Lost headgear: In search of sheds, discarded antlers

Please do not think by the headline that I am going to describe dropping your cap in the woods.

Instead we are going to discuss one of the fastest growing topics in the hunting field - collecting shed antlers.

Lots of folks are now spending late winter days looking to bring home a pile of discarded whitetail deer antlers.

There seems to be no limit to the uses for these shed antlers. The creativity of some of these decorative pieces is truly amazing.

I have seen them made into everything from centerpieces to lamps to door handles. Others just like to pile them up and make their piles bigger each year.

In the past the only sheds I collected were ones I accidentally stumbled over while turkey and mushroom hunting. I have a modest collection of various sizes.

I also have skulls, and skulls with the antlers still attached.

There are lots of surprising things to find on the forest floor if you are looking for them on purpose.

I realized this last week as I participated in my first organized shed hunt.

I spent several days last fall hunting with new friends Luke Terstriep Sr., Luke Jr., and younger brother Lance.

Last week Luke Jr. and Lance called and invited me to go with them to look for sheds on one of their properties.

I figured shed hunting was nothing more than "bailing out and milling around" looking for antlers on the ground. But these guys had a plan.

They were organized and intended to cover every square yard of the property.

Their plan was based mostly on the data they had already collected on buck activity since deer season ended.

Trail cameras showed a large number of bucks using a particular food plot during the big snow of early February. They also found dozens of beds in the snow while coyote hunting the farm.

They had a really good idea of where the sheds might be and the plan was to cover the area in a grid so as not to miss anything.

Luke got us on the board with a small three-point antler. As we moved down the hill I was between the two Terstrieps.

By the time we hit the field edge Luke found three more sheds, including the match to the first find.

As we emerged from the timber I was walking north when Luke yelled out about his find.

I turned to walk toward him. Lance was behind me and laughed as he picked up an antler just a few steps from where I had been.

"You would have stepped on this one if you had not turned around," he said, raising the shed to show me. That's my luck.

Luke told me of what he found the day before when they were shed hunting another of their properties.

He saw a number of tine points sticking up in a field and thought he had found a huge nontypical antler.

It turned out to be a pair of rattling antlers attached by a small nylon cord.

This farm had been leased to an outfitter last season and these were obviously dropped by a hunter.

By the end of the day the Terstrieps had found 18 nice sheds and a whole bobcat skull.

I, on the other hand had found two vertebrae, two leg bones and doe skull.

Twice I walked away from spots where Lance stepped in and found a shed.

It just was not my day.

And to add salt to this little wound, Luke and I took a walk on one of my properties a week later.

Not only did Luke find a great shed but it was still hooked to the skull which was still hooked to the carcass.

The buck had gotten his rack caught on the tree and could not get free. There he died and there Luke found him.

But I had a great time and learned a lot about this growing sport.

These guys and their dad have a barrel full of sheds in their basement.

Maybe my turn to find some sheds will come during turkey season when I am watching the ground for mushrooms.