question

[GHOSTINTHEWOODS]

I've been wondering how long a shed will last for example under a cedar. I seen a post on here a month or so ago that some one found a skull with old metal tags on it from 1956 or such a matter. I assumed that the real old mossy sheds you find laying under cedars were probably some where in the neiborhood of 15 - 20 years old any guesses??????

 

[everbrownshed]

I think it all depends on the climate, heat, and moisture. You got to think about all the animals that eat the sheds too. I doubt a shed will last more than 8-10 years, maybe a big elk or moose shed.

 

[JakeH]

I know I've seen deer sheds that were probly 10-20 years old they just have to be in the right spot, I know a kid that found a shed the other day that I bet was at least 15 years old, it was tucked up under a ceader tree and protected from alot of the moister.

I think the biggest threat to a shed horn that isnt bothered by animals is water, especialy after they get a few cracks in them from the sun, the water gets in the cracks and starts to exspand and break the horn apart.



Jake H. MM Member since 1999.

 

[losthuntr]

I found a set last year that was 9 years old, if I hadn't spent a couple of years looking for them back when they were fresh, I wouldn't have guessed them to be 4 years old.

 

[Packout]

30+ years easy. I have sheds in my flower bed that are subject to rain, snow, sprinklers, sun. I have had them there for over 10 years and they were old, chalky crackers to begin with. Our friend's barn has a few deer racks nailed to the back of it and the 84 year old dad said his grandfather hung them there in the early 1900s. So those things are over 100 years old.

 

[Longun]

These are Buff horns I've picked up and there hasn't been any around here in Lincoln County since the early 1880's.

 

[1010Jake]

I have pondered this question several times. Myself and a couple of friends have talked about putting some fresh browns on a north facing slope, south facing slope, and flat ground, under a sagebrush, under a tree, and exposed, but we never have done any of it. I have some pictures of some really old antlers I will have to dig them up and post them.

 

[BBB]

An antler will stay on the ground for a long, long time. Obviously, depending on moisture and amount of sun. I have found sheds I believe to be 30+ years old.

 

[Squirrel]

I've found big elk horns which required a small excavation project to recover them, 6" or so of topsoil formed over them, the funny thing is the part under the soil is often the best preserved part, any one else notice this?? I've also found antlers grown over and around by 4-6" branches and trunks of trees where the antler had to be there first so they've been there a long time. Then again I've found freshies with bloody pedicles and almost nothing is left from varmint chewings- go figure.

 

[GHOSTINTHEWOODS]

ya kind of off the subject but 4 years ago in wyoming I dug a huge buffalo skull out of the bottom of a spring creek and the best preserved part was in the mud...

 

[shedfreak91]

we have found a buffalo skull here to, very old.

 

[cmiddleton]

i found a buffalo bone with 11 layers of limestone on it.
it was a prehistoric bison
the archaeologist said each layer takes 1000 yrs to form.
one piece of skull had the core of the horn and it was 11" around.