Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    I have found a couple of antlers in my day and also they were dropped
    way before hunting season. They looked like they had been dropped
    in spring. I had always thought deer dropped them in spring. A friend
    of mine had found 2 antlers about 10 feet from each other and both
    were from the same side. One had 8 points and the other had 6. Usually
    they get eaten from a number of animals and insects, the reason
    most are never found. I have seen alot of bucks during the winter
    months still with their racks. I thought they still had them because
    they needed them for protection during the winter months when they
    were yarded up. I vaguely recall an article once in an outdoor magazine
    that showed an Elk jumping in the air and doing a 360 degree turn
    and both antlers fell off. A photographer had captured this on film.
    Must have been quite a sight to see.
    								Bret

    According to the book I'm reading (Deer and Deer Hunting, Vol I),
    deer typically shed their antlers anywhere from late November to
    late January, depending on the geographic location.  In late March,
    bucks will again begin growing antlers, with the antlers being covered
    with velvet until late summer.
    
    Mark.

    .2   In the book you are reading when it mentions "geographic location"
    does it mean that the further north one is the earlier they drop?
    because in Deerfield the rut has started again and one has been
    seen with antlers just the other day.
    							bret

    I assume the author was referring to North versus South.  Not all
    northern deer will begin to shed in late November, but rather that
    is when the process will begin.  I'm sure there will always be
    exceptions.
    
    I've seen deer with antlers as late as January in New Hampshire.
    
    It seems that the shed them only during the month of November in
    bucks only zones, only to grow them back on December 1st.
    
    :^)
    
    Mark.

    .4  I can relate to that. Those bucks that lose their antlers during
    November are pretty smart.

    
    	Has anyone actively searched in spring for shed antlers??  If
    so, I wonder if you could share with us any special techniques you
    may use to find them.
    	I read somewhere if you mark winter yard trails and come back
    in the spring after the snow has melted, sheds sometimes can be
    found near the heavily used trails.   
    
    	There is also a problem with this if the snow is not deep enough
    to cause deer to yard up.  I was out last weekend hunting partridge
    and checking around for where there may be a few deer holed up.
    I was very surprised to find tracks of a deer crossing the top of
    a 3500 ft mountain.  Granted, the snow was not very deep (about
    8 inches), but with deer seemingly willing to spend part of the
    winter high on the mountain, how can you find the sheds???  There
    seems like a lot of ground to cover...
  
    

    I have no experience mind you, a thought that occured to me
    would be try to loacte some deer yards. If the deer are confined
    to these yards durring the severe winter months and if durring this
    time would be the time the deer shed it seems likely that
    this would be a good starting place.
    
    Purhaps some of my assumptions are wrong.
    
    What do you think?
    
    I know the mice will eat the antlers or parts of them durring the
    winter after they have shed.
    
    Bear

    
    	Sounds like a good idea to me, I wonder if the DFG will give
    out information regarding wintering areas??  Have you or anyone
    else tried to get that information?
    
    - Rob
    

    I have found 2 sheds this fall while hunting. The first was � of
    a small fork(2 points) total length about a foot. The second was
    � of an eight point rack, total lenght about 18 ".  The second had
    a base of 3.75", and the longest tine was about 7".
    
    The funny thing was that they both must have been from years past
    , cause they were a little chewed. I also know that some of the
    bucks in the area still had their racks last week, cause my bro-in-law
    missed a beauty. Last week was also when I found the larger shed.
    
    I found both within a couple hundred yards of the other, in a thick
    hemlock area, fairly close to a brook. I also found the skull and
    some vertebrae from a deer which I believe was also a buck due to
    the fact that the pedicles protruded from the skull yet were chewed
    almost down to it!
    
    This is my first experience finding sheds, and it's quite
    interesting!This year with the lack of snow to date(Ma.) it doesn't
    seem like there is a whole lot of activity in this general location.
    
    I'm still hunting, rabbit in the same area, and I've visited the
    shed spot as recently as yesterday. I'm curious to see if the deer
    begin to use this same area when the snow gets heavy.
    
    I was also wondering if I may cause undue stress to the deer if
    they do decide to use this area at a later state? I've read about
    deer yarding, and they describe deer as going into a semi-hibernation
    state. This involves very little travel out of a small area, unless
    forced by predators.
    
    I remember also reading that in some cases they will starve, rather
    than travel a few hundred yards out of this yard, to search for
    food.
    
    I found a spot a few years back in March that must have been a yarding
    area while scouting for turkey. It was also Hemlocks with all of
    the bark stripped off of the trees, about to my armpits. There were
    also droppings so thick that they covered the ground for a space
    of 40 yds x 40yds.
    
    I'd like to continue to pursue this interesting activity, yet I
    don't want to pose a problem for the deer. Does anyone have any
    first hand knowledge/experience on this interesting deer behavior?

    looked for the proper note to put this, this seemed to be the best
    place.
    
