With a decent weather forecast for the next few days and with our statewide opening day of trout season not kicking in until April 5, what’s an outdoorsman (or outdoorswoman) to do? On Saturday I decided that a brisk hike out in the fresh air would be in order. In doing so I would take a detour through my nearby deer woods in search of some unburied treasure, namely shed antlers. Despite just over an hour of patiently walking while carefully scanning the forest floor as a group of half a dozen deer shadowed me, more curious than cautious, I came up empty – although I did unearth a bone of some kind.
I’ll try again later this week. After all, it’s far too early for harvesting morel mushrooms which really don’t start poking up until mid-April and then stick around through the end of May. And while shed antlers aren’t tasty anddelicious like morels, they’re still fun to find and make for cool souvenirs, and they’ll never be more available than they are right now. Last year at this time I found a shed left antler of a buck I’d been unsuccessfully hunting that season. I spent some time trying to find the matching right antler to no avail, although I did uncover a number of other sheds.
My interest in sheds began many years ago during the first week of archery season. I had followed a deer trail into a thick stand of young pines where I was forced to drop to a crawl. After 15 yards on hands and knees, I spotted what I thought was an old bleached bone lying among the twisted pine shadows. Closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t a bone at all, but rather the shed left antler of what had apparently been a small eight point buck the season before. I say “apparently” on the assumption that the right antler was a match.
All four points had been worn to nubs by gnawing rodents, but the main antler beam itself was still intact. As I turned it over in my hand it dawned on me that this buck, if it had survived the previous winter, would likely still be in the area, no doubt sporting a more impressive set of headgear. I hunted hard there that season, but never caught a glimpse of that buck (or any other one, for that matter).
Shed antlers are an important source of nutrients and calcium for rodents, so when a whitetail buck sheds his antlers, especially in the woodlots and hedgerows of the east where rodent populations tend to be high, the life expectancy of those dropped antlers is rather short.
That makes early spring the best time to find whitetail sheds for a number of reasons. The first is that antlers of the year have just been freshly dropped (or shed). Another is that the rodent population out there is still low and relatively inactive this time of year. Gnawing damage on fresh sheds will be at a minimum if it exists at all. An antler that’s been in the field a year or more will usually show the severe deterioration caused by foraging rodents. After two years or more, if there is anything left, the antler will be no more than an unrecognizable remnant. A third reason is that in late winter/early spring there is very little ground cover. Sparse vegetation makes shed antlers much easier to spot.
As common sense would dictate, the best places to search for antler sheds are those areas where deer are known to winter. Their preferred bedding areas are a good bet. I’ve had my best success amid pine groves with southern exposures bordering low-lying swampy areas.
My greatest find to date came early one long ago March (this time of year) when we finally had a break in some prolonged winter weather. Cabin fever got the best of me, so naturally I decided to get out and explore the deer trails that laced the West Bradford woodlot at the end of our road. The healthy amount of deer sign there indicated a good many had survived both the hunting season and the harsh winter. As I walked the trails, I searched through the same stand of pines where I had found a shed the year before. When I emerged from the far side, I had nothing to show for my trouble but cold hands and damp knees. I made my way back to the gravel road, still carefully scanning the landscape for deer sign, and noticed what looked like an antler sticking straight up through the dried grass of the swamp just below me.
I thought it must be a tree limb, but as I edged closer I was amazed to find not a shed antler but the entire skull and skeleton of a massive eight-point buck. The skull and antlers were in perfect condition with absolutely no gnawing damage although the other bones had been widely scattered, probably by foxes,coyotes, and raccoons. It was apparent this deer had died in the early fall. Cause of death was not so obvious. Some deep scratches and scrapes on one antler, possibly caused by a headlong skid on asphalt or concrete, suggested a confrontation with a car or truck may have sealed the old boy’s fate. After all, the scene was within 100 yards of the heavily traveled Strasburg Road. It was quite a find, one that still adorns our loft.
For the avid outdoors enthusiast, few things in life hold quite the same fascination as antlers. These weapons of the rut first appear atop a buck’s head in the spring, protected and nurtured by their encompassing velvet. They mature by the end of the summer as the velvet flakes away or is rubbed off on unfortunate saplings. By mid or late winter they are shed, having now become useless ornaments, forgotten and left to the elements and scavenging rodents.
Of course, the dedicated outdoorsman needs no excuse to venture afield. The fresh air is reward enough. But keeping a sharp eye out for antler sheds while out and about gives any trek outside an added and intriguing dimension.
MENTORED YOUTH FISHING DAY: Pennsylvania’s Mentored Youth Fishing Day arrives this Saturday, March 29, from 8 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. To participate, anglers 16 years of age or older (adult anglers) must possess a valid Pennsylvania fishing license and current trout permit and be accompanied by a youth (under 16 years of age) who has obtained a mentored youth permit or a voluntary youth license from the Fish and Boat Commission. Youth anglers must possess a 2025 mentored youth permit or voluntary youth license obtained from the Commission and be accompanied by a licensed adult angler to participate. Although waters included in the Mentored Youth Fishing Day Program will be open to accompanying adult anglers, only youth anglers with a 2025 voluntary youth license or mentored youth permit may possess a total of two trout. Adult anglers are prohibited from possessing trout.
Tom Tatum is the outdoors columnist for MediaNews Group. You can reach him at tatumt2@yahoo.com.
Source: Berkshire mont
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