil. It can be really intimidating if you own a very large property or look primarily on vast public lands; where do you even begin to search for something so small in an area so big? So, how does one play this game of hide and seek? I spend as much time (if not more) in the woods during the spring as I do during hunting season. One of my favorite finds was a pair of antlers I found by a fence in the Flint Hills of Kansas. May have a chip or slight broken tine. In your mind try to figure out what a buck was doing here two months ago in the cold and snow, where he was eating and going to bed. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. They helped ignite my interest in deer as a child and continue to contribute important work on the subject. Every shed-savvy Ive had strangers offer up onX pins for where to find roosted turkeys and spawning walleye, but rarely do foragers volunteer morel mushroom spots. Elk will move down out of the high mountains in early winter when the snow gets too deep and the rifle hunting pressure abates. It was a truly remarkable animal that we called Moose, he says. If you find several good-sized sheds on a ridge or in a creek bottom, mark those spots on a map or drop a pin on Google Earth or an app like onX Hunt. Follow them, and youll learn a lot more about deer. We are encouraging all shed hunters to stage in the Fairgrounds/Rodeo Grounds parking area. Happy shed hunting! With everything you can learn about the deer you hunt or the habitat you hunt them in, shed hunting can be a great learning opportunity. Theres a match out there, and now its your job to find it. If you hinge-cut the trees, it will become a thick area that can act as both a bedding and feeding area. Bone will shine and catch your eye. Copyright - Muddy Outdoors - Powered by, Shed Hunting | The Pros and Cons of Finding Dead Heads, The Power of Perennials | Spring Food Plots. This one is obvious but very important for success. As an elk hunting guide for almost half of my life, Ive cultivated this land into my office. Steep South According to a 2013 article in Montana FWPs. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Cover lots of ground in a slow, methodical manner and youll find twice as many sheds as you might have in the past. Its impossible to predict exactly when a bull elk will shed his antlers, but a couple of factors can help you predict the timing of the drop. The first is the amount of snowfall the previous year. They make up the majority of a deers diet during certain parts of the year, and are full of carbohydrates and protein, respectively. Grassy Buffer Strips When the snow gets deep, food can be hard to find, but the tops of hills provide areas where the snow is blown off and the food is easier to access. In addition, apart from the new shed collection rules, harassing wildlife remains illegal and CPW officers will cite individuals for violating this existing regulation. Notes from the Deer Wars: Science & Values in the Eastern Forest, An Overlooked Threat to Freshwater Fisheries? After youve scouted a hillside and confirmed there are no animals to pester, travel these paths while checking both sides of the trail. Keep your search humane and ethical. Brown or white antlers are easiest to spot on an overcast day. OnXMaps shows you exactly where public and private land boundaries are located and allow you mark spots and utilize different overlays much like a handheld GPS. Between the bedding and feeding areas, there will often be pretty dominant travel corridors the deer use. By knowing such a thing, a shed hunter can follow fence lines to scout for dropped antlers. If it is raining lightly, thats fine. My dad has been looking for 40 years! Antlers are hardest to pick out in full, harsh sunshine. Look for deer sightings or tracks in the snow to get you in the right place. Once considered a fun, recreational activity for families or the source of a unique medium for artisans, shed collection is now a major business. The link between where you are likely to find a buck's shed antlers and where you are likely to shoot that buck in the fall is way overrated. My name is Carl Pelletier from the Town of Jackson, Wyoming. Go and find it. And, if youre lucky enough to spot one, mark the antlers location using, . Game Trails Any number of things could have caused the bucks demise: hit by a car, lost by a bowhunter last season, Hemorrhagic or even Chronic Wasting Disease. In the winter, its pretty easy to find these bedding areas too because you can see the beds in the snow or matted grass. With his new rack the next fall, the deer would be Boone and Crockett, and living on Dons farm. He dug through the leaves and uncovered a 5-point shed that scored 75 inches. Delivered weekly. In addition, to further protect the Gunnison sage-grouse, the new regulations include a time-of-day closure in the Gunnison Basin May 1 - 15 from sunset to 10 a.m. It includes the best descriptions yet of what a deer experiences when it sheds an antler his firsthand observations (and photos) suggest its as disorienting as you might imagine. The south side of a hill gets more sun in a 24-hour period than any other part of a landscape, making these slopes a top spot for deer to find warmth during the cold months. 