Over frozen land from January through April men, women and children fan out to hunt the elusive shed \u2013 treasures left behind by wild animals such as elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer.\u00a0 \u201cEarly in the year is the best time to find sheds,\u201d said shed hunting enthusiast, Christine Schuette of United Country Real Estate | Ozarks Country Living Real Estate in Mountain Grove, Missouri. \u201cThis is your best opportunity before other animals get to them or they get overgrown with grass,\u201d Schuette said.<\/p>\n
As with anything, if you want to be successful you\u2019re going to have to work at it and hone your skills. Here are five points to improve your shed hunting strategy:<\/p>\n
Look for the food source<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want to find sheds, you have to know where bucks have been, which means you have to find the food. \u00a0Hunting sheds takes some leg work, but the advantage you have this time of year is that deer are fairly predictable. If they find a consistent food source, they don\u2019t travel far and that increases your chances of picking up their shed antlers.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve done your homework all summer and during the season, you know what bucks are in your area and where to hunt them. So, once the season\u2019s over, you should know where to find them and their sheds.<\/p>\n Map the melt<\/strong><\/p>\n Although identifying their food source is crucial, whitetails actually spend more time bedded up than they do moving in the winter months. Many believe that if they discover the food source that they are going to find the sheds right there. Although a good number of sheds are found in the food plots, the actual number tends to be fairly low.<\/p>\n In many locations snow melts and then snows and then melts again several times each winter. After the snow starts melting, go out and mark on maps which ridges near winter food plots start melting off first. This is where you\u2019ll find the deer. If you have a new farm or a new place to shed hunt, wait for a warm day and go out with a map and mark those ridges that melt off first. Those are the places that are key not only for hunting, but shed hunting as well.<\/p>\n