How Far Apart Do Mature Bucks Shed Their Antlers?

Shed hunting season is coming, and here’s new science to help you out. Nebraska researchers collected and analyzed cast bone in the Platte River Valley from 2009 to 2020. Here’s what they deduced from the 11-year project.

Generally, the distance between matched sets of antlers from bucks 2.5 years old or older is twice as far apart as matched antler sets of 1.5-year-old bucks. If you find one small antler, chances are the other little antler from that young buck is close by. Some matched sets of sheds from 1.5-year-old bucks were found less than 5 yards apart.

But when you find one big antler, you will likely have to walk and search farther to find the matching side. The researchers found that cast antlers from the same buck 2.5 years of age and older were located, on average, .3 miles or 517 yards apart.

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