Anyone finding Shed Antlers?

S

SleepingBear

Joined
Mar 25, 2005
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On the weekends I like to walk the woods and swamps looking for shed antlers. Also, I take my Gil Hibben thrower to try my luck on stumps and downed trees. I've found some antlers in past years, but nothing so far this year.
Our snow here in N.Michigan is finally 3/4 gone, and the ice is off most of the lakes. If we find shed antlers here..we have to be quick about it, as we compete with Porcupine, Racoon, Coyote, Fox, etc. Good place to look really is along the roadside edge, just inside the treeline. Many Bucks get killed by a vehicle, and die inside the treeline, then are burried by the snow till now, when they get exposed. Anyone having luck this year??
 
I plucked the broken one off a big ,drowned bull elk that I found floating in the reservoir when the ice melted last month. He'd already lost his other antler. The main beam is larger than my wrist. It should provide enough slabs for quite a few knife handles.

The second pic is one from two years ago. I don't actively hunt sheds, but occasionally I stumble across a nice one.
 

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Last year I was in a little swamp by my house. I found a skeleton in a ditch by a road. It was a spike buck. I took a stick and broke off the head and carried it back to my house. I was gonna make a European mount but it smelled real bad so i sawed the spikes off and mounted them to a 2x4 and hung it up. I've been looking for sheds but havent found any this year.
My aunt lives up in New Jersey, she finds some real nice sheds now and then. Last year she found a thick shed from a nice 8 pointer, but she says theres bigger ones out there.
 
Most that I find are rather small, but once I did find an elk skull with antlers that was HUGE. With the skull tied to my backpack, the antlers wrapped around and extended out in front of me. Not knowing it was illegal to collect without a hunting license, and not having space to haul it, I took it to an antler-buyer who offered $65. So I took it and sold it to a friend for $65 instead.

Working in the woods, I've found so many single sheds that I don't bother to pick them up unless they're perfect. The forests rodents depend on antler sheds for calcium and other nutrients; I figure they need the antlers more than I.

I do check every elk skull for the ivory teeth, but have only found a few still intact.

-Bob

p.s. I've also been told it's illegal to be in possession of antlers that have been sawed off, without a matching hunting permit. They must have the buttons if you're collecting sheds.
 
Bob W said:
p.s. I've also been told it's illegal to be in possession of antlers that have been sawed off, without a matching hunting permit. They must have the buttons if you're collecting sheds.
Click to expand...

I've never heard that before, but thanks for the warning. Can't have anyone thinking I've been poaching or anything.
 
I don't know the legal details, and it probably varies by state. But it's something to look into / watch out for.

-Bob
 
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