This most recent blast of cold weather has turned me into the proverbial couch potato
This most recent blast of cold weather has turned me into the proverbial couch potato.
This most recent blast of cold weather has turned me into the proverbial couch potato.
With warmer temperatures in the forecast, it will provide a golden opportunity to get the family out of the house and involved in some outdoor fun that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg plus will provide some exercise to boot before things begin to green up.
In this case, I’m talking about searching for shed deer antlers. If you’re like me and several of my hunting buddies, you spend the majority of your time in the woods during the fall each year —and that’s a big mistake.
I will be the first person to jump up and say” guilty as charged” when it comes to not spending enough time in the woods during the off-season.
There’s so much more to be learned after deer season with shed hunting.
Whitetail bucks can begin shedding their antlers as early as December but rarely as late as March.
A relic that has always intrigued and fascinated me is the antler shed. I enjoy getting out and searching for antlers that bucks have shed and it gives me some idea as to the quality of bucks that survived the hunting season.
Some of the spots I like to key in on are areas around late season food plots, along fence rows, travel corridors and water sources.
In some cases, I will even leave up a trail camera or two which aids in letting me know what bucks survived the hunting season and winter as well.
“Antlers are nature’s most remarkable accomplishment,” according to Jim Heffelfinger, a writer featured in The Journal of the Texas Trophy Hunters magazine. “They are the only completely regenerating organ in mammals.”
In adult deer, antler growth begins within a few weeks of losing their last set of antlers. While doing some research concerning deer antlers I really came to appreciate one of God’s most masterful works of art, and no two are alike.
Heffelfinger notes that members of the deer family range from the 10-pound pudu of South America to the 1,500-pound Alaskan Moose and the even larger antlers of the extinct Irish elk, a type of giant fallow deer.
“There is one exception to the antler rule in the deer family and that is the Chinese water deer, which lacks antlers.” says Heffelfinger. “In place of antlers, male Chinese water deer have the large protruding upper canines that are reminiscent of several extinct deer species.”
Whatever the case, deer hunter or not, one cannot help but marvel at these unique cast-offs. For more information, you might consult George and Anthony Bubenik’s book, “Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers,” published in 1990.
Many current designers use deer antlers in lamps, chandeliers, jewelry and knives, just to mention a few.
Getting out ,when the weather permits, helps chase away the winter blues.
An interesting organization if you want to get your dog involved is the Oklahoma Shed Dog Association. They have a Facebook page that gives information about training tools and even competitions in the area for shed hunting dogs.
In a recent article in Outdoor Life, Minnesota dog shed trainer Tom Dokken said “using a dog to hunt antlers is the fastest growing dog sport in the U.S.” Dokken is the foremost authority on shed dogs.
Shayla Duree of Stroud shared with me that her husband and his dad grew up looking for sheds by foot. She wanted to take the kids out to do it and started researching how to train your dog to pick up the scents.
She found the NASHDA (North American Shed Hunting Dog Association) and an item called Rack Wax, which imitates the smell of deer antlers for training purposes.
Each handler and their style of training is a little different. Duree highly recommended working on obedience first and foremost, and then getting the dog into playing fetch. Once they are able to bring the object back to you, start with a rubber antler, making it more and more difficult as you progress. After they really begin to enjoy the game, set the antler up on something outside like the back of a truck and let them find it.
“Usually, I will let them see it first so they get the idea that they need to find it and make it harder from there rewarding them with each retrieve. There are three waxes that can be used to put the antler scent onto a training dummy or even a real shed. Bone Clone, Rack Wax, and Jeremy Moore’s Antler Wax. It comes in a chapstick tube and you just smear a little on the base of the antler and around the tines,” said Duree.
Duree continued, “The use of sheds is endless. Some people will sell the large ones,but most, like us, use them for decorations in the home. We have made rattling sets but you could make a chandelier, lamp, or table. A lot of people buy them as dog chews, although that is highly discouraged for a shed dog. There is also this fantastic artist on Facebook that makes some really neat stuff out of antlers as well. I believe he has even made some earrings — Bob’s Antler Art.”
In Oklahoma, the regulations for deer shed collection state that if the antlers are still attached to the skull plate (called a dead head), you must contact your local game ranger for a receipt. If the sheds are unattached to a skull plate, no call is needed even if on department-managed land.
Obviously, you must have permission from a private landowner to collect sheds from their property.
Reach Kilgore at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo. com .
