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Shed hunting

1 by Buck13
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/ite ... 442503eb3f

I only just learned last week of the idea of "shed hunting" as a hobby of searching for fallen antlers, and a search for something like "winter range mule deer washington" turned this up. I'm tempted to do some off-trail hiking in the public lands to see if there's anything there to stumble over.

It's not exactly "hunting," IMHO, but kinda hunting-adjacent. It's basically foraging for CWS...
IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds

I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.

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Re: Shed hunting

3 by sig230
One of the annual jobs for the forestry side of DNR was taking sample counts of shed antlers to get a population count and idea of general male population ages.

One year we came in Monday morning after a long three day weekend to find the whole building had an absolutely horrid stench. Seem someone had left a few bags of fresh shed antlers in the stairwell instead of taking them out to the big dissecting shed by the water.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: Shed hunting

4 by Buck13
senorgrand wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:32 am I always wondered what happened to shed antlers. Seems like there would be more around, unless critters are eating the things.
I believe they do eat them. Some valuable minerals and protein. I think I read that this is the mechanism of transmission of Chronic Wasting Syndrome in deer, but don't bet heavily on any of this.
IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds

I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.

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Image

Re: Shed hunting

6 by senorgrand
Buck13 wrote: Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:38 am
senorgrand wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:32 am I always wondered what happened to shed antlers. Seems like there would be more around, unless critters are eating the things.
I believe they do eat them. Some valuable minerals and protein. I think I read that this is the mechanism of transmission of Chronic Wasting Syndrome in deer, but don't bet heavily on any of this.
Makes sense. We have lots of deer here and very few hunters. Most deers seem to taken by Buicks than any other means. I feel that unless someone was eating the shed antlers, we would come across them more often
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: Shed hunting

8 by Buck13
senorgrand wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:45 pm
Buck13 wrote: Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:38 am
senorgrand wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:32 am I always wondered what happened to shed antlers. Seems like there would be more around, unless critters are eating the things.
I believe they do eat them. Some valuable minerals and protein. I think I read that this is the mechanism of transmission of Chronic Wasting Syndrome in deer, but don't bet heavily on any of this.
Makes sense. We have lots of deer here and very few hunters. Most deers seem to taken by Buicks than any other means. I feel that unless someone was eating the shed antlers, we would come across them more often
I did a little searching, and I suspect I was wrong. I couldn't find anything about deer eating antlers, only animals with tougher dentition, like rodents, canids, weasels, opossums and bears.

The closest I saw to antlers as a vector of chronic wasting transmission among deer was antler velvet.
IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds

I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.

Image
Image

Re: Shed hunting

9 by Buck13
papajim2jordan wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 10:34 am I toss several of the things over the hill each year. I think I've seen squirrels gnaw on them. They don't look very tasty. I would think that they cause chronic toothache.
If you were a porcupine, they probably wouldn't look so daunting!
IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds

I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.

Image
Image

Re: Shed hunting

13 by 58Hawken
Buck13 wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:34 am https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/ite ... 442503eb3f
It's not exactly "hunting," IMHO, but kinda hunting-adjacent. It's basically foraging for CWS...
It absolutely IS hunting! Lot of hunters consider it a latter season. Shed hunting is putting in the boot leather to know what animals are patterning. The really good hunters will know down to the buck what they're going to be chasing that fall. Some will spend years watching a a buck year round to hopefully catch him when the season comes. The very least of time "hunting" should be spent with a gun. A huge part of it should be spent reviewing sites like the one you posted. Now, if I could just put that in practice.

Re: Shed hunting

15 by 58Hawken
senorgrand wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:51 pm Two California men were recently attacked by a mountain lion while shed hunting. One of them is dead and the other will likely need reconstructive surgery.
<steps AWAY from soap box>

I'm impressed the cat went after two of them. Maybe it was mama and they were near her den.

ETA: Found an article. Says they were "separated during the attack". Does that mean the cat dragged one off, or did the other escape?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-new ... rcna144793
Last edited by 58Hawken on Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Shed hunting

16 by YankeeTarheel
Those two brothers were shed hunting when they were attacked by a puma. The 18 year old was badly mauled and went through multiple surgeries, but the 21 year old was already dead--the cat was still on top of him when rescuers arrived. They said the cat was euthanized, but I don't know if that means the immediately shot it.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Shed hunting

17 by 58Hawken
YankeeTarheel wrote: Those two brothers were shed hunting when they were attacked by a puma. The 18 year old was badly mauled and went through multiple surgeries, but the 21 year old was already dead--the cat was still on top of him when rescuers arrived. They said the cat was euthanized, but I don't know if that means the immediately shot it.
From what I'm seeing, they spooked it off during the attempted rescue and then later tracked and killed the cat, posthumously DNA matching it to the attack site.
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