any suggestions on a SAFE shed trap?
Whitetail Deer
I tried this in the New York thread and got too much "walk". I have tops 4 hours to spend in the woods between school and work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Justin
Im not sure its possible to actually do any good with that. If i were wanting to find sheds i would put chewed up hay bails around my food plots and leave them there for years. It seems deer loving bedding in them late in the year to stay out of the mud. Ive found TONS of sheds near them when they are close to food. But... i dont think your going to trap sheds. You dont have to " walk" a ton. Just find food and cover
Most "traps" I've seen require a bait station and have either rope or wire mesh to gently "hook" the antler.
I tried this in the New York thread and got too much "walk". I have tops 4 hours to spend in the woods between school and work.
Oh well, maybe you can find the easy way out of school and work.
walk for four hours! if you walk four hours in a good location you should be able to find sheds.the safest shed trap i have seen was nothing more then a pile of brush with corn thrown inside. where feeding of deer is legal this would work without the threat of causing injury to the bucks pedicle.
I've seen them in the back of deer hunting mags. Not sure what they are called.
Small square hay bales, put 2 together in a V shape, pour corn or whatever along edges. Will not be a danger to any of the deer that may feed there. We used prarie hay. Got a couple of sheds but nothing great.
CKR
If you can put a feeder near water supply and have a sprinkler running full time or right after the feeder runs that would do it. Shaking off the water knocks em off pretty good. Same reason to walk the banks of rivers or sloughs deep enough to get the top of the back wet.
Interesting thread, some of these guys have some great ideas. Looking forward to see what they came up with.
One of the guys was going to put a 4 foot high fence about 10-12 feet in diameter with a bait in the middle.. Theory was to make them jump, coming and going.
Take some fencing material and make into a v about 3 feet length on each side. stake them secure. put corn in the middle and the antlers will fall off when scraping against fence.
I have never tried this. I have just seen this in a field and stream magazine. Does this hurt the animal?
I've got a few sheds this year with 2 straw bales side by side and openend up into a "V" with oats down there. And my old stand-by a 5 gallon pail with 2" of oats in the bottom. Tie the pail to a tree.
Sure,
what size are you?
michael
Is it just me or does it seem like the whole world is looking for the easy way out?
Yes groundblind and i think its odd really. The only reason i shed hunt is to look for deer and understand what they were doing during the season better. If i had to find them in a pile of my corn that i layed out there... i wouldnt even want them. Then again... Look at deer hunting. Its all about the easy way out and skipping to the bragging part... ie outfitters
you are right, nightstalker- the vast majority of deer hunters would quit hunting if there was nobody to show the pictures to! this guy can walk four hours a day but he doesn't want to do that because it would take some effort!
In the time it takes to set buy the stuff... set it up... and check it all the time... you could have found 5 by walking food sources.....
I just don't have time to shed hunt this year. Otherwise I'd be out walkin.
I do the walk. I know where they bed and know trails that they jump fences. These will be good spots. I know cause me and a friend have to try to beat each other to the spot. He usually wins cause he gets home before me... You should see some of the whoopers he comes home with while I may find a dink 4 or a fork. He has even found a button. I know farmers around here like you to shed hunt cause everyone you find in the field could have been a flat tractor or combine tire for them. Very costly. When I ran a floater doing custom srpaying I found some real nice sheds. (thankfully none in a tire)
Good luck and get some good comfortable shoes...
Guys........easy now. It's -40 to -51 here the last 2 weeks and this is as good as it can get, making a little trap (five gallon pail)to entertain yourself in the big freeze is not all bad. Once it warms up, I'll be out looking for the other side of racks that are missing.
put the food under a picnic table, keeps snow off and bumps loose antlers off!
I thought this was a pretty neat idea if you could talk some kid into jumping on it.
Some people are really lazy. No wonder there are more fat people than ever.
Laziness is the mother of all invention.
It could be they're lazy.
It could also be that while they enjoy hunting, they also have other important things to spend time on, and after possibly neglecting their work and family for the whole deer season, they need to put their priorities in perspective.
I envy those of you that have spare hours to shed hunt.
I thought necessity was the mother of all invention?
Baiting is not legal in NY.
Why every time someone starts a thread on this subject do folks start bashing other people for being lazy and not wanting to walk? There are numerous reasons why an antler trap, providing it's safe for the deer, is a good idea.
Let's say for instance you don't have permission to shed hunt on the neighbors property. I own a small piece of timbered ground that I've found only 2 sheds on in 3 years. The neighbors have truckloads full of sheds that they picked up that they've collected on their hundreds of surrounding acres. Why should they have all the fun? 8^)
I get really excited to find a shed while I'm out scouting. I doubt I'd get that same feeling if I found one in a bait pile near some kind of trap. Other than a couple really big sheds, I have admired every shed I've ever found and tossed it right back where I found it...figure the rodents need it more than I do.
