Searching for the Antlers of Your Dream Buck

Just because deer season is over doesn’t mean there isn’t any fun left in pursuing them! Up North Journal offers a guide for keeping the excitement going with shed hunts.

After deer season has passed, the first thing I do is put out trail cameras immediately before deer shed their antlers to see who all survived the gun seasons. After the cameras are out I wait until mid February and begin looking for shed antlers. Shed antlers are one of the most intriguing things to me. I love finding the antlers and seeing some of the interesting character in some of them. Another reason I enjoy finding sheds is because it can help tell you where that buck is obviously roaming during the late season.

Often times a bedding area is a very productive place to look for sheds. It’s even possible that there may be more than one shed in a bedding area! Several other places to look would be along fence crossings where the deer jump over – it will tend to knock the antlers loose; the same goes with creek crossings.

So next time you are out looking for sheds just walk along fence lines and creeks and you might be surprised. My personal favorite place to look is along food sources. A lot of the time if it is a row crop I will walk the field edges and frequently I will come out with something. Another benefit with food sources is if it a field like cut beans, or winter wheat, you can take a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope and just look over the field with out getting your feet dirty. I found several last year in winter wheat fields just while driving along the highway! Often times a deer will drop both antlers within approximately 200 yards of each other. The last place I would suggest for you that goes back to the bedding areas – look along south facing slopes. This is a great location where deer often bed to sun bathe and stay warm.

Next time you are looking for things to do between deer season and turkey season don’t forget to take some time to look for antlers. Take children out, if not the whole family; it can be a fun activity. Often times the kids can find sheds easier because they are lower to the ground! Good luck to you this shed season and please let me know if I helped you at all in your searches.

Up North Journal

Hello, I’m Mike Adams the co-owner and co-founder of Up North Journal.  My oldest son Mikey and I started Up North Journal back in April of 2007 as a weekly podcast that focused on what we did outdoors each week.  It has grown into a medium sized media outlet that now has 11 staff members that includes everything from audio, video all the way to outdoor journals.

Our staff members contribute to this publication so you will see stories from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Iowa/Kansas and Alaska’s Arctic Circle!  We love to hunt anything that the law allows and we also spend quite a bit of time on the water fishing whether it be frozen or of the liquid variety.  You might see some of us at a local 3-D archery shoot or at some outdoor event at some of the local outdoor stores or you might even see us in the woods!  Feel free to look around our website www.upnorthjournal.com and take a look around.  Also make sure to stop by and visit our sponsors websites as well.  Hope to see you in the woods or on the water!