    I'm looking for some ratty/broken/halves/pieces of antler.... i'm
    going to be making buttons for my mother in law... can anyone out
    there help out.... i'm not looking for your racks just broken halves
    or pieces....   thanks in advance    Fra
    

    Fra,
    Aren't there enough ratty VT spikehorn antlers lying around the
    camp to make buttons for several wardrobes?  8^)
    
    Dave

    re:-1
    
    i'm checking into it, can't seem to find them....  mice musta ate
    em ;^)
    
    really though, i'm just looking for sheds or broken stuff.  Any
    horn no matter how small is a prize when your deer hunting.
    
    Fra

    Fra,

	I should have some pieces parts at home.  I'll look tonight.
	Should be right size for buttons.

    Gordon

    Fra,
    
    	Could you descibe how you make your buttons? How you cut the
    antler, do you polish them, drilling holes, etc.
    
    Thanks
    John

    JOHN,
    
    I havn't tried it yet, but my father in law has done it in the past
    and said he would show me how, as soon as i find out i'll let ya
    all in on his secret... ;^)
    
    Fra
    

    Fra,

	Did you get those horn parts I sent you?  I've got more if you 
	need them, let me know.

   Gordon

    Gordon,
    
    just got them today (1-29)  thanks loads...   i'll let ya know if
    i need anymore....   hope your cutting up good racks... the one
    ya sent looked like a beauty...  mulie???  
    
    again thanks...    fra
    

    ooops, that last note should have said hope your "NOT" cutting up
    good racks....   but if youd like either way is fine ;^).........
    
    fra
    

    fra,

	Yea, those were mulie horns.  I've been using 6" of the bases
	to make handles for my fireplace tools.  Put a leather loop
	through them and they hang from another set of racks by the 
	stove.

    Gordon
    

    This isn't an antler shed story but I didn't know where else to
    put it............
    If anyone lives nearby the Massabesic Taxidermy Sport you ought
    to stop in and see the non-typical mount that is hanging in the
    upstairs studio.  To say that this head is impressive is an
    understatement.  I forgot the actual BC score (240ish?) and nobody
    knew where it was taken...... the owner of the store bought the
    rack and mated it to a very large deer (the deer itself had to be
    in the 260# class).  I didn't ask what they were going to do with
    it.  It would look fabulous gracing the wall of someones camp or
    gun room, but I wouldn't think that there would be much of a market
    for used/someone-elses trophy.
    
    Dave

    
    
    	Did any of you happen to catch a newspaper article a few weeks
    ago about the Boy Scouts in Jackson, Wyoming.  Seems that they worked
    a deal with the Yellowstone Park people which gives them permission
    to scavenge shed elk antlers.  They then auction off the antlers
    and split the proceeds with the Park Service (actually, the Boy
    Scouts only get about 10%, I think).  This year that pulled in
    over $100,000.  I guess that says something about the value of
    antlers.  Most of the big buyers were buying for Oriental markets
    where ground antlers are used in medicines and other potions.
    
    Another interesting tidbit is that truly trophy antlers command
    a healthy sum.  I read that some dentist in Dallas paid $20,000
    for a trophy set of antlers.  In the same article, which happened
    to be about an antler burglary of a taxidermy shop, it was reported
    that some old guy who had a state record whitetail rack (the state
    is Kansas, where there are some truly huge deer) had turned down
    $12,000 for his antlers.  The article also discussed the problem
    with people poaching just for the antlers.  What a shame!
                                                             

    
    	I found a moose shed this weekend in the Northeast Kingdom of
    Vermont.  It has 9 points (includes 2 brow tines), and measures
    39" from the tip of the brow tines to the tip of the palmation...
    Probably weighs about 15 to 20 pounds!  My shoulder is pretty sore
    today after lugging the thing out.
    	I got a few questions - is this a good sized shed?  I've seen
    quite a few moose before, but I can't tell if it's really big or
    not.. don't have the animal there to compare it to I guess.  Also,
    is it common for a moose to have forked brow tines?
    
    Should make for a good conversation piece anyway - Rob

    Guys,
    
    A friend of mine found a couple of sheds last weekend and his father
    asked which bucks shed first, the older or younger.  His thoughts were
    that if the two sheds my friend found were all the farm had to offer,
    he might want to search elsewhere for a trophy.  Of course I thought
    both of the sheds were pretty nice, mass wise anyway.
    
    Does anyone out there know which age class deer sheds first?
    
    Wess

Wess,

According to everything i've read, age has no bearing on which deer shed first.
It has more to do with testosterone levels...  From what I could gather, the deer 
doing the most breeding will lose them first...  which lends some credibility to
the age thing...  as Age has much bearing on dominance and which deer will do
most of the breeding...  I may be wrong but I believe that absense of daylight has 
some bearing also on the drop in hormone levels.

As the testosterone levels drop a fluid is secreted from a gland in the head which 
acts like a disolvent... it softens the area around the pedicle and the antlers 
fall off.  The testosterone levels in the bucks doing the majority of the breeding 
drops quicker then the subordinite bucks, unless of course the big boys were killed 
early in the season and the little guys had their way with the women... ;^)

Not the most scientific explanation, but the best I could come up with off the top
of my head...

Hope this helps...  I'll have to check tonight to get some specifics, i forget 
everything these days... ;^)

Fra