LEARN THE SECRETS OF A SHED HUNTER

Why Go One-On-One With A Buck

Editor's Note: John Frank of Rubio, Iowa, takes more trophy bucks each season than any other hunter I know but probably kills fewer really-big bucks than most trophy deer hunters do. Frank, the most-ardent shed hunter I've ever met, explains that, "If I could hold a gun or a bow on a deer, and say, 'Give up your horns, and I'll let you go,' I'd probably never shoot another buck. I'm totally fascinated with bucks' antlers and what I can learn from them." Frank often finds big bucks that other hunters who hunt the same property he does never see and learns more about those deer's movement patterns than he will if he only hunts during deer season. Shed hunting allows a deer hunter to stay in the woods and hunt without a weapon, learn more about deer, pick up trophy antlers and become a more-proficient deer hunter during the upcoming season. This week, John Frank will share with us the art of shed hunting. Come back every day this week, and you may get as excited about shed hunting as Frank.

As Frank identifies bucks with his motion-sensor cameras and finds the antlers of those bucks after the season, which lets him know that those bucks have survived hunting season, he can begin to make a game plan for hunting that particular buck in the upcoming season. Often, Frank hunts bucks no other hunter on the property where he hunts even knows exists. To take the biggest and the best bucks on any lands, you have to know a big buck lives there, when he moves, where he likes to feed and bed, and where he travels. With this much information, you can hunt even a nocturnal buck more effectively. Even if Frank doesn't bag the trophy buck he's hunted, he still has the opportunity after the season to take that buck's trophy sheds.

Shed hunting ...
* gives Frank more and better information year-round in the woods,
* helps Frank learn more about the deer that live on the property that he hunts and
* allows Frank to take trophy-buck antlers after the season ends.

You too can learn about the deer on your property by starting to hunt sheds now.