Wannabe, move to the wheat fields of Western Kansas and farmers will pay you to walk their wheat fields to look for them. Ever see what a drop tine rack does to a combine tire? Once the wheat is grown you can't see them.
Personally, I find no excitement about finding a shed because I had the motivation to get out and walk. I spent the last 7 months walking, scouting, hunting, carrying stands, etc. I need a few weeks off.
For this guy, and myself, I just wanna know what is out there. Kind of like putting a camera out and someone saying you are LAZY for not just sitting out there and watching.
I think that most people would walk past 90% of the sheds out there and a trap would be an efficient way to keep tabs on the herd.
The bashing on this site is so rediculous. This used to be a good site 5-7 yrs ago...its a shame for Pat that many of the folks on here are such haters.
Some people obviously have more free time than others. Try working 6 days a week then be on call the other day all year sometimes. The elitists on this board are worse than any flyfishers I ever seen.
I personally would not make a trap to jeopardize a deers health. But don't degrade a man for trying to do something he feels is OK. The man is asking you for help for a SAFE way to do what he wants to do. To listen to some of you folks is hilarious. If it was like you want we would all be still living in the stone age.
Not everyone lives in the same situation as you bashers do. Open your mind a little and THINK before you post.
Shed traps are a great way to get kids involved as well. I have a friend who has a couple of the hay bale V types. One is on the corner of a hay field, his grandson likes to go check it everytime he visits, even in the middle of summer :).
Apparently after the little guy found one, he was ready to go walking looking for more.
I have to chuckle when I read this nonsense about being lazy, if you knew this guy John, you'd understand. He's the last person in the world you'd consider lazy. And I'd think it'd be unwise to even hint at calling him so. He's a big one, who's been known to "knock a fella' down just to see if I can still do it" lol
I myself have never built a trap, but keep meaning to. I did pretty good last year, walked all over creation, but I still didn't find a couple sides to some distinctive racks I had pictures of. The problem I have is they go out in the corn stubble to feed at night, and while I find a few in that stuff, you know you're missing just as many. I think a trap might help. Truth is I've just been too lazy to build one!
So for all of you self-righteous yo-yos who think walking is the only way to do it, you might want to consider walking in somebody else's boots in a 120 acre stubble field of thick gumbo mud, and then see if you don't come away thinking of inovative ways to help with the task. :)
Here are two photos of the "shed trap" that my son and I built last year. It is very simple and truth be told it really was an attempt to keep turkeys from eating all the feed before deer would arrive.
We simply put 4 posts in the ground and then wraped wire around the posts. we left just enouph room for deer to get their head into between the wires to feed.
Before the internet police rip me....I am already aware that you can only collect naturally shed antlers in pennsylvania. dont bother advising me.
Timber
To all the people who understand where I am coming from, thank you. All you people calling me "lazy" really have no idea. I'm 16. Don't talk about people over the internet when you don't have any idea what your talking about. I work 24 hours a week at the supermarket plus about 15 on other projects for my father. As it sounds, you "lazy" people have plenty of free time on your hands from not working that you can just shed hunt everyday. Like sipe said, I hope you don't have trail cameras out, God forbid you are'nt sitting on all 3 of your food plots at the same time.
Guess I'll just have to be an elitist lazy basher then....
I never called anyone lazy. I simply don't see what excitement there is in finding a shed antler in a "trap". To each his own. To be blunt, you probably will have more time and energy into creating your trap than I will in taking a walk in the woods. Good luck to ya, enjoy your "finds"!
St Croix do you set out a trail camera?
As long as you can do it without bait (illegal in NY), go for it.
Justintime- The bucket on a tree or the bale set up both will work and they dont require a lot of set up time.
BTW- It's good to hear of a young man like yourself working hard, going to school and on top of that, helping out at home. Now days, thats rare. Keep up the good work and good luck on shed hunting!
Steve B
I've always considered 'baiting' as hunting deer over bait. Is off season feeding still 'baiting' in NY?
Justintime: Don't let these guys get to you. Just as they clearly are showing you no respect, there is no reason you should give their comments any respect in return.
Good manners are free, yet many here still can't afford them...
justintime6423- you said you had four hours before school and work! that is plenty of time. if you decide to go the antlertrap way you will not be finding near as many antlers at it as you would walking four hours!
I thought it was Bowfite.
My boss made this one yesterday. He lives on 20 acres next to a private ranch an will have 20-30 bucks in his yard eating out of his cattle's feed bunks. I helped him make it and it came out really well. Normally I would say go hunt for them, but when you live next to so much private, what choice to you have?? The bottom of the bungees are connected with a nail pointing out so if a buck gets caught up in it, the bungee will pull free and no harm done to the buck.
