Pennsylvania Game News - March 2021 - 16

half a few healthy-looking acorns to
show they're punky and have no meat
inside. But if a good acorn crop still is on
the ground in winter, maybe on a mature
oak ridge, it's a good place to shed hunt,
he says.
Nipped-off maple shoots also show
where deer have been browsing, perhaps
because at this time of year, the maples'
flowing sap is slightly sweet.
Along a well-traveled deer trail, Terry
tells me to look in the area of the trail; not
just on it. Bucks don't necessarily walk the
trail, but often in its vicinity.
Antlers come off as a result of testosterone loss. But this process can be hurried
when a buck bumps one against something or gets one caught. Woods features
that pose such obstacles could yield a find.
" You need to try to think like a buck, "
Terry says, " If I were a buck, I'd be lying
right here in this sun-drenched, overgrown
grass field. "
We find matted-down beds, some of
them small, that indicate a doe and her
young might have made them.
" You learn a lot about wildlife by just
being in the woods, " Terry says. " The
more time you spend there, the more you
learn. Then you can learn how the population is doing and hunt them better. "
" Or just spend an enjoyable morning
in the woods, " I add.

B

EFORE HEADING OUT, Josh gives
his labradoodle, Rosie, a shed to sniff
so she's clear on what's she's looking for.
In the woods, Rosie is in dog heaven, running the deer trails with her nose down,
sniffing ferociously.
Josh has 26 acres and walks right out
his backdoor to hunt. And when snow
covers the ground, he walks the game
trails to deer bedding and feeding areas,
16

to learn more about their habits.
" You come to understand how they
run, " he says. " They travel down into
this hollow when they are pressured or
pushed. They look for good cover. They
lay on the sunny side of the mountain. "
Josh, Rosie and I travel into thick shrub
cover and zigzag onto a sunny flat, where
we find tons of sign - droppings, raked-up
leaves, twigs sheared off, even a bleached
leg bone - but no sheds.
Josh says, however, that even on shedless days, there's always something a
shed-hunter can take home.
" I hunt differently now, " he explains.
" I let a whole lot more deer go by and am
more selective. I spend more time watching deer than shooting them and because
of it, I've gained a better understanding of
how these critters work. "
And that is a gift in itself.

J

IMMY SHIREY STARTED shedhunting with his father when he was
17 years old.
" I saw my first elk shed poking out of
the grass 70 yards away and yelled, 'Dad,
I got one!' " Jimmy says. " That was it, I
was hooked. "
A few months later he found a matching set, and now, at 24, he might be one
of the best, shed-hunting on thousands of
acres in Pennsylvania's elk range.
Jimmy hunts for deer sheds, too,
though the two species invite different
tactics.
Deer regularly follow patterns. Elk are
more random in their movements. They
do and don't do trails. In bad winters, they
don't move much. Once the grass greens
up, they move a lot, and rapidly.
While Jimmy begins hunting deer
sheds in February, he doesn't look for elk
sheds until March, and might continue
Pennsylvania Game News - March 2021

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