Shed hunting with dogs

OKIEGunner

OKIEGunner

New member
Does anyone have experience with shed hunting with dogs?
 
My Springer Toby finds and retrieves antlers. These are from this past grouse season.
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I'd like to see that seminar,but a female spaniel I had used to find them in the Black Hills all the time.I never trained her for it.I think it would be super easy thing to train a dog with a good nose to find them.I am a bit hinky about letting my dogs out of site while in the Hills, these days because I constantly see new posters about "stolen" dogs.Ya,stolen alright,by a Mountain lion,right out of the kennel.
 
I had a young Lab [Ruff Ruff] that played fetch with a deer antlers, he couldn't get enough of it. We found a ton of antlers here and in the West.

Then he got into pheasants, didn't give a crap about antlers whenever I picked up the shotgun. All he then wanted to do is find birds.

I think it easy to train a smart dog to find antlers. Just using the fetch method from when their young pups.
 
Me and the boy are going to see if we can get our 8 yr old lab Ryann to find a few this spring. I have been hiding a fresh antler around the yard and house. She seems to like finding it so we shall see:rolleyes:
 
There is a nice article in the most recent Gun Dog magazine (with the Llewellin Setters on the cover) about training dogs to hunt for shed antlers and how popular the sport is getting.
 
I reckon I'll keep finding them on my own; my pup doesn't chase fur & I'd prefer to NOT give him the idea that deer are among those critters I do want him to find. That being said, he will surely accompany me on shed hunts but not as a locator tool.
 
Not the sharpest tool in the shed

Okay, so I'm just a beginner here, but still -- shed hunting? What, I thought, tool shed, wood shed, how hard can they be to find and what does the dog do with the shed once it has found it? Then I looked at the photographs with the posts in this thread and just started laughing.
Actually, my little Toller specializes in lacrosse balls. We live across the street from a college sports field and if I take the dog there for a walk, she'll all of the sudden jump into a drainage ditch alongside the field and emerge, covered with mud, and with a muddy lacrosse ball in her jaws. How the hell she finds them under water, I cannot imagine. She likes lacrosse balls because they are heavy and I can toss them farther than any other kind of rubber ball, which gives her a more exciting retrieve.
 
My lab Bentley and I are giving this a try. She is doing great at finding the dummy and some shed atlers a friend gave me. She is actually better at that than finding the pheasant dummy...lol!
 
Shed dog

I have trained my lab to find sheds....... he does a great job at it and gives him more time out in field using his nose.
 
crusader10 said:
I have trained my lab to find sheds....... he does a great job at it and gives him more time out in field using his nose.
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No doubt.I don't think teaching a dog to find sheds would be in any way detrimental.As in,teaching your dog to chase deer.There is so much scent from musk glands,urine etc. that a dog isn't going to wind the polished antler on a live deer.

Just a reminder to check your state laws.In SD it is illegal to pick-up skulls etc.Not sure about sheds.
 
Well after a few weeks of yard work, it finally paid off on my first attempt today. Sally's first shed was an Elk Shed. When retrieving it, She had some difficultly with balancing it in her mouth. So she just stood next too the shed until I got there. I found four other shed's today with her. All good retrieves except for the elk shed.

Now if I can get the other four dogs in the pack to participate, we should be able to cover the county in a week.


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Yesterday in Southern Iowa, I found these with my "shed dog." He is getting the hang of it but of these 11 I found yesterday, he actually only found one of them before I did. None the less, a great day to be out with the dog!

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IA @ Heart,

Impressive!

I was out again to day with (7) more sheds found with Sally. I think the light bulb may have came on today. I will post pictures later.
 
Out in SE Iowa over the weekend helping my friend clear cedars from his crp when one of my shorthairs picked up a shed. Made the guys envious out there, the three of them didn't find any. My "boys" and I found three.
 
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