OUTDOOR

A great day

It’s very late in the shed antler hunting season and I should be moving on to bigger, better, and warmer things but I want to squeeze in this last story before turning that outdoor page to the next season. To find an antler this late in the year becomes an even more rare event because the critters have had access to them ever since the snow pack melted. They like to gnaw away at the calcium rich horns and for that reason alone, I swear at every squirrel I see no matter what time of year it is.

Thinking about why shed antler hunting is such an addiction for me, it comes down to the thrill of finding one and then being the first human hand to ever touch it. Finding a shed is similar to finding a huge patch of wild asparagus or the motherlode of morel mushroom spots. As much as I like finding them, I always wonder how many I have left behind because I never knew they were there. When I’m standing at the pearly gates (hopefully waiting to get in) I am going to ask: How many big antlers did I walk by because I never saw them and I never knew they were there?

Recently on a cool spring afternoon I hit the woods, just hoping to find a couple of sheds. I eased along the edge of what was a bean field last year and kept one eye on the field and one eye in the woods. It was what I spotted directly in front of me that caused me to pause and take a second look. One hundred yards ahead was a sun-bleached deer horn or at least that’s what it looked like. I stopped in my tracks and grabbed my binoculars to prove that my eyes were still trustworthy. My suspicion was confirmed and I was on the board.

Every time I go shed hunting, I tell myself that if I find just one shed antler, I will consider the day a success. The reality is that any day that I can shed hunt is already a pretty good day even if I don’t leave with any horns in my backpack. When I took another 20 steps and found another horn, my day was officially a great one.

I’m not sure how to classify what happened the very next morning when I was on a shed hunt with my Net Man Pat. He picked the low side of the hill and I picked the high side. I had a choice between two trails and I picked the one that looked like it had had more deer traffic. When we reached the end of the short walk, Pat walked back to the four-wheeler while I waited for him to pick me up. When he got to me, he turned the rig around and took us right back to where our walk had started. He stopped the wheeler, pointed to the small opening where we had entered, and asked me, “See it?” There, less than 10 yards from my boot print, was a monster five-point shed laying on the brown grass.

I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know how many sheds I’ve walked by in my life.

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I recently found a monster five-point buck shed on a walk. Any day I find a shed is a great day. Photo by Dave Beck

BY DAVE BECK