Sweet Shed Hunting Success

Sweet Shed Hunting Success

Cameron Kincade

Shed hunting for my wife Alexis and I has become not only a form of exercise, but a way to spend quality time together. Shed hunting is a passion that only other fellow shed hunters would or could understand. Most people don’t even know that the antlers drop every year. When I tell co-workers what Alexis and I do on the weekends, they look at me as if I’m crazy. Maybe they are right when it comes down to it. Nonetheless, we are not part of the concert or bar-going crowd. When we go out, it’s into the outdoors and we do it as much and as often as we can.

The first time I took Alexis out shed hunting, she wasn’t all that keen on it. She complained that, “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack!” Her attitude quickly changed after she found her first shed. She was hooked immediately - maybe not quite as sick as me and a few others, but she had the bug. I could tell by the way she was starting to take it seriously and treat it as a friendly competition. I might add, by the way, that in this friendly competition, she wins every time! Just ask any of our friends and look at our pictures. I get juiced by my buddies and family all the time. Alexis finds bigger or more sheds than me whenever we go out. I just chuckle and tell them that that is what keeps her coming out.

Over the years, Alexis and I have taken friends and family members out on our treasure hunts for the mighty shed antlers. We have had countless adventures and made friendships that will last forever. This year, we have an eighteen-year old nephew staying with us while he is finishing his first year of university. He is from Vernon, British Columbia, but has spent his summers with his Aunt Lexy and I since he was ten. It wasn’t until this spring that we got to take him on a shed hunt. From the beginning of January, he watched his aunt and I come home after shed hunting with numerous antlers. This year was a real exception. This year was, by far, the best year we have ever had. I know that I say that every year, but this year truly will be hard to beat.

Alexis and I both found new personal bests this spring. We were out one afternoon checking a regular honey hole together and hit the jackpot. I was pointing to a good size muley shed when she shook her head and pointed further out to a bigger antler. As we picked mine up, we went over to hers and pulled the biggest non-typical shed that we have ever found out of the snow. It had junk all over it. We looked for three weeks for the other side and found many more sheds, but not the elusive match to the big guy. Every night before we would go out, I would plan out a strategy in my mind as to how I was going to work the area. We came to the conclusion that it must be in the bush. When the snow melted enough that we could walk in the bush, Alexis and I split up off of a main trail. She went off to the side and I went up and worked my way out. I came back in on another main deer trail and BINGO, there it was - the other side to her monster non-typical mule deer. I yelled out that I had found a big antler and that it might be the other side to hers. Alexis was only thirty yards away and coming up on that very same trail. As she walked up we took some pictures and then I told her to pick up her antler. She promptly told me that I had found it. I insisted that she be the one to pick it up. It was only right that she have the honor of picking it up and putting the match together. I don’t think I’ll ever regret it.

Earlier on in the spring, I had the luck to find a match set of a double-drop mule deer. I had found the one side and looked again for about three weeks before I found the match. To be honest, I had almost given up hope. But that day, I had my lucky lady with me! Lexy and I literally stumbled onto it. My tracks were not more than fifteen yards from it. But, with the heavy snow we had had that winter, it had been covered. We were on top of the world. I had shed hunted for over ten years and never found anything like it.

While out scouting earlier in the spring, I spotted a big mule deer buck. He was still packing both antlers and looked enormous. I had found a big match set of antlers in this area last spring and wondered if this could be the buck that left them. I got out of the area so that I wouldn’t spook him. The next week I went back in to have a look. It didn’t take me long before I found a small antler and one side off of the big fellow. I looked for the rest of the day until, finally, about one mile away, I came across his other side. I hit the ground hard and gave my thanks. As I put the antlers together I knew it was the same mule deer as last year. He hadn’t gotten much bigger, but had put on a lot of mass. Was I ever happy.

On one of the trips looking for the match to Lexy’s big antler, I found a nice whitetail shed with a split G2. I wanted to try and find the other side but, like the others, I figured it was in the bush covered in snow. It would have to wait. Well, the nephew was off of school for Easter break, so Alexis and I took him out shed hunting. As I said earlier, he is eighteen years old and, as with most eighteen-year olds, his favorite words are, “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Don’t get me wrong, he is a fine young man and very respectful. We are both very proud of him. But, hence, his nickname is affectionately, “18.” The three of us had walked for a few hours with not much success. I had picked up two little fork-horned mule deer sheds and one older medium muley shed with neither Lexy nor 18 finding anything. I told them that we were in the area where I had found the nice whitetail and to keep their eyes open. I showed 18 exactly where I had found it. Then I worked my way into the bush and almost immediately found an older, heavy whitetail shed. I called both my partners over to have a look as it was pretty cool how it was covered in the brush and grass. As 18 got to within twenty feet of me, I saw him bend down and lift an antler above his head. Yes, it was the match to my whitetail and had a five to six-inch drop tine! Success! We had high fives all the way around and nothing but smiles on our faces. Like any good nephew would, he gave me the antler to match up the set. His aunt laughingly said, “He didn’t have a choice!” This was only the second shed hunt that he had ever been on and both were with me. He has been successful each time and has been bitten hard by the bug that will hopefully keep eating at his brain for years to come. I am looking forward to watching 18 harvest his first deer this spring. He came along on a couple of good hunts last fall and was a heck of a good bush pusher and tracker - not to mention his strong back that becomes quite handy when it is time to help haul them out.

Through my years of shed hunting, I have made many new friends and learned so much. I’ve learned not just about deer and how and where they shed, but the environment that they live in. I’ve also learned quite a bit about myself, my wife, my friends and my family. I believe that I am a better person spiritually, mentally and physically for it.

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