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Scouting/shed hunting

Coursey

Coursey

New Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Messages
22
So i never go out to strictly shed hunt. I spend a lot of time in the woods this time of year scouting for bedding areas and travel patterns to and from bedding areas. I usually find one or two sheds. This year ive got a lot of bucks on camera in January and am hoping to find more sheds this year. Should I continue to focus on bedding or should i look somewhere else? I hunt public lands and i dont pay much attention to food sources now days. Would that be a better place to start?

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Disclaimer: I don't seem to be great at finding sheds, lol. I start out with good intentions, but end up paying more attention to terrain, cover, and just general scouting, not even looking at the ground around me. It wouldn't surprise me if I have walked by 100's of sheds not even knowing it.

That said, I've seen a lot of people agree on a few things. Fields/food sources are one place to start. I've heard of guys finding numerous sheds at food sources. Bedding areas in thicker cover where antlers can get knocked around is another natural place to look. As you walk trails, pay attention to spots where it might not be so smooth, like creek crossings, ditches, a fence, etc. Whether you find many or not, it's always fun to get out in the woods. Good luck!
 
KelvinM12 said:
Disclaimer: I don't seem to be great at finding sheds, lol. I start out with good intentions, but end up paying more attention to terrain, cover, and just general scouting, not even looking at the ground around me. It wouldn't surprise me if I have walked by 100's of sheds not even knowing it.

That said, I've seen a lot of people agree on a few things. Fields/food sources are one place to start. I've heard of guys finding numerous sheds at food sources. Bedding areas in thicker cover where antlers can get knocked around is another natural place to look. As you walk trails, pay attention to spots where it might not be so smooth, like creek crossings, ditches, a fence, etc. Whether you find many or not, it's always fun to get out in the woods. Good luck!
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I agree it always good to just be in the woods. I dont normally care if i find sheds or not but i got a buck on camrea this year that i just HAVE to find his sheds.
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I love shed hunting, i have a hard time narrowing it down where I find them. Here in NH i haven’t found a specific way to look besides putting in the miles and scan/look everywhere!
Goodluck with finding his sheds! Those are sweet!
 
Thanks for sharing the pics! Nice buck, some good character and mass. My advice, look some between now and the end of March, then leave it be (lol). More important before things green up is figuring out this bucks bedding and then leaving it be until you're ready to hunt it this fall. Post a pic to this thread next year if you tag him!
 
1st, don't start looking too early. I made that mistake for years. I was pounding woods looking for antlers and bucks were still carrying them. That was in the days before trail cams. Now Ive realized that bucks where I hunt carry well into March. Beating the brush too early runs the risk of bumping bucks off your property.
I had a buck one year that still had them in early May! Other bucks had 3 inches of new growth and he still had antlers.

I seem to have an eye for seeing them. I just wish I was looking in areas with more sheds. Its hard to find them if they don't exist.

The one thing that I often notice is the parallel up-tines. They just seem to catch my eye. I tend to notice stuff that's out of place.
Dont be afraid to look behind you where you just walked. Looking from different angles often shows a shed that you just walked past.

When I do find a shed, I will often toss it while I walk. Do so helps train my eye for what to see.

Beds and food sources are good but food sources change as the winter progresses. In the North, Southerly exposures are good places to look. Deer spend more time bedded on South slopes in the winter and later in the winter, those S slopes start to green up sooner. Deer like some greens in their diet after months of woody browse.
Seeps tend to green up sooner. They are good places to look.
 
Apex7 said:
I alway use binoculars when shed hunting. I walk a little and then scan the area in front of me.
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And binocs save a lot of energy, too. Instead of wearing ourselves out walking over to check out something that looks like it could be a shed, glass it 1st. Southern Ohio has some brutal terrain. Instead of walking up and down slopes to check something we could easily determine with binoculars allows me to spend more hours looking.
Binocs are a must.
 
KelvinM12 said:
Thanks for sharing the pics! Nice buck, some good character and mass. My advice, look some between now and the end of March, then leave it be (lol). More important before things green up is figuring out this bucks bedding and then leaving it be until you're ready to hunt it this fall. Post a pic to this thread next year if you tag him!
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I have a couple of ideas on where his primary bedding could be. I need to go in and confirm a few spots that i think would be bedding. I moved that camera cause there were some out of state guys hunting that area so i told them about the buck and let them have at it so im not sure if he made it through the season. Should have left the camrea there! Im gonna scout that area a ton this year and figure it out.

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KelvinM12 said:
Nice guy! I need to hunt with you!!! lol
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Well its easy to that when you do a lot of scouting and plenty of spots to hunt and other bucks to chase. Eventhough that is probably the most mature buck ive gotten pictures of. I figure hes a mature public land buck so he aint gonna be easy to kill.

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Yesterday i found 15 bedding areas. Some just a single bed and some had multiple beds. Found a couple good creek crossings. And several scrapes and one was huge.
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Coursey said:
Yesterday i found 15 bedding areas. Some just a single bed and some had multiple beds. Found a couple good creek crossings. And several scrapes and one was huge.
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I wouldn't have dared to step into the woods around here yesterday. We had 1 wind gust near 60 mph. I was out walking in a field and it sounded like the end of the world in the woods...dead ash trees falling every minute in every direction.

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Allegheny Tom said:
I wouldn't have dared to step into the woods around here yesterday. We had 1 wind gust near 60 mph. I was out walking in a field and it sounded like the end of the world in the woods...dead ash trees falling every minute in every direction.

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It was a lil windy here. Enough to get some wind burn.

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