By Dallin Saurey

REXBURG, Idaho — Many people wonder what shed hunting is. It’s when you go looking for deer, elk, or moose horns that were shed. My family keeps them for yard décor or we sell them to the local taxidermist.

Another reason people go shed hunting is to help them plan their hunting trail for the following season. All over the world, people use antlers for décor in their homes, businesses, and restaurants.

After all the time you put into finding any of these three types of horn sheds, it’s awesome to discover even one. It might even help you appreciate the cost of something as simple as a lamp or those antler chandeliers. You can legally pick them out of desert lands and the forests, May through December, and you can get them from river bottoms all year round. Avoid private property.

Just call or google your local fish and game laws on “shed hunts.”

The saddest thing is when you must leave the horns there until the season starts for horn hunting. It is at least a $130 dollar fine if you are caught with a horn outside of the shed hunting season.

Around December the horn begins to get weak. By May they are gone, and you can see new furry horns in April.

Here are a few challenging techniques I have heard of and used. I found a moose horn while driving on the road to Cartier’s Slough! So, tip number one: keep your eyes open.

The best way to find antlers is by walking, because it gives you more time to decipher the camouflage of the horn. It looks like the branches used to break it off. It looks like the grass it fell into. If you don’t enjoy nature, at least go to heighten your senses.

Some people use four-wheelers to cover more ground. Another place I have found deer or elk sheds is at fence posts. The force exerted when they jump over something like a fence can also causes a loose horn to fall.

Antlers are discovered near fallen trees or debris where deer and elk rubbed against the tree. In the past, people have looked for rubs on trees.

Sometimes, I find sheds where deer and elk cross creeks or canals, which cause them to jolt. My uncle, when he cleaned the canal, found a whitetail deer shed on the canal bank.

Another place to check for horns is where deer, elk, and moose bed down. I have seen beds in tall grasses, near agricultural fields, and in small alcoves surrounded by trees, hills and/or cliffs.

If you have lived in one place long enough you may notice yearly trails where deer, elk, and moose migrate. It can help you find more horns if you know where they have been and where they are going, like water, seasonal trails, and where they find food in the last winter months.

When I was a kid, I went shed hunting with my father and brother in the desert. We divided up areas to cover more ground (this is recommended by many shed hunters), but we found only one small elk antler that day.

You can plan a grid system, or even do sequential zigzags. Make sure you take your time; it will take a bunch of hours to make sure you look really closely. Sometimes a dog will find a horn before you do.

I am planning another hunt soon (May 2022) but the real reason is to get fresh air, exercise, and some quiet time in the great out doors with my family!