Как найти рога животных

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For those who are passionate about deer hunting, the pursuit never really has an off season.

March is an ideal time for hunters to walk through the woods to look for antlers that have just been shed by bucks.

The antlers are from deer that have made it through the fall hunting seasons and rough winter and should have even larger racks this year. Antlers are not the same as horns that stay with the animals like goats throughout their life.

Josh Miller, 34, of Lebanon in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, has been hunting for antlers for about five years. His father, Scott, found the first one while archery hunting and “it kind of kicked it off” for them. That one antler with all of its tines came to about 70 inches of antlers. “It was a really nice shed,” Miller said about it still being the biggest one they have collected.

He also recalls finding his first matching set of antlers of a buck he had photos of from his trail camera.

“I knew the deer was there,” he said about the images of a 7-point. “I found the one and I was really excited about it.” It wasn’t long before he discovered a second antler about 20 to 30 yards apart.

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“I was hooked in the hobby,” he said.

He found a business that makes artificial deer skulls for mounts and now has those matching antlers on display in his home.

He likes to go with his father and other family members, too. “The more people you have, the better it is,” he said about combing the landscape looking for tines.

His oldest daughter, Olivia, 13, is now excited about finding sheds. He said they were walking a wooded area and she found an 8-point that had died relatively close to a highway. “She was really excited. … She was yelling for me to hurry” over to her.

“I was upset but excited,” he said about finding the deer but being disappointed it probably died from being hit by a vehicle. It would have been a nice trophy for a hunter.

Miller said the end result of shed hunting and having trail cameras out is to give the hunter a better idea of what deer are still on the property. “It’s kind of a year-round thing,” he said about his passion for whitetails. With trail cameras and scouting for trails and deer signs, you can watch the deer grow through the summer months into fall.

Nicholas Patitucci, 21, of Northeast Philadelphia started looking for antler sheds in 2018.

“I really got into it about two years ago,” he said.

Patitucci enjoys being in the outdoors and has been hunting since 2012 with his father, Anthony.

“It was really fun. I definitely learned a lot,” he said, adding that he’s interested in becoming a game warden.

Patitucci has been out a few times this year and has found eight antlers in a variety of sizes. “It has been pretty good in my opinion,” he said about the start of his shed hunting season.

He does have an antler with five points on it that’s “definitely the biggest in my collection.”

Patitucci said he likes taking his father along, but he’s also fine with just going by himself. “I just like being one on one in nature,” he said adding that’s it’s a good hobby for family bonding and spending time in the woods.

He likes to look for antlers in areas on public lands near where he lives as well as where he likes to hunt in Carbon County.

Finding antlers and using trail cameras helps him understand what’s happening with the local deer herd. He explained that deer drop their antlers after their testosterone drops after the breeding cycle is over. If doe are going into heat late in the winter, a buck still may be carrying its antler as its testosterone levels are still high. It could be a sign the doe-to-buck ratio is off balance.

If bucks are dropping their antlers earlier than expected, they may be sick or injured. “They (shed antlers) actually relay a lot of information on how your deer herd is doing,” he said.

By spending time in the offseason scouting, you might find new places to set up a tree stand for the next hunting season and discover the times of day deer are moving through an area.

Where to look for antlers

Patitucci said he finds antlers where deer like to congregate. Spend time where you find deer skat, buck rubs on trees and focus on the trails used by deer. He also suggests going to the deer’s bedding areas, water sources, and where they eat. He said you want to limit the time you spend in a deer’s bedding area as you don’t want to keep pushing them out of their comfort area.

He’s had luck looking along edges of fields where deer enter and exit to feed.

Miller said he finds sheds along field edges where deer feed. He said in the winter deer spend more time on south-facing slopes as they receive more sun than other directions. He also suggests taking time to walk deer trails and searching in bedding areas. He recalls his father finding one antler in a deer bed, then finding another antler just a short distance away.

Walk deer trails as the antlers just may fall off when they’re moving.

Weather

Miller said he prefers overcast days to shed hunt as there is less glare when scanning the ground. Sometimes he wears yellow tinted glasses that create more contrast and reduce glare. “It helps basically to make them stand out better, to me anyways,” he said.

Patitucci also prefers overcast days as well and feels when the temperatures are above average. “That’s perfect weather,” he said about finding antlers when the snow melts and before the animals start gnawing on them. Squirrels and another animals like field mice chew on antlers for the minerals such as calcium that is found in the hardened bones.

When to look

Patitucci said hunters should be out now looking for the sheds. Right now the leaves are flattened down from the snow and there isn’t any new growth plants to hide the antlers. He has his best luck between mid-February and mid-March. When the vegetation starts later this spring, the antlers are able to be hidden and less noticeable.

There’s an old saying among shed hunters that you have to walk miles to find piles of antlers. If you don’t soon find an antler while scouting, Patitucci said not to get discouraged.

“At least you’re out and about and in nature. You just have to enjoy yourself. If you find sheds. that’s ultimately a plus. … Keep working and you’ll eventually find one.”

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on your website’s homepage under your login name. Follow him on social media @whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Deer antlers: Advice on finding whitetail sheds in NY

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Лоси сбрасывают рога с конца марта до средины апреля.

Как найти места где сбрасывают рога?

1.Поговорите с охотниками и теми, кто часто бывает в лесу. Спросите, где обитают лоси в апреле и тому подобное. Искать сброшенные рога в местах, где не водятся лоси в этот период, не имеет смысла.

1. Ищите признаки пребывания лосей. Как правило, вы сможете найти сброшенные рога, если пойдете по следам оленя или лося.

Обращайте внимание на места, где рога могут отпасть. Будет полезно посмотреть возле павших деревьев и веток возле следов, на крутых склонах и возле чащ и плотно заросших мест, где рога могли бы за что-нибудь зацепиться. Также смотрите там, где следы лося пересекают ограждения и дороги. Когда бы лось не прыгнул, он может сбросить рога.

3.Идите медленно и внимательно все осматривайте. Вы никогда не знаете, где найдете рога. Когда вам попадется место, где следы скрещиваются, пройдитесь в обе стороны по следам.