Here is one you can buy off the internet
I thought is was "shed hunting"not "shed collecting".The walking to me is the fun part.Finding sheds is all gravy as far as Im concerned.But if you insist Justine.Find a heavely used trail,and look for a downed tree.Try to find one that is not all the way to the ground.Dump corn under it, the tree will knock off antlers as deer try to get to the corn.It will work.I have a buddy who does this,and every year he cleans up.Plus its safe for the deer(nothing to get hung up on)Unfortunatley for you Justine,If you haven't set up your trap by now,its probably to late.I have seen alot of deer that have dropped there antlers already.Oh,and yes Steve B I know that its illegal to feed deer in NY :)
All the guy asked for was some constructive input. Not a bunch of opinions on proper shed hunting. Seems to me that this is far more productive than smoking crack, growing weed, or looking at porn, or whatever the hell it is that our youth is doing!
Whats wrong with smoking weed and watching porn?
>>Unfortunatley for you Justine,If you haven't set up your trap by now
uh, slim. . . Justintime asked his original question over a year ago, lol!
Funny how so many sit behind a keyboard and rip this 16yr old man for wanting to do something since his time is limited and valuable to him...I commend any 16yr old who is working and not begging for money, in school and not on a street corner becoming a junky, and has the respect for his parents to help out with chores and projects...Hard to believe a young man who has so much on his plate could be considered "Lazy" when I guarantee he could run circles around 90% of the posters here who don't consider themselves "Lazy"...In a time when the youth of this country is our future and the Anti's are at an all time high to try and stop what we cherish it's hard to believe how harsh some can be to try and disrail this man's drive towards what he loves...Instead of judging, how about just answer his original question or don't say anything at all if you don't agree and keep your holier then thou attitude to yourself...It's warm down here so maybe some need to get off of their high horses and join the rest of us...Keep pushing them away and hunting as we know it will disappear forever!
Grow up guys.
Why would someone rather trap shed antlers instead of walking to look for them?
Because they want to.
What is the kids fascination with antlers??? Does he have time to go hunting? Well, if so, then he has time to go shed hunting. Building an antler "trap" in no way shape or form is going to win you any points if the Anti's are a consideration. Do you think they have any more respect for you because you entwined an animal's head in a contraption as opposed to putting an arrow through it's lungs and hanging its head on your wall? Ludicrous, they could care less! Try making a more educated and meaningful argument next time. If the kid truly loves the outdoors he'll find the time to enjoy it in a more rewarding fashion than spending two minutes a day checking his antler trap. If not, then maybe he should re-examine just how much he really loves the outdoors. No offense to the kid personally, sounds like a responsible hard working kid, but his motivation is misguided. That is all.
Bashing this kid is assinine. You guys should be ashamed of yourself. Kids got ideas....help him out or keep it to yourself. It's how we all learn.
Not bashing by any means, but I will bet my last paycheck he'll learn more by walking the woods and looking for them. That is all.
I guess Eli Whitney, Alexander Graham Bell and the inventor of the automobile were lazy as well. Wait, I bet the folks using clubs and Atlatl's thought the guy that invented the bow and arrow was lazy as well.
I use logs stacked in a "V" with corn AND I walk my butt off.
God it must be cold up there....
I think people are going down the wrong road with the laziness comments. If an individual makes or buys an antler trap and then maintains a bait station that takes a lot of effort and I am sure it is combined with walking the whole area around their bait station. I can understand the thought process. Most of us here are obsessed with antlers and love to find and collect them. I have never let an antler lay that I have found if they are in really poor shape I still pick them up and then just put them in my yard somewhere.
In my experience the shedding process happens very quickly I have seen bucks sparing with another buck or making rubs only to see them a day or two later with no antlers. I can not see how an antler trap will really increase your odds over just plain maintaining a bait station with no trap. In Illinois we are not allowed to feed deer at any time so it is not an option here but if it was legal and I was not concerned about spreading disease I would probably have a late season bait pile in hopes of concentrating deer where I hunt so I could find more antlers.
I have found many yearling antlers that are not shed clean with chunks of bone on the pedicle but you almost never see that on antlers from deer that are two or older. I think it is very painful and a mistake deer only make on shedding their first set of antlers. From that point on I believe deer are very careful to not bang their antlers when they are close to falling off.
The attached picture is a buck I found dead last year while shed hunting. I am not sure if the fencing on his antlers is from someone’s garden or an attempt at a shed trap but I think it plaid a role in his death and it is a good example of why any entrapment devise is a really bad idea.
Thanks for posting overall I think it is an important discussion.
Ah yes...another example of the Bowsite Supreme Court spewing their wisdom and judging others with pipoint accuracy!! St. Croix is obviously the top dog in that gallery!!
