Looking for land to Shed Hunt

Cody

Cody

New Member
My name is Cody and I live in Michigan. I'm looking for land to search for antlers either in Michigan or out of state. I've found some in Michigan before, but other states produce bigger bucks than Michigan. I'm looking preferably for private property, but would take any info on decent state land too. Any information on property of your own, or property of someone you know would be greatly appreciated. I graduated college last spring and did concrete flat work the past 4 years. I'm willing to do concrete work, or chores around the yard for access to good property.
Thanks!
 
I am going to travel out of state to shed hunt and I will be doing most of it on public land. I live in TN - so we are regions apart.

Some areas I will be on public land but intend to go the mom and pop restaurants in small towns looking for the farmers and retired folks. Any farmer that has lost a tire off a large tractor or combine wants every shed gone. They probably are No if we want to gun or bow hunt but to hunt shed antlers - that they understand.

I will also go to tire shops and asked them if they have had farmers lose tires due to antler punctures. I have two shed dogs so I am going to hunt them approximately 2 hours in the am and 2 hours in the pm.

I have time the remaining part of the day to make some contacts. If you ain't been told No - you ain't been asking.

Good luck Cody - hope you find some big sheds - post them on here if you do.

Wayne
 
Cody,

One other clue - find farmer coops or farm stores. They can give you fast clues also. Across the country they go by different names. Elevators, farm king, southern states, Tractor Supply, Coop, Rural King are all names I have seen used.

If you are willing to trade work - I think you can get hooked up.

Wayne
 
Thanks for the advice Wayne. Those sound like good ideas to try. I uploaded a few photos from last year. I found 8 in Michigan (Nothing with much size) and I found a bunch out west in the mountains of Wyoming when I went to a geology mapping field camp as my last requirement to graduate.
 
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I have looked at Jackson Hole, WY where they start at 12:01 AM on May 1st. Look it up on YouTube - it is a wild event.

They also have a great antler auction in the mid part of May where they auction off the antlers the Cub Scouts collect from the elk refuge.

What month were you in Wyoming?

Wayne
 
I can't remember where I saw it, but there are, or used to be, some outfitters that actually booked shed hunting trips. Myself, I'm not sure I'd want to pay for it, but I just thought I'd mention it.
I love shed hunting though. For me, the rush of finding a big antler is almost as good as tagging the animal. Just knowing he survived and could be around next year, and possibly even bigger is very motivating to me.
Pa isn't exactly the best state for shed hunting. I envy you guys in states where shed hunting is really productive.
The neighbor to where we hunt in Iowa found 58 sheds (in one year) a few years ago. The pile and quality of those sheds was very impressive.
I now realize that, for many years, I would start shed hunting much too early each year. I thought that by late January, most antlers were on the ground. Boy was I wrong. I was trying to find antlers that weren't even on the ground yet. And I think I was most likely disturbing bucks and pushing them onto neighboring properties where I didn't have permission to go. It's common here to see bucks holding antlers into April. My tip...don't start too early. Let bucks stay undisturbed in their core areas until April. Then go find their sheds.
 
Tap,
I think it would be awesome to go shed hunting on a farm in Iowa. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but do not know anyone with land in Iowa and hear its kind of hard to get access unless you know someone. I've found quite a few in Michigan, but most are little antlers with the occasional 2.5 or 3.5 year old antler. Michigan has a lot of if its brown its down type of hunters so finding something of good size is not too common. Do you hunt private or state land in Iowa?
 
Cody said:
Tap,
I think it would be awesome to go shed hunting on a farm in Iowa. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but do not know anyone with land in Iowa and hear its kind of hard to get access unless you know someone. I've found quite a few in Michigan, but most are little antlers with the occasional 2.5 or 3.5 year old antler. Michigan has a lot of if its brown its down type of hunters so finding something of good size is not too common. Do you hunt private or state land in Iowa?
Click to expand...
We are on private land, but there's public land in the area. I'm sure the bucks we are hunting also spend time on the public sreas. No doubt sheds could be found there but there will probably be competition from other shed hunters.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


I found this Iowa buck's shed one year and our crew found the next year's shed. Notice how the G3 moved.
The neighbor's kid killed him this year. We don't have permission to share that pic of his kill, but they said he was at 183".
18a326a4fb6d192ef0233c57f6e99490.jpg
bff68310773ca143082688c651c8235e.jpg
 
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Tap,
That’s a nice deer! Unfortunately people don’t let them get that big in Michigan which is why I’m looking for out of state ground. Do you guys shed hunt it every year?
 
There is a great amount of public ground in NE MO. Deer Ridge is near my farm and about 7000 acres, near Lewistown, MO.
 
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