Sheds
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Shed Hunting PR
Once again I found myself headed Northeast on I-80 at 5:30 AM. It was Saturday March 9th and I was driving to camp to get a morning shed hunt in. The forecast for the day wasn’t great (at least from a walking perspective). It was looking like steady rain all day – perfect for making antlers easier to spot. Vince and Dan were originally planning on making the trip as well, but the rain scared them off. Heading out alone, I opted to once again hike behind camp rather than the Wilderness. I started off at 7:00 AM to hit some new areas before taking one last trip through the…
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Shed Hunting Tips & Tricks
Shed hunting is addicting. Over the last 4 years, I have spent at least a few days each spring in the PA big woods in search of shed antlers. While the world was on lockdown from COVID, I decided to give shed hunting a go. I thought they would be nearly impossible to find, especially where we hunt. Food sources everywhere and there’s not one central location where finding an antler would be “easy”. I soon learned they certainly weren’t impossible to find, but it took a lot of work. From the moment I laid eyes on the first one that spring, I was hooked. I have to admit that…
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Super Shed Sunday
I decided to put a different spin on “Super Bowl Sunday” this year. I set the alarm for 5:00 AM Saturday night and was up bright (dark this time of year) and early Sunday. By 5:35 AM I was headed for the mountains for half a day of shed hunting. This is the earliest time of year I have shed hunted, but I knew from trail camera pictures that the snow was melted and Saturday afternoon brought rain. The wet, dark ground of compressed leaves and underbrush would make for perfect shed hunting. I arrived at camp at 7:35 AM and after checking to make sure everything was in good…
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Burnin’ Rubber
With my last shed hunt resulting in the two biggest sheds of my life, I couldn’t wait to get back out in the woods. While it has been a mild winter here in NW PA, we have had a few late snows as of recent. With some good weather finally in the forecast, I decided to take Monday 3/20 off of work to head to camp. I hit the road at 5:20 AM and made it to camp to shed hunt around 7:30 AM. I had a full day planned out and hit the big woods. After hiking down and across the meadow onto the Second Finger, I came across…a…
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Perfect Pair
The winter months have slowly drug on, and I have been thinking about shed hunting since the 2022 hunting season ended about two months ago. With others posting pictures of sheds they were already finding, I have been itching to get out in search of the “white gold”. With a few warm days behind us and a nice weather weekend in the forecast, I planned to take a day trip to camp to shed hunt and check in on camp on February 25th. I got up early and started the drive to camp at 6:05 AM Saturday. As I left, snow began to fall, which wasn’t in the forecast as…
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Miles for Piles
The traditional shed hunting phrase, “miles for piles” generally refers to the amount of walking needed to lay eyes on, and accumulate, piles of antlers. However, this past weekend we gave the phrase a whole new meaning. Brandon and I had planned a weekend full of shed hunting and skeet shooting. We were headed to camp by way of St. Mary’s, PA to pick up a new 20 gauge CZ Bobwhite G2 side by side shotgun I had reserved. We hit the road Friday around 3 PM with ample time to get to St. Marys before closing time at 6 PM. Immediately upon arrival at the gun shop, I had…
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The $450 Shed
Prior to this weekend, I had been able to get out and shed hunt twice so far this spring, and neither were in great conditions. I took a drive up to camp on February 19 for a day of shed hunting, hopeful to get back on the government road. While I was able to hike about 4 miles, the government road was ice covered and I had to hike behind camp. Additionally, there were still a few inches of snow on the ground, making an already difficult task even more challenging. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but a good day nonetheless. I did another 5.7 miles on February…
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Needle In A Haystack
Many have compared looking for shed deer antlers (shed hunting) to trying to find a “needle in a haystack”. Over the course of the past year, I have found this to be a pretty accurate statement. As many of you know, last year I ventured into shed hunting and upon finding my first antler, was instantly hooked. We closed up camp just after the first of the year, and I was already looking forward to shed hunting once the snow had come and gone. The past few weeks have left me more and more eager to get back in the woods. Day by day, I watched the weather forecast, wondering…
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Daydreaming
It is the middle of August and we find ourselves just a month and a half out from the beginning of the PA archery season. This for me, usually kicks off my fall hunting season. This year however, PA moved their squirrel season to the middle of September, and with plans to do some early squirrel hunting, it is just about one month until the fall hunting season is underway. I could not be more excited. Over the past few weeks I have shot my bow, organized and prepared all my hunting gear, planned days off work followed by weekends at camp, re-organized and re-prepared my gear, and spent countless…
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Knack for Shed Hunting
Dad and I headed up to camp this past weekend with two main goals: 1. Diagnose and fix the hot water tank 2. Shed hunt. We were successful on 1/2 of those, and we didn’t take any hot showers. Despite the forecast calling for rain for pretty much the duration of the weekend, we made the drive up to camp with clear skies on Friday night. We headed off to the wilderness Saturday around 9:30 AM and hiked down to the creek, not sure how high it would be with the recent rain. Luckily, we didn’t have any problem crossing. Dad was planning to head up the Jeep Trail Valley…
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Sweet Redemption
I’ll start off by telling you about my experience with shed hunting – I found a chewed up shed antler in May of 2018 – and that’s all. The one 4 point side I found two years ago was definitely from a previous year; it wasn’t even a fresh drop. Despite being a novice in the field of shed hunting, it is always something I have been interested in. I have always felt that as hunters, we spend all summer and fall prepping ourselves and pouring out our entire beings chasing whitetails. Yet, when winter and spring come along, we “hibernate” and re-couperate from the previous months spent afield. While…