Justintime, Do your thing and ignore the naysayers. The ones that call you lazy are usually the ones that don't have enough creative ability or mechanical skills to find their way out of a wet paper sack. Come up with your own unique design and experiment with it.
Stop being lazy, use a hand chiseled stone knife, not your technically advances, high speed, carbon arrows tipped with rage broadheads!!
God gave us a brain to be more efficient and use less energy. Sometimes we choose to do things the hard way, sometime we choose to be efficient!! As long as we try to keep the animals safety in mind when doing it and it doesn’t hurt others, HAVE FUN!!
As you guys all know finding antlers is a lot of fun especially with kids. Here is one to wet the appetite.
Get over yourself there 70lbs, I never said one thing derogatory towards this kid! My whole point is I think he'll gain a lot more adventure and excitement from the sport of collecting antlers if he goes out and looks for them. You won't make the PGA playing Wii golf, you hone your hunting skills watching Primos videos, and you won't get more than a pound of calcium from an antler trap. Some things are better and more rewarding when you actually work for them. Finding an antler in the woods, or buried in the snow is an exciting thing, and I would like for this kid to know what that feels like. I just feel he's somehow cheating himself out of that excitement by taking the route he's taking.
Court adjourned. (That's for you, 70lb.)
TO EACH THEIR OWN ST.CROIX!! Ever thought that what gets your blood pumping is different than anothers?? Building something that produces is rewarding too. You are probably one of those guys that frowns on coyote traps?? Granted its not the same as calling one in, but its still fun and rewarding!! Thanks for your .02 but the kid, myself, or joe blow is not CHEATING himself out of squat if he is being ethical about how he/we does it.
Justintime, pay no attention to the naysayers on here. I have a friend who uses two bails of hay and pours corn in the middle of them. He doesnt get a ton of sheds, but he normally gets one or 2 a year.
What ever happened to the saying, " If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say it at all"? He asked a simple question, he wasnt asking for your opinions.
So what do you do with all the sheds you collect? Sell them, make something or what?
Bill
Perhaps he JUST WANTS TO SEE WHAT IS OUT THERE!!!!
Shedhunting is NO SPORT TO ME and probably not to this kid. I still want to see what is there.
I'll be lazy all day, there are no ETHICS to the "sport" of shedhunting. If you want to enjoy it your way...great. The rest of us will do the same.
Its like saying a dishwasher is taking the easy way out from washing dishes....who cares? I hold no PRIDE in my method of dishwashing or finding antlers.
Wander around the woods clueless like 99.9% of the people on this thread who buy every hunting magazine on the shelf at Walmart and always want the "EASY" way to everything that involves effort and hard work. Pack your thermocell Tiff!
I live in south Mississippi.Been hunting around 15 years and i have only found 2 sheds in my life.The woods here are so thick you cant just walk anywhere you want.It would be fun to be able to go shed hunting and actually find some!
I agree with St. Croix's post. Let me just add there are 2 kinds of "shed hunters" so to speak. The guys that just want a few horns and don't care how they get them and the guys who look at it as an extension to their hunting season and take it pretty seriously. Society today is all about the quickest and easiest way to do everything, it's not wrong, that's just how it is. Society has excepted alot of things actually and ethics and morality have gone out the window. It's ok to be gay now, it's ok to be a democrat now, it's ok to take steroids in sports, Hell you can even rape and murder people if your a famous athlete. I think antler traps are just the lazy mans way of saying he has a couple sheds and that's cool, it's no different than shed dogs or cruisin around on your ATV or in the truck. Call me old school but it is what it is.
I don't need to worry, they are not shedding yet in my neck of the woods.
LOL!!!!! love it scentman. I know a guywho puts up a 2 sided fence on a 90degree angle and puts feed close to the inside corner.When the buck tries to stick his head in the corner to get the feed he bumps his horns and they fall off.Thats the only idea i have heard that i like that way they cant get there horns hung in anything.
Great. Just out"eff"ingstanding.
We have succeeded in running off another young hunter from an internet site that is pro-hunting.
This was Justins last post by either handle.
Yep, we got so many new hunters buying licenses these days around the country, we can afford to run off a few with our "holier than thou" and "my way or the highway" attitudes.
I agree with TTS in PA, when a year ago he stated, "Good manners are free, yet many here still can't afford them... ".
I'm sure he'll never hunt again because we busted his chops on a website. Are you effeffeffing serious?? No way man!
Maybe he'll come back as Justin Case!
JUSTHUNT1,
I won't call you old school and I won't call you anything else either only because I'm following Tony's advice about manners. I do think your posts were uncalled for, especially knowing that the creator of this thread is a youth.
arctichill and tonyo Aw gee wiz! You guys are swell!
You're right Randy, I'm sorry
You're right Randy, I'm sorry
