The Hunting Beast

I've never had much luck at shed hunting, a lot has to do with the fact I usually fish everyday that time of year. But the few I have found I had to wrestle away from squirrels. Was curious if anybody had any idea how long it would take a squirrel to polish off a descent sized antler?

Sometimes they go a couple of years here. I expect that it will be shorter this year as the squirrel and chipmunk population is at an all time high due to the massive mast crop we had in 2015.

Bob

Was listening to a big buck registry podcast featuring a guy they called "The Shed Hunting Fool". Long story short the guy likes shed hunting more than hunting and picks up a pile of sheds every year.

He mentioned that he's found sheds known to have been dropped less than 24 hours ago but the damn mice, squirrels and chipmunks can chew them half down in the short time it takes to locate them. Crazy. I believe its the minerals in the bone.

I live in NY. I believe our bone chewing critter population probably exceeds our human population. It amazes me every year that I will find a freshy (blood on the pedicle fresh) that has chew marks on it already and an old one....sometimes even 2 years old that is green..... without a single mark. I don't know if the critters look for them so much as if they coincidentally happen to fall in a spot that is they walk buy and see them. Squirrels are not blood hounds.

Boogieman1 wrote:I've never had much luck at shed hunting, a lot has to do with the fact I usually fish everyday that time of year. But the few I have found I had to wrestle away from squirrels. Was curious if anybody had any idea how long it would take a squirrel to polish off a descent sized antler?

they go quick take note on areas with overpopulations of squirrels and shed hunt them first I find my most pristine sheds in buck beds and open fields and thickets where their are no trees and lots of hawks

All depends on where the antler was dropped. If dropped in an open timber, they won't last long. If dropped in a swamp or marsh they will almost never be eaten. Tall grass hides them pretty well also.

I don't know about shed hunting in any other state, I've only ever shed hunted in Ohio, all over the whole state. I've found many sheds thru the years, many in all different conditions when found. One thing that has always amazed me is the difference in how long a shed lasts between southern ohio and northern Ohio is crazy.

Northern ohio it's like it's a whole different ballgame. Almost as if it has become a competition between the shed hunter and rodents to see who can find them first. One shed in particular in my collection comes to mind. 4 years ago while shed hunting a farm in Northern ohio I found a shed that I know for a fact was not more than 24 hours old, the blood on the pedicle was still somewhat fresh and damp. It was about a 60 inch 5 point side when it it hit the ground but in just no more than 24 hours later the G2, G3 were eaten down to just about 2 1/2 inches, the G4 was completely gone and nearly chewed thru the mainbeam at G4 as well and the 7 inch browtine was eaten halfway thru on one side, it looked like a long toothpick. That's some fast finding and eating.

I've found many fresh and old in both northern and southern ohio but an old shed in northern ohio is much more rare. I've even shed hunted some areas in northern ohio where it's hard to even find a fresh shed that doesn't have any chew marks on it. I have 3 years of sheds off of a buck on the same farm mentioned above, all were found fresh (guessing within a week of dropping) and all have a good amount of chewing. I believe the 3rd year of sheds off of him he would be B&C but there's too much of those sheds eaten off to be able to tell for sure.

I've noticed ones dropped in a swamp seem to me to be in pretty good shape. Found 3 last year pretty late in the year and un touched swamp area. Then I've found them mid Feb and there chewed up really bad but that was in your hardwood type areas

Save a shed...Shoot a squirrel!