Easier to find their sheds or kill them

[Bambistew]

This is an interesting thing to ponder, especially when i hear guys say shed hunting is for those who can't. Haha

For me it's been about even except moose. Hunting moose sheds vs hunting them isn't even comparable to the amount of country you cover. A couple square miles compared to hundreds. I doubt I'll ever match my best pair or even my 5th. 220-240 class moose take a lot of super cub time an a subsistence tag to find. Just remeber that if you're paying for information on how to kill big ones in AK.

I have elk that are similar 360-370 class
Muledeer I've killed bigger, but not much 90 in side, and killed a couple 205 class bucks
Whitetails, it's the same 150 class sets and bucks I've killed.

Caribou, bigger set, but not by much. Big caribou are hard to find just like everything else. I think big sheds are way harder to find. They don't last long, and deteriorate really fast unless they are in the rocks.

 

[TheTone]

My biggest mule deer shed is 103” and my biggest side on a shot buck is 100” even. Who cares about elk, but it’s probably similarly close.

Humble brag…

 

[RyGuy]

Mule deer and elk I’ve shot a bigger animal than the sheds I’ve found.

But then again I don’t really ever dedicate time to shed hunting. I really just pick them up as I’m hunting.
As for whitetails,
I’ve found some really nice dead heads over the years. But I’ve never shot a buck whitetail. I also rarely find whitetail sheds. Maybe I’ve found 1 or 2?

 

[MTLabrador]

Competition for sheds has gotten to the point, though, that you almost have to be an a@&$ole to be successful on public lands.

That’s pretty much what ruined shed hunting for me. I’ve never been very good at it, but it was a fun way to get out in the spring. Now I go fishing in the spring and occasionally pick up a nice antler while I’m bear hunting.

 

[Hockaday2017]

kill them for me!

 

[JM77]

My best elk shed is 167, on bull I killed 167. I have a 104 muley shed, best side on a deer I took, 104. That's a strange coincidence!

I've done better taking bucks for size overall compared to sheds, it's a toss up with elk.

 

[jlong17]

I killed my very first archery bull elk 4 days into my first ever archery hunt... I am going on 4 years of looking for elk sheds and I've never found one hahah!! So for me, it's definitely easier to kill than to find.

 

[Trap]

I have more and bigger elk and deer than sheds I have found. But I hunt a lot harder than I look for horns.

 

[Elkdog]

Best set of mule deer antlers. High 90's for both.View attachment 218526

WOW

 

[antlerradar]

WOW

I ended up finding eight antlers from him but only two sets.

 

[MTTW]

My best elk sheds. I bought them from my brother who was going to sell them by the pound. I have found some 320 to 340 bull sheds but never killed one over 310. My son and brother have killed 330 to 350 bulls in the same areas that I hunt otc.

 

[Pagosa]

Definitely easier to find than kill. I’ve found probably 25-35 elk sheds and a handful of deer, nothing that I have killed has come close to what I’ve found. It does take a lot of miles walking in trophy areas. I found these in extreme SE Montana while deer hunting with my 10 year old boy in 2018. I wish I would have let him find them, but we were walking slightly different paths.

 

[Elkdog]

I ended up finding eight antlers from him but only two sets.View attachment 218909

That’s amazing!

 

[Hammsolo]

I’ve found a few good mule deer sheds, and one pretty nice whitetail. I’ve only found small bulls, but I’ve never been much of a shed hunter. My luck has been on dead heads. My buddy and I found a monster rams head up Lost Creek back in the day. It was a broomed full curl beast. We tucked him under a boulder 25 years ago…

I have a non-typical mule deer head that I found on the steepest damn ridge in Montana off the Bighole River. He’s chalky and chewed up, but exceptionally massive. He’s missing the ends of his points. I think he’s a 13 by 8 if I remember right. He has multiple inch plus stickers off his bases. I’ll have to take a pic when I’m back in Canooch. I dream about him routinely. I named him Lazarus. He’s on my Mom’s wall. She found some matching 150ish mulie sheds last year. Way better than I’ve ever found!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Public land shed hunting for WT antlers where I live, pays to get after it early, b/c of the competition. I prefer to rabbit hunt at that time of year, and I don’t have much to show for. I see far more large antlers on live deer on public than corresponding sheds.

Good private land, and public where antler collection is not allowed is a different story. You can practically trip over sheds, all different sizes.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I have ZERO interest in collecting sheds. What do I need with more junk adding weight to my already obese garage?

Putting these sheds on a faux skull a few years ago was an interesting (albeit frustrating) job. Very expensive for the client and then his wife sent them directly to his garage. They're selling their home now and he wondered if we were interested in buying them back. Hah, hah!

 

[Schaaf]

Rack em and stack em

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I definitely have found bigger deer sheds than anything I've killed. But I think my largest bull I've killed is bigger than any elk shed I've found. Big elk sheds seem to be few and far between.

 

[COProfs]

Newbie question: how do you get started shed hunting? I mean, I get that I can just go walk, but I'm just curious about how you find likely places to hunt. I guess I have the same question about scouting for the coming season. I've done a lot of escouting, and this week I'm heading out to put some miles on the ground, but I feel like a total rube in not really knowing where to walk. I live right on the edge of CO unit 59, and that's where I'll be hunting (I know, crowds, crowds, and more crowds). Any tips would be really appreciated.

 

[antlerradar]

I'm heading out to put some miles on the ground,

Pretty much how I started. Number of antlers found is well correlated with the number of boots you wear the soles off of.