By Scott Bestul

The one rarely-spoken truth about shed hunting is this; it can be a fantastic activity for hooking future whitetail nuts. Of course taking your kids on an actual deer hunt is a hoot, but it can also be frustrating, depending on the nature of the youngster. Some kids can handle watching a deer-less field for a couple of hours, others get twitchy and wonder why stuff isn’t happening as quickly as it does on your hunting shows. And then there’s the weather...

But shed hunting is an active pursuit. In my experience, most kids want to be doing something, and of course the biggest part of finding sheds is simply walking and looking. Pretty easy concept for a young mind to wrap around. When I started my kids out, I went to a little food plot, verified there were a couple sheds there, and waited for a nice afternoon. We “hunted” for only about 20 minutes before Brooke and Bailey found the two antlers. They spent the rest of the time examining deer tracks (and poop), bird nests, raccoon hair, a dead mouse, and…well, you get the picture. We hit that little field every spring now.

The joys of such experience are not lost on the two youngsters in this photo, sent to me by my good friend Ross. Among the eight sheds found by Josie and Dawson on Valentine’s Day was this matched set. Estimated score? About 38” B&C. From the smiles in this photo, I get the feeling Ross will have plenty of shed hunting help in the years to come.

Comments (7)

from Jim in Mo wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

Another thing we can teach our kids to do during the winter blahs.

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from Kevin wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

Shed hunting is very rewarding yet often very frustrating. Introducing kids to it is tricky, but the author's idea to make sure there were sheds in the food plot was brilliant. Finding a shed off a buck you hunted the prior fall is like a treasure - chances are he'll be there to hunt the next year too! It fuels the fire!

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from Walt Smith wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

I found my first shed ever this week, only a 8in. spike but still cool. One very UNCOOL thing I heard on the local news(TV9&10) this week was 2 teenagers charged with killing as many as 20 deer in HarborSprings, Michigan. Seems they did it for fun/Dare. Some of the deer had antlers cut off some had meat taken but most were left to rot.DNR is handing out $1000.00 per deer fines to each kid, bet that makes mom&dad happy.

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from jamesti wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

those kide got me beat so far. it's good just to get out away from the house even if you don't find anything. especially when the kids are just sitting around playing video games.

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from TANKER wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

refreshing to see toung people utside, (and smiling)

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from Andyhess4123 wrote 3 years 12 weeks ago

somthing good to do during the offseason

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from steve182 wrote 3 years 12 weeks ago

Took my 4 y.o. out today. We found no sheds but he was excited to see deer tracks and excrement. He was looking, i thought for sure He'd find one, not me. Skunked, but enjoyable

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from Walt Smith wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

I found my first shed ever this week, only a 8in. spike but still cool. One very UNCOOL thing I heard on the local news(TV9&10) this week was 2 teenagers charged with killing as many as 20 deer in HarborSprings, Michigan. Seems they did it for fun/Dare. Some of the deer had antlers cut off some had meat taken but most were left to rot.DNR is handing out $1000.00 per deer fines to each kid, bet that makes mom&dad happy.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Jim in Mo wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

Another thing we can teach our kids to do during the winter blahs.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Kevin wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

Shed hunting is very rewarding yet often very frustrating. Introducing kids to it is tricky, but the author's idea to make sure there were sheds in the food plot was brilliant. Finding a shed off a buck you hunted the prior fall is like a treasure - chances are he'll be there to hunt the next year too! It fuels the fire!

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jamesti wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

those kide got me beat so far. it's good just to get out away from the house even if you don't find anything. especially when the kids are just sitting around playing video games.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from TANKER wrote 3 years 13 weeks ago

refreshing to see toung people utside, (and smiling)

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Andyhess4123 wrote 3 years 12 weeks ago

somthing good to do during the offseason

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from steve182 wrote 3 years 12 weeks ago

Took my 4 y.o. out today. We found no sheds but he was excited to see deer tracks and excrement. He was looking, i thought for sure He'd find one, not me. Skunked, but enjoyable

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.