Antler Restoration

Earlier this spring I found a unique deer antler while I was shed hunting. It is a very non-typical and heavy antler with lots of character. But, it looked like it had been laying out in the weather for a couple years and it was bleached completely white.


While the antler looks pretty cool just the way it is, I decided I wanted to try to bring it back to life. I used my airbrush to give the antler a good base coat in an off-white bone color. Then I took a small paintbrush and some acrylic paints and went to work.

I used a fresh antler as reference and tried to make the base of the antler darker and fade it into a slightly lighter color toward the end.

After I got it all painted I removed the paint from the high spots on the antler to give it some highlights and make it look more realistic.

I kept removing paint until I got the desired look. Then I touched up some areas until I got it just right. Finally, I put a coat of flat clear sealer on it to protect the color and to add a little sheen to the finish. Here is the finished antler. I like the way it turned out and think it will look even better sitting on the coffee table.

More Shed Antlers and Some Colder Weather...

This morning, despite some windy, colder weather, my dad and I got up early and drove out to our hunting lease to try to look for some shed antlers. We haven't looked on this property yet this year, and we wanted to give it a try before the vegetation grows too tall to be able to spot them (and before it gets warm enough for the rattlesnakes to start moving). Temperatures have been in the 70's all week, but a cold snap moved in overnight bringing some snow flurries and temperatures in the low 30's. We gave it a valiant effort this morning, and I bet we walked every bit of five miles.

My dad found a small one on the edge of a wheat field right off the bat.

My dad ended up finding a total of 4, and I found 1, but all but the first one were old ones that have been on the ground since at least last year. We thought my dad might have found a matched set from an 8-point from last year, as he found two that were very similar in size and shape that were laying within 25 feet of each other. But after a closer look, I think the antlers were from two different deer.


I didn't have my good camera with me, so I was just taking pictures with my phone, and I stopped to snap these two shots of some of our Creator's handiwork while we were walking around through the woods.


The highlight of the day might have been the double-meat, double-cheese burgers we got for lunch at Herd's Hamburgers!

I also pulled a couple trail cameras that haven't been checked since the new year, so I had a good number of pictures to sort through. I got a picture of a really nice looking bobcat. Check out the markings on his coat and how heavily spotted he is.

I also got some hog pictures.


I was also really surprised to see that I had pictures of bucks still carrying their antlers as late as March 13th. I didn't have any pictures of bucks after that day so I'm not sure if they have even dropped them yet or not.


That may have been a contributing factor to why we only found one fresh one this morning...

Dad Finds a Very Unique Shed

I was able to spend some time with my dad this afternoon looking for some sheds. Despite the drizzly, wet weather conditions, he and I, along with my friend Justin scoured the woods in search of fallen antlers. It was a good afternoon, and my dad found a shed that is by far the most unique I have ever seen. Instead of just finding one antler, he found a fresh set of antlers from this year that had completely grown together at the bases. When the deer shed it's antlers, they fell off his head as a single piece!


Isn't that the strangest thing you have ever seen! I'm gonna start calling that deer the "Monobrow Buck".

Great find, Daddy! I enjoyed the time we got to spend in the woods together.

My Best Shed To-Date

I went to one of my favorite shed hunting spots this morning and found my biggest shed to-date! Unfortunately, it wasn't a fresh one from this year, as it looked like it had been exposed to the elements for quite some time - maybe even a couple years. But, the squirrels and rats hadn't chewed on it a bit so it was still in pretty decent shape.

(Note: This isn't how the antler was laying when I found it. It was actually kinda buried under some grass. I just thought this would make a better picture!)

When I got home I put the tape measure to it. It had 4 scorable points and I scored it at 63 5/8". Probably the most impressive measurement on this antler was the main beam length of 26 4/8". So, assuming this deer had a symmetrical antler on the opposite side and an approximate 18" spread, you're looking at a deer that will score between 145" - 150". That's not too shabby!

This year has allowed me to do more shed hunting than ever before and it is a blast. Although, the success rate at times reminds me of when I used to have a bass boat and would go bass fishing on some of the area lakes. You could fish all day long and sometimes only catch one fish. The same goes with shed hunting - sometimes you can look all day long and not find anything!

