MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

Hey all, I am a somewhat new member and have never done any shed hunting before... I now live in New Mexico and I went out today with my son and we could not find anything... I am looking for elk sheds and deer sheds and both are found in the area that I am looking but have a few questions...

Is finding sheds a luck thing or what.. really don't know how to proceed.... Keep in mind that I am looking in mountains that are 8-10k so dont really know if that matters... Looked really hard today for like 3-4 hours and could not find anything... That brings me to question #2, do I need to hike my arse off to come across some good sheds or what? Im from texas and never looked for sheds but the thought of finding a matching pair of elk sheds makes me smile...

any advice from you seasoned shed hunters? just wanting to fill my time until I get my draw results back to see where I will be hunting...\

That brings me to question #2, do I need to hike my arse off to come across some good sheds or what

Pretty much.

I hiked for about 6 hours, 13 miles few weeks ago and found NOTHING.

Maybe at that elevation your to high? Fresh tracks or animals there?

I really dont think its too high but I'm new to elk hunting... but saw a nice family of 4 mulies less than 5 miles away in these mtns.. and there is tons of elk and deer crap everywhere up here.... I put in for my tags this year up here because everyone has told me that they are everywhere up here... The countryside looks the part also.. Appears I just need to hike my butt off and suck it up...

Elk move a lot as the snow line disappears, they move up and up it seems. Just a thought, hope you find some.

Some of it is luck. I got skunked yesterday with several miles of boot leatehr put in. Next year you should find a deer herd around the end of January keep tabs on them from a spotting scope distance and then around the end of march go pick up their head gear. Then elk you need to watch around the end of march then hike hard in april. Brett said it right. The elk will follow the snow line up so the sheds might be higher than you realize.

The best advise your going to hear is you'll have better luck sitting home then starting to be another shed hunter!..Good luck

Thanks for the advice guys... I went the other day with my son and we didn't find anything but had a good time... Just gives me the excuse to be outside more and more.... Im going to go next weekend and look in an area with a retreating snow line and look for some elk sheds... i hope to find some but if not, will get a good idea of this unit that I have wanted to hunt for awhile...

Someone a while back posted something about looking for other things and you'll come across sheds (I think they were talking about mushrooms?). This weekend I found my first shed while we were running dogs and looking around on the ground for tracks. When you're not painting the picture of a shed in your head they're alot easier to find. You don't go running towards every stick you see excited to get a shed. Some of these guys have spent a lot of time doing this, but on my first experiences I was just trying to hard to find them!

Best advice i could give any one is think like the deer or elk start with southern slopes and pack along some good glasses. Check the saddles and tops of the rolls. Thats what been working best for me might work for you to happy huntin

i have found many sheds while out hunting. For elk sheds mahogany slopes seem to always have elk held up in them or in thicker juniper stands. Also try along fence lines and ravines. As the animals go through them often times it will jar them loose.

Good luck