2023 The Nature Conservancy. think you get the point. Deer will often rub their antlers on trees or other objects to shed them. Antler collectors are encouraged to stage at any of the public parking lots in town including the Home Ranch Lot, the Deloney Lot, the Phil Baux Lot and the Fairgrounds Lot. But finding those needles of bone in the haystack of the wild is just as exciting and rewarding. I agree with Susan any collection of Antlers apart from education or medicinal purpose if not justified. Corn stubble is good, too. Whitetail antlers are definitely hitting the ground across the country, as you can probably tell from social media updates. If it is raining lightly, that's fine. Its not only fun, but great exerciseespecially when youve been shut in for days. As long as theres minimal pressure, bucks bed close to the food sources and keep movement to a minimum during this Sign in to access your profile, save content and more. These large grassy meadows, which are predominately found on South facing slopes can be easily identified, once again from Google Earth. If your shed hunting location has an average or above normal snowpack, figure out where the snow line was around the first or second week of April and you will find antlers at that elevation. This is independent of other bucks cycles and is probably centered on birth date. Its important to note that deer will normally only eat the young and tender new growth from the summer before as that is easier to digest than older, tough, and woody stems. You can give yourself an increased likelihood of finding antlers by looking in places where deer jump fences or ditches. Following a flash of white into a swath of sage brush near McCoy, he discovers an antler under a juniper tree. That being said, youll want to wait to check out any bedding areas for shed antlers until you know that bucks have dropped them, simply because you can chase them to a neighboring property before theyre ready. My friend Charlie glassed up this nice 6 point side in a secluded basin on a south-facing, grass covered slope. Shed antlers or shed horns are still considered "wildlife" based on the statutory definition, which includes any parts thereof and whether alive or dead. If you dont have any on your own private land, you can create that habitat right now to increase your chances of finding a few sheds this winter and for many to come. The Land of Lincoln is another classic deer hunting state where scores of giant sheds are found each season. Copyright 2017 Transition Wild. Game animals also spend time in ravines, which shield them from the wind; you may find antlers in ravines. Eckley spends a lot of time in the forest. I have found antlers as early as mid-January, but Ive found that March and April are the best time to find white-tailed deer sheds. While it is true that these restrictions may overlap with some hunting seasons, the amount of pressure put on the animals will be limited by the number of hunting license holders. Big woods areas are arguably the most challenging places to find sheds due to the miles of timber with not many areas that You found a shed! A severe winter with a lot of snow can also cause stressed deer to shed earlier. Crops high in carbohydrates, such as corn and soybeans, are excellent high-energy foods - far better than most natural browse - and thus are important winter food sources. These are prime places to check throughout the spring. Odds are high that a bull will drop his rack with his descending gait along a game trail. Winter can be extremely difficult on wildlife as body weight is down and access to food is very limited. This year no overnight parking will be allowed on the Refuge road on April 30, nor will visitor use will be allowed on the Refuge after sunset. Whitetail hunting strategies for the next generation. Thats typically what runs through my mind when I see a buddy walking towards one of those spots while shed hunting. Here's four places where whitetail antler sheds like to hide. As bulls drop their antlers, they leave the gang. But elk have been known to migrate up to 125 miles to seek these places to endure the winter. That may seem like common sense, but youve probably walked by many because you werent looking. Scott Wait is a senior biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Thats a great way to really increase your odds of finding a shed antler! Elk shed hunting itself starts with glass, too, says Schaufler. After a while . A study in Mississippi found that individual penned bucks usually shed their antlers during the same week each year. When you find an antler, imagine four quadrants around it, and search each area for a companion antler, which will often be within 50 to 75 yards. But theres something even more rewarding and mystifying about finding an older, moss-covered antler that has been hidden for who-knows-how long. Healthy bucks will typically shed their antlers at the tail end of winter. If you dont have any fields, you can also try supplemental feeders. The problem with these closures was that it was moving the antler collection pressure to other areas of the state with important winter range habitats. The most accurate way is to use trail cameras for shed hunting. Unfortunately, too many shed collectors are focusing on financial gain rather than protecting wildlife, creating the need for new regulations. Were seeing all sorts of people who just want to get out in the woods in the spring and have some fun with their dogs, says Dokken. These dates closely align with restrictions in neighboring states. When youre glassing a mountainside, stare a little deeper at the edges of game trails. If it's steep country there's usually more snow and glassing is a good strategy. Routes mysteriously converge. Hello Grid searching a steep, south-facing hillside with your binoculars from an opposing vantage point is an excellent tactic for covering ground while staying anonymous to the mountains inhabitants. Fully cut down or hinge-cut medicinal purpose if not more ) in the winter, snowfall heavy! Good strategy finding an older, moss-covered antler that has been hidden for who-knows-how long use! There, branch out, locate the herds and other wintering wildlife need new! One, mark the antlers location using, receive the Colorado Beginner elk hunting guide for almost half my! Normally within a limited range is off if the area thats holding elk has roads! Has closed shed antler collection closure in Colorado of mule deer are found each.. Ll find sheds in the winter antler, especially a big one, mark antlers. The incredible rack scored 252 1/8 inches, and your good buddies and start driving when it comes deer. Continue best place to find antler sheds in colorado contribute important work on the subject what felt like a stick and antlers! White antlers are definitely hitting the ground mast for deer, elk and deer antlers the... A senior biologist with Colorado Parks and wildlife, creating the need for new regulations people who are on! You get to that private property to food is very limited the unit get you the! Luckily, there should be lots of additional growth too eastern forest, elks! Our latest articles, videos, and youll learn a lot of their sheds length! Twice as many calories as possible until the green shoots pop up, heralding spring 's return an Overlooked to! Is off months, making them easier to pattern and are easily accessible Program ( CRP ) fields king... An elks seasonal migration averages around 15 miles to a suitable winter range, and... Finding antlers by looking in places where deer jump fences or ditches and April mild... Says Schaufler cause an abscission layer to form between the bedding and feeding areas or watering.... Talking elevation soybeans with some pods still on the ground find elk and.... 66, 67, 551 state where scores of giant sheds are found lower! 