Shed Hunting Tactics

I know this may have been talked about in the past but I'm curious what techniques everyone uses to find sheds. WAM and company seem to find sheds like crazy and I know it has to do with where you're at but I think there is a little more than luck involved with them. I just hike until I get lucky and by lucky I mean I find a 2 point shed from 5 years ago. I was told once to look for smaller trees that have scrapes on them but haven't been very succesful. I would just like to hear everyones ideas. Thanks in advance.
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MuleyMadness
I think it has a lot more to do with 'location' than anything else. These WAM boys are very good, but they WORK very hard for them and put a lot of time effort and boot miles into there trips.

As for tips, grief I've came to the conclusion that it miles and miles on the ground and glassing are the best. But I'm not a great or big shed hunter.
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Torch
I agree, you're not going to find any antlers if the animals haven't been shedding in the area. Location is very important. The area they are shedding may also change from year to year. It also takes lots of miles of hiking and glassing. I usually hike anywhere from 10 to 15 miles in a day while I'm shed hunting depending on how rugged the terrain is. Shed hunting is a lot more popular than it used to be and so it will be harder to find bones in popular areas. Keep after it and you'll find a few, there are plenty of bones laying around out in the hills. :thumb
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MULIES4EVER
I hike my rear off and glass everything that I can. keep moving. You cant find them if you dont cover some ground.
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Best advice i can give you is to go somewhere that hasnt been hit, most the spots i go to are not hit by many people there might not be a lot of deer but I have better chances of finding more sheds because there might not have been too many people in those areas, then the next best thing is to use your eyes more than your feet you can cover a lot more ground with your binos than with your feet so keep glassing, ive found about 150 sheds so far this year and at least 50 % of them i spotted with my binos, good luck your next time out :thumb
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Wild antlers says he thinks 50% of his sheds he glasses. I'm wondering about the rest of ya? Cause i would say for me 30% is push'n it, but i only glass in areas that the glass'n promises to produce. Areas that i can glass from and can see down into the bushes, trees, ect. very well or i might as well just grid it out, cause it dont take a very big bush to hide a shed. I also dont always carry my tripod with if i'm plan'n on being out for a long walk and i dont like to glass without it. But for you guys, what percentage do you think? :-k
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BIG R
Why do you allways have to question the way somebody else does things.This is a site to offer info,not to contradict and bag on others for the way they do things . .Thats all youve done since you became a member of this site. :>/
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killerbee
"BIG R" wrote:Why do you allways have to question the way somebody else does things.This is a site to offer info,not to contradict and bag on others for the way they do things . .Thats all youve done since you became a member of this site. :>/
 and it's getting pretty old...... too bad the guys you TRY to bag on put up plenty of proof to show how well they do. BIGBONEZ puts up alot of talk, go figure..... :>/
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I agree with what you guys have said. Location is huge, glassing can help in certain areas, lots of miles is probably the most important to me but I would like to add that is is importantant to stay in the right elevation, slope, vegetation etc. you can hike all you want but once your out of the core shedding area you won't find jack. Just my 2 bits.
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BIG R
230+ you have some truley amazing sheds and thanks for sharing them with everybody :thumb Hope to someday see pics of the "shed room"
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sawsman
My tactic is to first go where I know they are dropping them. I try to focus my searching where the deer are at the time they are shedding. I then look on the south facing slopes, along fencelines or structure that may cause them to become detached. I sometimes use my binos, but not always. I usually only use them if I question the look of something that could be a shed.
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killerbee
i'm not a huge shed hunter, i go a couple times a year. but i have a buddy who goes alot. he finds quit a few each year. 2 yrs ago he sold all the sheds he found in the one year and bought his pair of swarovski binos with the $ he sold his horns for. but he uses pretty much 100% his binos and spotting scope.where they shed hunt it would alsmost be pointless to just start walking. it's steep country. so i can EASILY believe WILD ANTLERS 50% glassing.
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waynedevore
Location is big and so is glassing. Use the binos to cover a much bigger area. Not a lot different then hunting. South facing slopes are a good place to search for sheds. So is cover and sheltered bedding areas nearby.
I wonder how many hours per find for me? Never kept track but I think maybe around 4.
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Again, and maybe this time the moderator will not remove one post deemed dorgitory and alow another. :>/ The question I asked was "HOW PRODUCTIVE IS GLASS'N SHEDS FOR THE REST OF YOU?" I simply said 30% of my sheds was push'n it for me, and gave examples. Nonthing more or less. This is a thread about shed hunt'n tatctics is'nt it. (???)
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My best advice for some one who wants to start looking for sheds is to do your homework. In December and January you need to be out there with a spotting scope looking to see where the deer are so once they have dropped their horns you have it narrowed down to where you need to start looking. Once you have done this, it's then all about putting down the doot leather.
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Hit places that haven't been hit, even if there aren't many deer in the area. Last Saturday i found twelve horns and a skull in seven hours of hiking. Guess how many people or four wheeler tracks i saw?
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I agree hit what has not been hit problem is any more if there are deer that winter there it's probably been hit dont mean some where not missed though
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