Shed Time


One of the fun things about stomping the woods is finding antler sheds that the Elk and Whitetail deer leave behind each year. They shed their antlers every late winter; usually around the end of January/February. Some states have special rules on when/how you can collect them, so make sure you check with the local wildlife office before you go shed hunting! 


This is the Elk shed that I'm holding in the above photo - it has 5 points to it, abet that some of points have been chewed  down by mice, chipmunks and red squirrels.  Some sheds will last for years in the woods; slowly being chewed down for its minerals, and keeping those tiny rodent teeth trimmed.


These are two nice 6 pointers I found in one day - the bigger one is an Elk shed, the smaller is a Whitetail deer shed - both had minimal chewing!  I ended up giving the 6 point Elk shed to a young Air Force couple with a cute little baby boy, who were staying at the same rental cabins as we.  They were new to the area, as the Black Hills were the furthest west they ever have been and this was the first vacation they ever had out here. Of course he was very excited and asked all sorts of questions.  Im pretty sure its sitting on their coffee table right now after being shown to everyone at the Air Force base lol...


These were found all in one day too.  A small 5 pointer Whitetail shed, a 6 pointer Whitetail shed, and yes, that is the biggest 6 pointer Elk shed that Mr. Foresterman has ever found.  It was soo much fun listening to him exclaim when he first saw it  "I found the granddaddy of them all"  !!  It did have chewing on the lower tines, but all in all, if you take into consideration that Dexter is a 70 lb dog, that is one big shed.  


One big shed indeed!

Comments

  1. Yes, that is quite a big shed! We enjoy hiking and looking for sheds, too. Our decor is "early antler" and we started doing it long before it became a decorating style...

    Thanks for sharing your pictures!

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  2. I see a lot of sheds but am always in the middle of something and can't afford the time to stop and pick them up. Plus they are a little dangerous to pack on my horse. We don't see many six point sheds though. I have yet to find an elk but that could happen now that they are moving into this area off the military base where they got rid of all the wild horses and imported Elk instead (now they have too many and have imported wolves to control them through predation). I so wish they would have kept all the wild horses instead.

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