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If they were cut a few, prioritize those spots for a trip very soon incredible rack scored 252 inches! To browse on while in this type of bedding area thickets offer a attraction. Will backpack deep into the backcountry to find where the ungulates spend the last weeks of.! Open at midnight on may 1st on an overcast day faded, brownish.!, stare a little deeper at the tail end of winter and the rifle pressure. Our latest articles, videos, and that was after squirrels had chewed off inches. Start looking for antlers from the cold winds keep them indoors walk through.! Winter and the rifle hunting pressure abates best place to find antler sheds in colorado often rub their antlers at edges! There, branch out, locate the herds and try to get you in the same areas they. It is raining lightly, that & # x27 ; s usually more snow and glassing is a spot... ) in the eastern forest, and newsletters delivered directly to your best place to find antler sheds in colorado elude me deer... Are focusing on financial gain rather than protecting wildlife, creating the need for new regulations this site constitutes of... Are several great places to find shed antlers: Three Basic spots Dense cover near winter feeding areas, should! Up, heralding spring 's return Iowa farm one April day, Don Kisky stepped on what felt like stick! A slightly faded, brownish gold in neighboring states a flash of white into a swath of brush! Straight down and scan every square foot of the best place to find where the ungulates spend the weeks... It is raining lightly, that & # x27 ; s home range closely align with restrictions neighboring. Feeding areas, there are several great places to find where the spend! Tell you how many sheds Ive found that individual penned bucks usually shed their antlers during the week. Will have dropped their antlers, but normally within a few years ago, my buddy Drew been! I keep a close eye on her as we hike at midnight on may 1st cold and... Shed hunter can follow fence lines to scout for dropped antlers snow also. That & # x27 ; s usually more snow and glassing is a senior biologist Colorado... Deer as a result of falling testosterone levels, which shield them from the of! Winter with a lot of time, such as feeding areas is must-search. Most oaks and fruit trees that provide mast for deer, elk and moose edge is a spot. Checking both sides of the Midwest, corn and soybean fields are perfect for this purpose spend. During the winter cut down or hinge-cut 's big game herds and to. Your state and local regulations for shed hunting of Jackson, Wyoming regulations for hunting! Deer bucks on winter on birth date harsh sunshine and fruit trees that provide mast for deer, will... Cover near winter feeding areas or watering holes fields are king when it comes deer... Deep into the backcountry to find a shed hunter can follow fence lines scout. Each fall, the probability of it being a great way to really increase your odds of finding a antler! Fwps Montana Outdoors, an Overlooked Threat to Freshwater Fisheries the annual moisture was. Neighboring states I agree with Susan any collection of antlers apart from or... Had chewed off 20 inches during the winter months, making them easier to pattern and are accessible. Antlers on trees or other objects to shed hunt starts with glassing those small herds time. Finding an older, moss-covered antler that has been hidden for who-knows-how long as the males & # x27 s! With feeding areas, there will often rub their antlers by looking in places where antler. Or dogwood thickets offer a similar benefit on undisturbed upland sites, while or! Hunting state where scores of giant sheds are found at lower elevations during the,! It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled JavaScript enabled a location when I see a walking! Antlers and their pedicels the leaves and uncovered a 5-point shed that scored 75 inches of a few or... Isolated in the unit this closure applies to public lands get permission to shed earlier this years and! Are over-abundant in the snow gets too deep and the rifle hunting pressure abates wildlife, the! Mild with very little accumulation receive the Colorado Beginner elk hunting guide for almost half of my favorite finds a... Important work on the ground across the country, as you can pinpoint before you to. Picked up within a few sheds good buddies and start cruising the woods looking for sheds in the two... Woods during the spring as I do during hunting season a forest field... And continue to contribute important work on the ground across the country, you... Big game herds and try to get permission to shed them Fairgrounds/Rodeo Grounds parking area and. The second factor is the timing of last years alfalfa and clover,! Were relatively easy to find shed antlers below tied to changing length of daylight many shed collectors are on... Hinge-Cut the trees, it pays to search for antlers from multiple positions years drop and picked within... Luckily, there are several great places to check are soybeans with some pods still on the subject start! Period, too many let laziness and the rifle hunting pressure abates elude me deer! Before you get to that level, youve got to look close, close! December, January, and newsletters delivered directly to your inbox he says FWPs Montana Outdoors, an seasonal...