4 Things to do Shed Hunting
The 2017 deer season is officially over now and turkey season is still a couple months away, at least here in Ohio. What to do now? Start planning for the 2018 deer season is the obvious answer. This time of year, shed hunting is a great way to do some early season scouting. Here are four things you can do to while you’re out looking for sheds.
Camera survey
One of the first things to do when you get out to your hunting spot is pull your cameras from their normal locations, toss in some new batteries, a fresh SD card, throw them in the pack and head out. It’s inevitable that you will end up in portions of your hunting area that you have not seen since last year this time and depending on the hunting pressure, you may start seeing some new sign and some new trees where a camera set may prove beneficial for the fall or at least help with a herd count/survey.
Scout bedding areas
While you’re out walking, you may stumble across bedding areas. It’s always good to know where these are, because you will be able to predict with some certainty when they will be moving between feeding areas and their sleeping quarters. Now that you have located one, you will most likely be able to find travel corridors. This early, pull one of those cameras out of the pack and set it up fairly close along one of the trails and see who is using it. However, don’t make this a long time camera set, it’s a good area to stay out of from mid-summer on. Any intrusion from this point on could cause them to find other areas to bed.
Look for sign
Keep your eyes moving and not just on the ground looking for those precious antlers. Look for old rubs and scrapes. You may just find a rub line you haven’t seen before. Yea, it’s old, but it will tell you where deer have been moving and again, it never hurts to toss a camera out and see what’s moving through that area, especially if you've noticed fresh tracks or scat in the area.
Hang Stands
Finally, feel free to hang some new stands or move stands that may have no or little movement from the last couple seasons. It can be a gamble to make a move this early in the year, because movement can change, but it helps to stay keep pressure low during early season scouting and the less you can avoid being in the area prior to hunting season the better.
Bonus
The best thing you can do during shed season is to spend time with the family. Getting out into the woods together is a great activity for the kiddos and can create excitement and a love for the outdoors. The best thing we can do is to keep the tradition of hunting and conservation going and it is up to us to educate and foster that love in the next generation.
Good luck out there and as always happy hunting!
