Anyone use antler traps?
Whitetail Deer
Just set one up. Bungee cords.
Can be a danger to wildlife
I've seen them on the web but never tried one. Put a cam on it, could get some cool pics or pics of a buck getting tangled up.
I just fence in the whole two acres...easy to find the sheds before we "hunt" the following year....
No tangle with bungee cords.
Antler traps! How can anyone be this lazy. How many do you expect to find. I say one if your lucky.
A safe way to do is to put two hay bales forming a right angle. Pour corn into the peak of the angle. A buck will hit his antlers on the hay bales when he tries to eat the corn.
No I try not to do things that will mail or kill animals.
New Antler Trap
New Antler Trap
Yup but got in trouble for baiting.
How does that saying go, Tonybear61?........”Build a better antler trap”? ;-)
I’ve heard of guys pouring corn into the middle of multiflora bushes here in Iowa. No idea if it works or not.
I prefer lassoing them from my tree stand....far more ethical and you usually get pairs. I seen guys use chicken wire above trough feeders along with bungees, they are usually near feeders they can see or are near to their location. Like any "trap" should be checked daily.
I don't believe antler get loose like a childs tooth waiting for someone to pull it. I think they simply hold tight until it's time to release. I've gotten pics of bucks fighting one night and then antler off the next. If they were loose they would have come off while pushing on each other. I don't think it's worth the tangle danger.
One spring I put out a pile of corn in thick cover and kept it fresh for about a month. Found a lot of sheds in a small area that year! They weren't at the corn pile but they were relatively close (within a couple hundred yds). The bucks spent a lot of time in that cover with the corn there. They were all small antlers. The bigger ones were still found near their particular bedding areas. That was years ago when I tried it and I never did it again so take it with a grain of salt...
A word of caution. Antler traps can cause damage to the pedestals. When the deer are really hungry they will be very aggressive while attempting to gain access to the corn. The problem is that the antlers may not be fully ready to release. This can result in them actually breaking part of the pedestal off. This will affect antler growth for years to come. I hunted with a guy in Illinois years ago that first showed me his antler traps. That fall I missed a mega typical. Well late that year I got a call from my friend. He said he had the bucks sheds He had found them in one of his antler traps. He said the were fresh and bloody. I returned the next fall and I noticed both sides had chucks of the pedastals attached. The right side had a large chuck about and inch wide and 3/4” long. Later that season a friend killed the buck. The right side was weak with a short G2 and twisted main beam. I have talked with friends in Canada that ran into the same issues and discontinued using antler traps. An easy way to enhance bucks dropping there antlers is to fence in a small area with a fifth or sixth stand about four to five feet high. Place corn in the center. When they jump it and the antlers are ready, they will detach. No damage to the antlers. Don’t use barbed wire on the top strand. Personally I just walk fence line crossings. I like shed hunting and I would feel like I was cheating using a trap. And I have too much respect for the bucks to chance hurting one of them. Now I will use my lab to sniff them out. And my little boy. Remember it’s about the hunt, not the antlers. Merry Christmas all and may God bless. Alan
I'd strongly discourage sudden use of feeding corn mid winter or late winter. Very bad for deer health unless they have been living off corn all winter. Sudden feeding very bad.
Hopefully this thread exposes some truths for some considering this route lol.
I’ve found sunflower screenings to be much healthier for feeding if you do. Around here with harsh winters, feeding does make a big difference and is not illegal when not hunting it, ie. bait. On a feed station it already concentrates sheds like crazy, so I would see no major advantage to the traps, besides it being a bad idea. Hunting for sheds around a feeding area is awesome for kids by the way
You read things about CWD and then you read things about how to herd them up. We might not be helping ourselves.
Slightly confused now.....my understanding is these are just devices used to snag a antler tip and if it is ready to fall off it would. Nothing I have ever seen could be considered a "trap" let alone harm a deer or a antler pedicle.
What do these so called "traps" you guys speak of do?
I think Altizer means "pedical" not pedestal!
Franklin, that is usually the intention, but many have seen bucks wearing an antler trap on their head crossing the road etc, as things don’t always pan out like you hope. Then there’s the other idea of getting caught and breaking off too early, even if the trap stays in place.
What Altizer said^^^^^
Pedicle damage is a bad thing.....
Same question every year.
THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!! ANTLERS ARE NOT LIKE A LOOSE TOOTH!
As others have mentioned, they can be fighting one day and the next day they drop both NOT because of the fight the day before. Their testosterone levels drop to a specific level and they literally pop off.
