finding matching pairs of sheds

So I hunt up in the panhandle in crp fields, so finding sheds there is rare. Anyway, I found a really nice shed the other day in a little finger canyon the deer sometimes bed in. I tried looking for the other side, but no luck. So, given my limited experience in shed hunting, how often and how far away from each other do you tend to find the matching pair?

Found a matching set last weekend. One in my tire, the other 10 feet away.

I have found them in the same bed/spot, a few feet apart, a few hundred yards apart, over a mile apart but most of the time I only find one side. Good luck.

That's kind of what I thought. I had looked a while to try and find the other one.

Sorry about your tire Scott. Bummer.

Check late winter/early spring feed areas, low areas, creek crossings, fencelines and water first. Just remember you are looking for a needle in a haystack. If you have one buck for every 50 acres then you have one shed for every 25 acres. Lots of ground to cover to find the other side considering the home range of a buck. Good luck it does get addicting.

STX I would love to see a collection of your sheds! I bet you have some winners

A buddy of mine shot a huge 170 class buck up in Kansas a few years ago. The outfitter presented him with the buck's sheds from the previous year. He then obtained a cape and had the sheds mounted too. So he has the same buck mounted twice. Bookends.

LandPirate, that is really cool. I had thought about that, as this shed was from the biggest deer i have seen there. I saw him last year and had a shot, unfortunately I had already shot a buck in our one buck county. So if i found the other side, it wouldn't be too hard to get a cape for it.

Haven't seen the deer since...

I have found one pair within 3 ft of each other ever!
We had a location in south Texas where we were constantly finding sheds, I mean 8 to 10 a year within a 100sq ft area and never found a matched set.

With the drought this year it was not to hard to find them if you put in some walking time. I think it was around 170 or so in this pile.


Some better ones.

The best of them.

That's awesome ranchman

Awesome.

On my first "official" shed hunt a couple of years ago on my place in NW Oklahoma, I found 18 shed and only one match, but on this years trip, I found 17 sheds and 5 match sets.

The first match set were about 30 yards apart on opposite sides of a cedar break, but this year, nearly all the sheds were within a few feet of each other.

I hate to admit this, but I almost get more enjoyment from hunting the sheds than I do the deer. Deer hunting is a terminal sport, but I can hunt the same buck's sheds year after year. I am already looking forward to the spring to go out and try it again.

You got a lot of money there Pawdna ! I heard some people pay big money for nice shed's 150,140 matching set like 300.00 bucks !! little racks like 25 to 30.00 ! Some Guy taught his Lab to hunt shed's...He banks !!!

My son is teaching his Lab to pick up sheds, and he is catching on pretty well.

The hard part here in east Texas is finding a shed before the rodents get it. Most of the time that I find one it's tines are half eaten.

Of course I'm not making any special hunt for them either. I just see them in the woods sometimes when I'm there inspecting my trees.

Thats a nice pic there retriever man. What kind of camera?

....Beautiful/Handsome dog you have there Retrieverman.

X2

i find a bunch with the shreder or hay cutter ha....water and pastures have been the best spots for me

The last matching pair of sheds I found were only 6 inches apart a small rack from a double drop tine buck

Ive looked for sheds a good bit only once have found a matching set and sitting in the stand the other day i looked up and saw one of our cow elk chewing on something that looked odd................ go figure one of the matches to a set from last year lol i let her keep it though shes a pet and eats out of your hand there only there to look at anyways so i figured id be nice and leave her alone

Here is a couple of photos of some old axis sheds I picked up a few years ago. These things make great rattling horns because they are easy to bang together without smashing your fingers on a cold morning. The browtines make good handles. I know this isn't about rattling horns but the football games this afternoon are boring. OBTH the Jack Russel terriost in the photo is 10.5lbs of every possum,coon and squirrel's worst nightmare. Later,Baker

Impressive sheds. I have only found one by accident thusfar. Before ARs and the second unbranched buck I killed a deer early in November on my lease and was scouting some public land looking for rubs. Found an old one and at the base of the tree was a bleached out shed from an 8 point.

I guess he was rubbing the tree and it just fell off during the season before. Couldn't find the second one though.

I finally found the picture from my Oklahoma trip in September. Someone mentioned shed hunting in east Texas, and I have stumbled up on a few over the years but not many. Squirrels are definitely hard on sheds too.

I hate to admit this, but I get nearly as much excitement from from shed hunting as I do actually hunting the deer. I like to try to find sheds from the same buck in consecutive years and did this year on one buck for sure. I have one side from 2010 of the match set in the bottom left of the picture, and I also have that buck on game camera this year.

Those are all pretty good. I wasn't actually shed hunting, just came across a shed and wondered if i should keep looking for the match. kinda hard though in a huge CRP field that is waist tall grass. We don't have all that many deer either. It was nice to stumble on that one though.

Here's a pair of mule deer sheds that have the same defect on the the same tine but different sides