Why Do You Shed Hunt?

[BCBOY]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-27-10 AT 09:30PM (MST)[p]Just curious as to the reasons some of us shed hunt. My reasons have definately changed over the years. I used to like pickin' up everything and anything. Now, I leave a lot hanging in trees and overall numbers mean nothing to me. Now I enjoy going out with the family, hiking around, having a fire and weiner roast. Spending time in the great outdoors with the family, seeing critters of many shapes and sizes, enjoying the scenery and just taking it all in is a lot of fun.
But when it comes to just 'my' time shed hunting, I think my main reason for shed hunting is purely for scouting. There is a bigger goal than finding some tine. The goal is to locate where a big ol' bruiser is living and then kill him during the season. Even if I don't find tine, I'm still learning a lot about the ground. Learning every little hump and bump, draw, ridge, openings ect that will help my still-hunting in the future. I also pay attention to bedding areas, the amount of browsing, fall rubs and winter rubs. It all combines to help put the pieces of the puzzle together. It is fun watching deer grow up by following them with their sheds. It is neat to be able to watch a decent buck grow into a monster buck and thus a target for the following hunting seasons.

 

[Longun]

I do it to piss off the natives.....

 

[ARCHERYBUG]

TO FIND SHEDS !!!!!
AND ENJOY TIME IN THE HILLS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

 

[onthehunt]

Living in western Wyo I'm not enjoying shed hunting right now. When the time comes its what you all have said except Longun. Though what longun said is pretty darn funny.

 

[bonedaddy]

gives me a chance to get out and get away from the everyday life. Especially when I'm stressed. Great exercise too. but the number one reason is I want to find a 300" set. probably never happen but you never know. The adrenaline rush when I spot a big one is unexplainable

 

[cmiddleton]

i get custom calls in trade for sheds, so while i'm out calling i pick up sheds then when coyote season wraps up i just use it so i have a excuse to get out in the hills.
my family will not go cuz nobody else will walk that far.

 

[wyodeerhunter]

I think the real reason we all shed hunt is knowing that for every shed we pick up, thats one less one a utah guy will find

Seriously I have to agree with BCBOY. I shed hunt mainly to scout and spend time with hunting buddies.

More and more I'm seeing a lot of people that shed hunt but they do not actually hunt animals. It puzzles and scares me at the same time....

 

[fatrooster]

Shed hunting as said above is great exercise. Plus, I just love to hold antlers in my hands. Shed hunting is also another form of HUNTING which is what I love to do. It also helps keep me practiced up with my optics. Its just plain fun. fatrooster.

 

[buck44]

why do you wake up every morning?

 

[NVPete]

I didn't even hunt sheds in the past, but while hiking, or hunting and I came upon a big enough shed, I would carry it home. A couple of yrs. back, one of my sons gave me his old video camera; I started taking video of wild horses, deer, antelope, elk, coyotes and ATL sheds. One day, I encountered a set of large elk sheds that told a tale... a big ol' bull had jumped a fence, and the impact of hitting the ground had jarred both antlers off! I was stoked with this cool find, and now I'm hooked on hunting. I even put together video tapes of my finds, mixed in with my deer and elk videos mostly, with anything else unusual I encounter( one video sequence I took, two A-10 Thunderbolts were circling a field, checking out a group of deer with two nice bucks; I thought that was unusual!)Twice, I have come upon an elk carcass and collected elk ivories; once I found a circa 1875 whiskey bottle, twice found 1950's 7UP bottles, a silver spoon stamped 1870, a rusty old sheep or cow bell,a 1926 NV license plate, a $80 buck knife recently lost, a .50 cal. military shell casing, a few arrowheads and pottery shards- these have all been my most unusual finds, but make the hiking all that more worthwhile, especially when out in seemingly middle of nowhere! Even some unusual animals encountered when not expecting them: a wild horse wearing a worn-out halter, a rattlesnake with no rattle on his tail, an emu(?), a mallard duck resting under a sagebrush way out in pinon-juniper woodland, a sheep that was left behind and survived the winter and predators, a mixed group of seven deer and three elk running together- those are the most memorable. Just like hunting...it's always an adventure!