Where do you find the most sheds?

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Jdw
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Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Jdw » Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:59 am

This is my second year of shed hunting and I am trying to prioritize which places to spend the most time looking.

I am in hill / farm country.

So the question is do you have the best results finding sheds in fields or bedding areas or on travel routes between the two?


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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby WV Bowhunter » Thu Feb 09, 2017 3:01 am

I am in hill country as well and I find most of mine in bedding areas or within 100 yards of it. I've not had much luck in fields but I know some folks do.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Bucky » Thu Feb 09, 2017 1:39 pm

South facing grassy edges close to winter food source....

If u go right now in WI these areas will be open... no snow, while the woods and fields will have snow.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:17 pm

Home Depot :mrgreen: :P
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Jonny » Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:31 pm

Edcyclopedia wrote:Home Depot :mrgreen: :P


Beat me to it Ed.

I prefer menards but that's cause I worked there for a year and they paid well.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:29 pm

Look in areas the deer yard up in. In areas where there are very few deer in the winter you won't find many sheds.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby sheddinva » Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:40 am

I find 99% in the city in small woodlots around businesses and churches. Bigger deer there than I've ever seen while hunting and they only have so far that they can travel. I'll walk a 1-5 acre plot on my hour lunch break and sometimes find 4 or 5 sheds.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby Outdoor814 » Fri Feb 10, 2017 3:13 am

Get ahold of Haus86. He helped me out and got the mind cogs rolling as to where I should aearch for sheds in my area and terrain.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby alfsisaiah » Sat Feb 11, 2017 11:30 am

-South facing slopes
-if you start finding lots of old scrapes along hillsides or in the bottoms keep your eyes open (i have found a lot within close proximity to scrapes in cover)
-On the soft edges where different cover come together. This could be as simple as young saplings growing on a portion of the hill that suits them among mainly mature hardwoods
-Fingers of timber that protrude into ag fields
-any finger/drainage that juts out into ag fields
-look for fresh sign (easy to see this time of year) where you start seeing lots of activity slow down keep your eyes peeled
-lone structures among homogeneous hardwoods ie. a lone or few scattered pines
-anything structure stands out to your eyes stands out to a deer
those are a few places i would start
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby moondoondude » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:22 am

Always start with food sources, then work your way back through transition areas into bedding areas.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby JoeRE » Sat Feb 18, 2017 5:54 am

Yea its all about what the prime food was when they were dropping and the nearby bedding.

In hill country, I rarely find sheds on steeper slopes. Almost always near ridge tops or down in the bottoms not on the sidehills. My theory is that its sensitive when they are getting ready to shed and bucks stick to level ground, less jostling...but that could be bullhonkey I don't really know.

They also tend to avoid really thick cover too, most are in more open cover. I used to stomp through thick nasty bedding while shed hunting, but still usually just found sheds outside the thicker cover if they were there.

I have found 1 shed at a fence crossing in my entire life, that's it that I can remember. I think that location is over rated.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby alfsisaiah » Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:29 am

JoeRE wrote:Yea its all about what the prime food was when they were dropping and the nearby bedding.

In hill country, I rarely find sheds on steeper slopes. Almost always near ridge tops or down in the bottoms not on the sidehills. My theory is that its sensitive when they are getting ready to shed and bucks stick to level ground, less jostling...but that could be bullhonkey I don't really know.

They also tend to avoid really thick cover too, most are in more open cover. I used to stomp through thick nasty bedding while shed hunting, but still usually just found sheds outside the thicker cover if they were there.

I have found 1 shed at a fence crossing in my entire life, that's it that I can remember. I think that location is over rated.

IMO
i would say many sheds are lost in thick cover however they are much harder to REcover lol for obvious reasons
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby JoeRE » Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:23 am

alfsisaiah wrote:
JoeRE wrote:Yea its all about what the prime food was when they were dropping and the nearby bedding.

In hill country, I rarely find sheds on steeper slopes. Almost always near ridge tops or down in the bottoms not on the sidehills. My theory is that its sensitive when they are getting ready to shed and bucks stick to level ground, less jostling...but that could be bullhonkey I don't really know.

They also tend to avoid really thick cover too, most are in more open cover. I used to stomp through thick nasty bedding while shed hunting, but still usually just found sheds outside the thicker cover if they were there.

I have found 1 shed at a fence crossing in my entire life, that's it that I can remember. I think that location is over rated.

IMO
i would say many sheds are lost in thick cover however they are much harder to REcover lol for obvious reasons


You could be right, might be because they are just hard to find....all I know is I have combed a lot of thick cover and rarely found sheds inside the thick cover, usually on the outskirts in slightly more open stuff.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby JoeRE » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:52 am

It might depend on what we call thick cover too - by thick I mean there are deer tunnels, not paths. An upright human has to fight brush the whole way. That's the stuff I was thinking of.

I find a lot of sheds on the edges of stuff like that, when deer are browsing and bedding in it...still thick enough to have a hard time to spot a shed more than a few feet away but its more open and I can walk through it normally.
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Re: Where do you find the most sheds?

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:27 am

Shedding areas! :mrgreen:

Honestly. Thick cover with good sun exposure close to food is primo. Start with the food. Find the deer. Then adjust from there.


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