How to Age Sheds

Josey_Wales · Nov 2, 2010

I've always tried to guess how old the sheds I find are, but without seeing them fall off of the deer/elk or being familiar enough with each specific deer or elk, it is difficult to know for sure.

Can any of you explain how generally to determine how long a shed has been on the ground?

bonedaddy · Nov 2, 2010

well obviously the brown ones are fresh. If they have good brown and one side and white on the other, with only the white side cracked, usually a year old. If both sides are cracked and faded but still kind of brown on one side, its usually two years old. You get the idea. This isn't always the case with every horn. It depends on where they drop them. I've found year old horns under trees that were still brown from being out of the elements. I'm sure I'll get criticized for writing this but I don't any better way to explain it.

Ungulate · Nov 3, 2010

No critisism here... I agree with bonedaddy. It really depends on the climate. If an antler is exposed to the sun it will dry out a lot faster. If it is in the shade or even covered by decaying leaves sometimes it stays pretty preserved.

The way I see it the ones that are out in the open and easy to find are the ones that get destroyed by the sun. The ones in cover or shade are usually destroyed by the rodents.

The best thing to do is to find them before either can get to them.

bonepicker · Nov 4, 2010

I agree with bonedaddy about the one and two year old horns. The harder antlers to age are the 3+ year olds. I've found some chalkies that are out in the open and who knows how old they are. Out in the sun though, they seem to break down pretty fast. I've found some under trees that are all mossed up could be 10-30 years old. Hard to say after about 3-4 years. Antlers have different shell thicknesses too. Some are mostly the hard shell and some are mostly marrow core. The marrow ones definitely break down faster.
There is one antler that I found fresh brown and I walk by every year. (It's on a rancher's property, he allows me to walk through to get to BLM but he wants to find his own sheds, so I've been able to watch it rot) It's been 5 years now and after year 2 it looks the same every time I see it. Chalky. I'm not sure how long it will last but I guess I'll find out in a few years.