Outdoor Corner - Antler hunting: Innocuous pastime catching ong

Gene Plihal
Special to the Express

When people speak of Canada’s seasons, two expressions commonly come up. “We have 10 months of winter and two months of bad skating.” Another cliche commonly used is, “Summer comes and goes on July 1.” I frequently escape to the southwest, but I can only take so much of the “bumper to bumper” before I have to get back to “God’s Country. But this morning, June 1, with frost on my garage roof and my potatoes getting frozen for the third time since they’ve emerged, I am beginning to wonder if this characterization of our Canadian climate is a cliche or has basis in fact.

So, that leaves a few winter and spring activities to make our climate more fun and tolerable. One of those activities is, obviously, planting and replanting our crops and gardens! Another activity, which is much less frustrating, and which I have recently discovered in “shed hunting”. This is the perfectly legal and potentially profitable activity of looking for antlers shed (dropped) annually by members of the deer family. This usually happens in February or March but I have heard of it occurring as early as December.

The beauty of hunting for “sheds” is that no animal has to be harvested (killed) to secure the largesse. And, E-Bay has had antlers advertised for sale.

People use them to create lamp stands, coat racks, carvings, knife handles and other items. Others just keep them to remember a deer they saw all summer and fall and which they watched growing blood filled antlers into velvet sensitivity and subsequently polished majestically which the deer or moose held up in regal manner, sometimes to convey messages to smaller sized animals. Regardless of the motive people have for hunting these sheds, a few matters to consider before setting out in search of these sheds.

Where do I look to find these antlers? Obviously winter feeding grounds of these ungulates is a good place to start. Hay stacks afford the most feed for deer and moose when the snow gets deep. Starting your search at the stacks and following the game trails to and from these feeding areas are usually very productive. Because deer usually take the route of least resistance in deep snow, following their trails can produce a number of good sheds.

A caveat on this whole process however. The last thing deer and moose need in the depth of winter is to have shed hunters following their trails with snowmobiles or other mechanized machines.

The added stress for the animal in the depth of winter of having humans, in addition to wolves, following their trails, requires that the animal use valuable energy to evade its predator.

Try to confine the search for antlers after a substantial amount of the snow has sunk or early spring when no new growth has concealed the whereabouts of the antlers. At this time of the year the animals aren’t fighting the deep snow anymore.

A number of myths surrounding the shedding of antlers.

One of them is that deer family members refrain from engaging in antler to antler combat just before the antlers are shed because of the sensitivity of the antlers. In fact, trail cameras reveal the opposite. Substantial duelling occurs into the depth of winter and early spring. In fact, wherever deer confront one another for a little sparring, deer sheds can be found in bountiful numbers.

I was fortunate enough to recover over a dozen this spring including four complete sets, (both the right and left antler of a deer). I have heard it said that both antlers of a deer shed in close proximity is a sign that the deer is healthy.

For some inexplicable reason, when I don’t find sets, I often find only the right antler. I don’t know why this is except for maybe some kind of hemispheric (brain) dominance in deer as well resulting in the deer using one side of his antlers more than the other in rubbing trees or what have you.

Anyway, it’s great fun, gets you into the outdoors, and if you’re so inclined, provides you with a source of income.

I find myself walking miles through thick underbrush in homes of finding a gem. I have never sold any but I understand that they can bring several hundred dollars if they are a particularly fine set of antlers.

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