Today was a gorgeous day, and the temperature got up into the 60's. Spring is just around the corner, and things are beginning to bloom. I snapped a couple other nice pictures while out in the woods.


I also found another antler Friday evening but this one was a real small one. Here you can see how it compares to the one I found today.

If you haven't been shed hunting this year, get off the couch and take a stroll through the woods. You never know what you might find!

Does This Look Familiar?

Remember the 160"-class set of sheds my friend Justin found a couple weeks ago? Well, look what he found this week! This appears to be the same deer's right antler from this year.

Justin told me he found this one approximately a 1/2-mile from where he found the matching set. I guess there is a possibility this antler is from a different deer, but it sure does look similar. It has slightly less mass than the antler from last year but added a little bit in main-beam length. It also has a kicker point near the base that wasn't present last year. Here are some pictures comparing it to the matched set.



Is it possible that this deer might have reached his prime last year and is now on his way downhill, or could it just be that habitat conditions were better last year resulting in a better set of antlers? Or is this an antler from a different deer with very similar genetics? What do you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

Congratulations on another amazing find Justin!

Some Impressive Sheds!

Earlier this week, my friend Justin Berndt made an amazing find! While walking through the woods he happened to stumble across a matching set of antlers that were lying on the ground within four feet of each other. But these weren't your standard, run-of-the-mill antlers. These were BIG!
Justin asked me to put a tape measure to the massive set of antlers to see just how big they were. Since they were not on a skull it was difficult to determine what the inside spread measurement would be, but I conservatively estimated the spread at 17 4/8". After all the measurements were calculated I unofficially scored the antlers at 162 6/8" gross! It is pretty rare to find one antler of this caliber, and to find a matching set is like finding a hidden treasure!

Saturday morning Justin and I decided to go out and do a little shed hunting. Even though I think we were still a little early to find many of this year's sheds, we still managed to find eight that looked like they were from last year.

Justin found five antlers (three of which were non-typical) and I found these three (one of which was non-typical). As you can tell, there must be some freaky genetics among this deer herd.
I had a lot of fun this morning just being able to get outside and explore at my own pace. The weather was great, and it turned out to be a really great day in the woods!

Post-Season Trophies

I got an email today from my good friend Marc Gustafson in Iowa with some pictures that I have to share. Marc has already been out looking for shed antlers, and judging from the looks of things, he is doing pretty well!


Here is what Marc had to say in the email:
"It has been tough-going shed hunting as I believe most of the antlers were shed between snow storms, and a good portion of them are buried under the snow. I have found most of them in the deer beds and a few in the standing corn. We had snow again last night, as it just keeps coming, which makes it hard to find the ones dropped not long ago. The matched set up close in the pictures measured around 135 inches and will be a dandy if he makes it through the winter."

I have only found three shed antlers in my life, so after seeing these pictures I wanted to pick Marc's brain and get his thoughts on shed hunting and see if he had some tips and techniques to use when looking for shed antlers.

Marc says his favorite spots to look for sheds is first the bedding areas, then trails leading to and from feeding areas, and then the feeding areas themselves. He says the harsh winter in Iowa this year has really caused the deer to congregate around food plots, and he hopes to find quite a few sheds around those feeding areas once some warmer weather arrives to melt some of the snow.

I also asked Marc how many antlers he will generally find in a year, and what was the biggest matched pair he has ever found. He said the matched set in the picture is the largest pair he has found to date and that he averages about 45 antlers a year. But this year he hopes to find 50 or 60 with the deer spending so much time around the food plots. He estimates that over 200 deer are wintering on one particular property he hunts, which makes shed hunting pretty good when there are that many deer congregated in an area that encompasses a couple hundred acres.

Maybe that is why I have so much trouble finding them! It sure makes it difficult when you are searching a 600-acre piece of property that might hold 50 or 60 deer, of which probably only about 15 are bucks. Also, the deer here in Texas usually don't start dropping their antlers until mid-March, after the vegetation begins to green up and grow over what antlers might be on the ground making them less visible. But regardless, I still plan to get out there and look. After all, you can't find any while sitting on the couch!

Thanks for the pictures and the information, Marc. That shed hunting sure looks like a lot of fun! I wish I could spend a weekend up there with you looking for them. Congratulations on finding all those trophies - looks like you have enough to make one heck of a chandelier!