Did you know… #1 Typical Whitetail Antler in Shed Record Book: 6-point 104 6/8 left side picked up in Illinois 1992. #1 Non-Typical Whitetail Antler in Shed Record Book: 24-point 156 5/8 right side found in Saskatchewan 2007. Individual bucks often shed their antlers the same week every year. As a rule, older bucks shed earlier than younger ones. Increasing daylight and a buck’s falling testosterone cause antlers to shed. Once a buck drops one antler, the other one usually falls off within hours. Squirrels and porcupines chew on dropped antlers for the calcium they provide. Shed antlers are valued by size and grade, from Grade A Brown (best) to old, white Chalk. Antlers can fetch $5 to $18 a [...]

As I said last week, people out shed hunting in 2018 are already finding an inordinate number of deadheads with big racks, but this one takes the cake and will be the biggest typical found this year, no doubt: @Tylerknott4 posted on Twitter: Never know what you will find in the woods of Iowa! Found this giant shed hunting. Gross scored 205

To find sheds you need to look close, real close. Try a grid search. Look over the ground before you and mark off a 20-yard block. Walk slowly and cover every foot of it before moving on to the next grid. It’s our nature to look out front and up as we walk. Do that while you’re shedding and you’ll look right over antlers. Instead, take it slow and look straight down at the ground; scan every inch of each grid. You might spot an antler lying on the grass...or mostly buried with just a tine tip sticking up. You want big antlers, but the spikes and fork-horns are cool souvenirs too. You’ve got to look down and real close [...]