Antler shed hunting

[Oopslala]

I'll be in Colorado all summer so I'm sure I'm going to stumble on a few sheds, especially with my dog running all around as well.

So any of you shed hunt, and if you do, what do you do with the antlers?

I know that good and matching sheds can bring a high dollar, just curious if any of you have taken up that hobby?

 

[minimotos95]

I do it every once in a while, generally just give/sell for a buck or two any to a friend who routinely sells them, February is pretty much the ideal time to shed hunt from what I hear but one of my buddies found a huge elk shed that had just been laying in the dirt for years, likely overlooked because it looked more like a stick, so there's no telling what you will find even months after the deer shed their antlers.  
Thinking I might go out later this week, go for a walk in the woods/adobes see if I find anything. The other day on my way into town on the highway I stumbled across a small chunk of Mule antler that was broken off by some car driver going faster than they could react. I am keeping it as a reminder how dangerous the roads are,  as if I need more reminders of that.

 

[TMG51]

I made a van accent piece of a found shed.

 

[Canine]

I trained my dog to find antlers. She was terrible at it! Very slow. I started her on it later in life when she had lost a lot of her drive. Couple that with an extremely weak retrieve training background and the results were poor. Instead of keeping at it, I let it go. Lots of work for little return.

Brown, fresh, matching sets are the best. Taxidermists will sometimes pay a good price for a good matching set.

A friend of mine was really into it. One year he found a matching set on a trail that crossed a fence. He went to the same spot next year and found another matching set from the same deer. Then did it again the next year, but his friend found the other match and wouldn't give it up. What a jerk! No more after that, though. That was a cool set of antlers still. He had a spare bedroom mostly full of antlers. He sold about 80% and kept the best ones.

At one time antlers were worth a lot even as junk antlers. Those used to be sold as a powdered aphrodisiac, but with disease concerns, shipping them overseas is limited.

 

[Oopslala]

I don't plan on training him or anything, I'll just be out in Colorado in a national forest that has quite a few elk and mulies from what I understand. I plan on hiking and exploring as much as possible, so I'm sure I'll be bound to stumble on to some.

My family and I go hunting near rifle Colorado yearly and almost always find a she's within the 2 weeks we are there. The biggest was one side of a 6x6. We also found the full skull of a 5x5

 

[Canine]

Once you get out there looking, you develop an eye for it. An antler that once looked like a stick will look just like an antler.

 

[Konaexpress]

Just wondering....

Do you turnaround and sell them? I would think that carving and knife makers might like this stuff. Jewelry makers might like it if you can carve too. Maybe not......

John

 

[minimotos95]

I am thinking a small Mule antler will make a good handle for my sliding door, would be as simple as drilling and finding the right epoxy.

 

[Oopslala]

From what I've been able to find online, the fresh 'brown' ones are the only ones that hold value. So 1-2 years old max will be brown. The whiter they get, the more they lose their value. Unless of course it's a monster. A matching shed that's still brown and scores 400+ can bring $1000 easily if what I found online and in magazines is true.

According the the Colorado elk hunting magazine I get. Brown elk antlers bring $10-$15 per pound when still brown. The one big shed we have is still brown and I'd guess it weighed 15-20 pounds.

Finding the buyers that will pay a decent price will probably be the hard part. Especially considering my storage isn't really made for big antlers.

I am planning on flipping anything I find that isn't a big elk or mule deer.

 

[Konaexpress]

Nice!

 

[masterplumber]

I don't go shed hunting on purpose, but have found several while elk hunting for meat. Last year I found a matched set about ten feet apart. It looked like the bull must have shook his head and they both fell off at the same time - would have been great to see happen! They are a set of 5x5 elk antlers, but they're the size of a very large mule deer rather than larger like an elk. Great size to hang in my trailer though! I also found some wild turkey feathers that same day and they grace the curtains on the other side of the trailer. I like having things like that around me, as they remind me of great times in the wilderness when I'm in between those opportunities to get out and about.