Antler Addiction

By  Jacob Barnett

Well here it is! The time of year all of you hardcore whitetail fanatics have been waiting for since the 2008-2009 season has came to a close back on the 15th of January. Today is February 5th, and the deer are starting to shed there antlers here in the Midwest. The passion and drive too find a monster set of sheds in this area is an addiction all hardcore hunters have this time of year!
Everyone of us has a drive to pick up antlers this time of year, some more than others ! My brother, Scott, and I have been shed hunting for quite some time know and we cover a lot of ground this time of year. Some of the bucks in the area are holding there wonderful headgear, but yet some are letting it hit the ground so shed fanatics like us can go around and try to pick them up before the squirrels do some damage too them. Scott and I were picking sheds up in Pike County on January 24th . The bucks over there seem to drop a little earlier than they do in the other parts of Illinois.
How do you find Antler Sheds? This is a question that I am asked over and over. There are guys and gals out there that ask me how I pick up so much bone (antlers) every Spring. They can walk there boots off and not pick anything up all year or maybe pick one or two up in a year. My theory is, you have to know your areas and the deer that use it. Eyesight is another major key to finding these magnificent pieces of antler laying in the grass or in a standing stalk field. For instance, my brother and I will train our eyes at the beginning of the year with some sheds we have picked up in the past . We will go to the woods or a grass patch and one of us will go hide the sheds in the area using the same scenario as it would be us out there looking along trails and bedding areas. This gets our eyes trained and ready to go out and look for the real thing. Shed antler eyes are like your morel mushroom eyes. You develop the same thing in your mind.
Walking Food Sources.
Another Key to our success is late season food sources. If you can drive around food sources, such as food plots, standing cornstalk fields, bean stubble fields, or even some hay fields. Go take a drive around those areas and see what is out there in the evenings feeding. A lot of bucks are rebounding from the rut and need to replenish there body weight. We walk a lot of trails from the food source to back to the bedding areas also. The trails that skirt the edge of the fields are also hot spots for picking up bone (antlers).  Another spot we try and concentrate on are south facing hillsides with food somewhere close around. The deer seem to like these spots because they are out of the bone chilling north or northwest winds we tend to have this time of year and the southern sun can keep them warm. Concentrate on major trails that have fence jumps on them. Creek crossings are also good areas to pick up bone(antlers). We also spend a lot of time in waterways which are the low spots in the fields. The deer tend too like these spots because they are out of the wind and out of sight from us hunters.
Carrying a good pair of binoculars is also a key to our success in the field for picking up shed antlers. A good pair of binoculars saves you a lot of walking. I have done it many of times even with binoculars around my neck walking and glassing a stick , but still having to walk over too it just to make sure I was seeing it right. We like to use our binoculars glassing down cornstalk rows also. You will notice they will save you a lot of walking around in the cornfields.
I hope that I can help you put a little more bone on your fireplace with this article. Maybe even find the biggest shed antlers of you hunting career. Remember to pack a lunch and some water, and get you a good comfortable pair of boots. Memories in the field will last a lifetime. Good luck this year, and Happy Hunting!
 
Jacob Barnett
Midwest Monsters Outdoors