Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

January or February ?

If you go out that early, all you're going to do is push bucks and bulls (that are still carrying antlers) all over the place in deep snow, off of the areas they want to be in the winter, exhausting them in the process. This makes them much more susceptible to predators and winter kill.

Give the snow time to melt off, and the animals time to shed and get through the winter. People don't realize that the less aggressive shed hunting we have, the more bucks and bulls we have the next fall.
 
Thank you very much for the information. I'll definitely wait. The numbers get threatened enough as is by predators, no need for me to do anymore harm
 
January and February are too early for elk and mule deer. Most of the mule deer will have shed by the end of February but very few if any of the elk will have. It is not easy to find antlers in snow. I don't get get too excited about finding mule deer or elk antlers until after the snow is gone. Where I live that is usually in March. In the mountains that could be in May Your time would be better spent behind a spotting scope trying to locate some bucks and bulls for later.
 
This is actually a great topic... I wish more people thought like Randy. It would be more beneficial to all. The problem here if you waited that long you wouldn't find a single shed. I went out this weekend just glassing. Found 6 bucks, 3 of them had dropped 1 antler already which seems early to me but it is what it is. There's a balance in my opinion... this time of the year and through mid Feb I just get high and glass. It's amazing how many antlers you find that way.
But I agree with it being too early to plow through the hills.
 

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