Shed (antler) hunting; rewritten with tips! Edited: 6.11.18

Hey guys! It's me Silver here again with one more crazy hobby~
 (Re-written part:)

Shed hunt: It's a term used in 'hunting' shed antlers of any animal that grows ones, big or small. The antlers are called 'sheds' between those who shed hunt. It is growing hobby, with thousands of people in it in america and canada - and who knows where elsewhere. Be WARNED: collecting sheds CAN be illegal in your area, without given permission. You might want to check this out before starting! I don't want anyone to get in trouble with law. Also, stay out of private lands, there it is illegal for sure, unless you or someone you know owns it and has given you permission to shed hunt.

Where to find sheds:

So now, if you got interested, you might want to know where to find shed antlers. I have found sheds in common paths of the animals whose sheds I am trying to find. Common path means path where huge numbers of these animals follow daily. If you see many prints and a very easilly seen path of the animals, you are on one. Keep following it; it leads you to their bedding areas and feeding areas. These two areas are very important, there I have found sheds! Also, keep an eye on the trees, do you find any trees with scratch marks from antlers? Bravo, you have found the bucks/bulls. Now, take your time, but stay where the animals are, any land where they don't move is no use to shed hunt, if there is no sheds, you can't find them!

When to find sheds:

This depends on after what animals sheds are you on. Deers? Well, white tailed and mule (black tailed) deer, as well as fallow deer, shed from end of january to late april, depending on year and the age of the buck. Moose? They shed from december to january. But if you have lot's of snow, you might want to wait 'til it melts. Caribou? Elk? They shed in late winter to early spring. I don't have these guys in my country, so I am not 100% sure of the month. Also, roe deer shed in november. But roe deer sheds can be hard to find; they are small, and there is normally only one buck in a territory and he won't let other bucks in; leading to there being 2 antlers in kilometers of area.

My tips:

If you are serious about this and want to try I have some tips for you. First of: Never shed hunt in hurry! Take a day when you have lots of time in your hands. In shed hunting, never walk too fast. Walk very slowly, and stop often. Look around you very carefully. Look for anything that looks like an antler. You might not see whole antler at first, you might only see spikes or it, or just part of the bone. Take binoculars. You will thank them. Sometimes when shed hunting you might see something that looks like an antler in distance. Use binoculars to see if you are just seeing things. It will save you time, and steps.

Be sure to only shed hunt in areas where you are sure that there have been those guys whose sheds you are after. This might take time at first; but mostly look for these: poop, scratch marks, hoof prints, paths, bedding places. It will take you far. Don't cut out the fields, I have found all my sheds in or close by a field. Also look for places where is drinkable water for the animals, when they are drinking, the antlers may drop. Also, antlers can get caught in trees. In difficult to move areas, you might find sheds, that have been grabbed by trees. So, don't cut out all those areas either.

Be patient. Don't be mad if you can't find the sheds on your first times. Specially if you haven't followed these animals paths, it might be that you spend first times looking for their areas. Once you find them, then it gets easier and you start finding sheds eventually. You will, if you keep going out there! I did it, you can too! It took me hours, kilometers, and lots of energy. My feet were hurting, I thought I would never succeed, until suddently I did!

Keep breaks: if you are out there for long times, at some point you will start feeling tired. Your concertration fails. Have something to eat and drink with you. Sit down on a rock or fallen tree, anything really. Take at least 5 minute pause. You will feel much more full of energy and you are more capable on concertrating again.  You need lots of concertration to keep up on the surrounding grounds.

Don't look too far. It have happened to me that I have looked 3-5 meters from me, stopped, then just looked down and realised that there is a shed at my feet! Don't forget to look close enough, or you might walk right past one.

Plan your walks. Choose one part of fields and forests at once, check it carefully. I have many times just checked one side of the field, and then found shed on the other side later same day. So better is to check whole field at once and then continue your way. Also when you have forests there might be many paths of animals. Take time and check at least most of them, don't count out like: nah there can't be a shed on that path. I once walked by one path 5 times, then decited to follow that path, and guess what? I found 2 shed antlers on it!

Yes, this will take alot of work, but that one moment you get shed in your hands, if you are at all like me, it will be the most rewarding thing at that moment. Smile on my face, I have returned home. Even with painful legs and tired mind. It's suddently just all worth it and fidning your first shed - it's the best. And soon, you are hooked. Believe me!

PART OF OLD POST:

---

So yeah, my first time shed hunting was 21.2, and I walked from 2pm to 7pm, yes, that much. And all I found was moose and 2 deer, (didnt even get photos darn) but no sheds. Not yet- and I wasn't really expecting to, not this soon.

What also would help, but what not many people have, are stalking cameras (as I call them) the cameras you can set up to take photos of the passing animals, that's how you'd see how many bucks/bulls are in your area and also if they have shed or not! (realised later; they haven't shed yet at this month here....)

I do own one roe deer antler, although I did not find it, my friend did. Also I have one deer skull with two 4 spike antlers with it but I didn't find that either (dads friend did) soo...I have something to accomplish all by myself, because this is important to me. Tomorrow I will go again in differend part of the same area and look through it! (This day is off because my legs died yesterday haha).

So I made this thread to be partly guiding, but also informative of this hobby and partly telling about my part in this. I would love to hear what you guys think, and even more I'd be happy to hear if you have found sheds, or if you are a shed hunter! x3 I would also love to see some great antlers if you have them!

EDIT:

Link to deer buck skull with 5 spikers and the roe deer antler: 
imgur.com/a/ALWhH

Walked tonight 8kilometers, the whole shed hunt in a nutshell: "Shed? No...stick."
Nothing, yet! (Exept 2 moose on camera lol)

---

Heyyy I was taking break on shed hunting because there were like 30-40cm snow and that's way too much to make shed hunting successful. Tonight (7.4.2018) I was shed hunting WHOLE day. AAANNDD I FOUND MY FIRST SHEEDS!! YES I DID.

I am sooo exited and so happy ;-; x3 This wasn't easy thing at all. And tbh, I really doupted my chances. But then all of a sudden it just happened!

 
My first shed ever found!!
 
Second shed! Bigger one!

They are sooo amaziinggg!!

Psst, I made a video of my adventure, there will show how I found the sheds: youtu.be/Yu9jABV9pkw

---

THE HUGE GUY!

I was shed hunting two weeks ago too and I found this guy: imgur.com/a/EzZv2Jt



Hooly heck this shed is huge! I was and still am exited about this guy cx It weights over 650 grams, woah!

After this I found one more shed, abit same size with my second shed I found when I first times found sheds. I dun have photo yet, but now I have 4 sheds in total! x'3

---

UPDATE:
(6.11.2018 new video link)
I have in total 16 shed antlers now. Yes, 16. I have sets of antlers where I have both sides, I have 5 spiker sheds, BIG sheds, smaller sheds...and MOOSE sheds!

Please visit this link to youtube where I show you how I find them one by one (Redid the video a week ago, please have new version, same video!:

youtu.be/706gWQjKJdc

And imgur link for photos: imgur.com/a/HFjG693


This is my shed hunting successs x3 Leave a comment if you like, you can also ask a question!
~ Silver