The GrowingDeer Team is excited to search The Proving Grounds for shed antlers! There are multiple benefits to shed hunting: the enjoyable walk in Creation along with the challenge of finding that prized antler (no matter the size).

This passion for shed antlers isn’t limited to long walks across fields and woods. We are all actively looking for antlers anytime we are out on the land. Whether it is scanning a food plot as we drive by, checking out rub lines and scrapes as we check trail cameras, or blowing fire lines.

While we are busy looking for antlers, we are also scouting and thinking about next season.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while shed hunting.

Hit List Inventory

Most hunting seasons are closed when prime shedding occurs. No matter what age structure you set for your buck harvest goals, finding antlers provides information that can help you locate and hunt deer next season.

As bucks age, they can be more reclusive and difficult to pattern and hunt. Finding the shed of a mature buck is great information. It means that buck has survived another hunting season and could show up in front of your stand next fall! Finding a shed antler tells you where that buck travels during the late season. It is simply one more piece of the puzzle for hunting that specific buck.

Hunters can gain even more data about the buck by looking at the base of the shed. Clean bases are good. It means that the buck is likely healthy and had a clean casting. However, sheds with jagged pieces on the base may indicate that the buck has a brain abscess or other injury (this is not always the case).

Hunting Information

Shed hunting also gives hunters the chance to get boots on the ground and read fresh deer sign. Oftentimes, shed hunting can take you down unexplored trails and into thick cover. Shed hunters can quickly learn where late season bedding areas and food sources are located. Travel corridors in between these areas are often great hunting locations if the hunter can enter, hunt, and exit without alerting deer.

We all love shed hunting for different reasons, the bonus is shed hunting helps us to become better hunters. I hope you can throw on your boots, grab your family and friends and begin shed hunting soon. I think you will be surprised at how much you can learn while searching for antlers!

Enjoy Creation,

Daniel