Recently bow season ended in our area and that signaled the unofficial start of a new season: Shed deer antler hunting season. I consider this a great way to get myself through winter on to warmer and better things like spring crappies, turkey and mushroom hunting, etc.

Some 30 years ago I scored my first shed antler while walking a side hill. It was an early late winter/early spring day where snow could be found in sun guarded spots and most deer trails were half mud and half ice. It was slow going and taking my eyes off the trail was an invitation for a major digger. For that reason, it was a relief when my deer trail intersected and veered onto an old logging road. Three steps later, there on the ground, was a four-point sun bleached shed antler. It was the only one I found that year but it’s how it all started. There’s not a sign or monument marking the exact location, but there should be.

For the first hunt of this year, I went to a favorite spot. If I covered every trail and nook and cranny, I could easily spend eight hours there and I almost did. As I walked up hills, down ditches, around brush piles and field edges, it was easy to recall spots that produced shed horns in the past. Every time I walked by a spot I could see it in my mind’s eye: The crazy three-pointer hanging half on a deer trail and half buried in the snow. I could see the fat five-pointer that was spotted laying points up in the snow. I also could see the palmated four-pointers that I spied laying on the valley floor while I was sky lined on a ridge high above it. One day I found a big five-pointer while walking down a deer trail and talking on my phone. I not only remember the exact spot, I remember who I was talking to. If I factor the time walked on my first hunt of the year, combined with an estimate on my walking pace, my semi-educated guess says that I put on about eight miles. When my hunt was over, the only thing that I had to show for my efforts was a trip down memory lane.  

Going back to one of the last days of the late bow season, I hunted with the idea that I would harvest a doe. I don’t have to go into details of that hunt because not much happened. After a couple hours of being deerless and with my coffee thermos empty, it was time for the five-minute walk to my truck. Guess what I found?
Welcome to the 2024 shed antler hunting season.  

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at dave@piercecountyjournal.news Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @thepiercecountyjournal