PHOTO PROVIDED Shown is an antler shed Ritch and Nancy Heintzelman.

While it might not be a winter Olympic sport, a winter activity that interests some nature lovers and sportsmen in many parts of the country, including our area: searching the woods for antler sheds.

Late February and March mark white-tailed deer season for shedding their antlers.

Don’t wait until summer to search for antler sheds, though, because animals eat them using the calcium and other minerals as important nutrition sources. Antlers survive in the woods for only about a month before they are totally eaten, primarily by porcupines, squirrels and mice.

What triggers bucks’ antlers to fall off? Longer hours of daylight signal hormone (especially testosterone) production which triggers the abscission line between the antler and the base of the antler to loosen, causing the bone to break at the base.

If a buck receives a head or antler injury around this time, the bone can break prematurely, sometimes causing a chunk of the skull to break off also, leaving a raw spot which can become infected or even cause death. The bucks have no antlers at all for maybe a month when new antlers emerge.

To find antler sheds, identify locations where bucks bed down and trails on which they tend to travel. Also look for cedar thickets, south-facing slopes which are sunnier and warmer, and of course acorn mast, a favorite food.

The best weather for searching is overcast days, especially after a rain when wet leaves appear darker than dry leaves, allowing the white tines to be more visible. On sunny days when the leaves are dry and ruffled up, the tines are more difficult to detect.

Randy Stauffer, an avid shed seeker, was asked what his highest antler shed annual count has been. His answer? Eighteen. But that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when he had a lot of extra time in the woods. More commonly, he might find five to ten in a year. As with most things, his skill at spotting tines amidst leaves has improved over the years.

In his first few years of searching, he only found maybe two, or sometimes none at all.

Nature lovers in Elk County also take part in this activity except that they are looking primarily for the giant elk antlers. Elk lose their antlers around mid-March, somewhat later than white-tailed deer.

Want to go on an even bigger adventure? Hunts for elk and moose sheds occur in lots of western states and Canada of course. Plenty can be seen through YouTube videos.

Travel companies likely even advertise tours where clients are guaranteed to find sheds.

I have never seriously searched for sheds and so have only found two small antlers in my whole life, but even locating this meager assortment was exciting. I still value them as part of my living room decor.