Best Time To Shed Hunt In Ohio

Just like velvet development the rut fawn drop and most things in a deer s life photoperiod tells a buck when they should drop their antlers.

Best time to shed hunt in ohio.

Find the food find the sheds. Start looking for sheds at preferred food sources early in the year. For this reason typically the best times to be out shed hunting in my opinion are february 15 march 30. Because food is limited in winter deer tend to feed aggressively and bucks often jar their antlers loose in the process.

Early february if you really need to scratch that itch. Keep them in their core if you have a group of bucks fairly well patterned in the late winter do not attempt to go shed hunting until you are sure they ve dropped their antlers. Deer will generally lose their antlers between late december and late march depending on several variables. If you bump them too early you may bump them out of their core area and onto another property in which you may not have access to shed hunt.

Members of the deer family generally shed their antlers from mid january to mid march. If i had to put a percentage to it i would say 90 of bucks are shed by march 1 compared to just 25 by february 1. While there are always anomalies the majority of antlers health factors not withstanding drop sometime between january 15th and march 1. The division of wildlife s mission is to conserve and improve fish and wildlife resources and their habitats for sustainable use and appreciation by all.

Mid february is a good time to start your search for antlers throughout much of the u s. When discussing how to time your shed hunt in the general sense you need to know why sheds are hitting the ground when they are. The why and when are simple the timing is based on photoperiod.