Podcast 25: Fresh WT shed in TN in December?

A

andyrowland

New member
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
14
The cooler dude said he found a fresh whitetail shed in Tennessee in December. Unless I'm mistaken, he said it had a bloody stump so he new it was a fresh shed.

Has anyone ever heard of southern deer shedding so early? When he told that story, it was hard to believe. I hunt in north Alabama and I've never heard anyone find a fresh shed during deer season and it extends until the end of January. I know there are places where deer were relocated from the north years ago. This has resulted in great variation in the time of year that the rut takes place. I hunt in an area where the rut is happening from mid December until new year while most of the rest of the state has the rut going on from mid-January until February. If deer are shedding in December, does that mean they are rutting in late October?

I know most of you are western or northern guys, but I'm curious if anyone has any comments about this.
 
I have found fresh sheds here in Ohio as early as December 6th. My dad found a fresh 170" + set on December 1st a few years back. Two years later, he found the set of the same buck again, in the same little field, during the second week of December. Our rut usually occurs around the last week of October, first week of November. For years, my dad or I would harvest our bucks on election day. We did that several years in a row and that was about the peak of the rut. I think it has less to do with the rut and more to do with the individual deer myself. Some are just prone to shedding earlier than others.
 
We find fresh sheds all the time in December ...first one this year was December 12th. By the end of January we have over 40 sheds between my brother and I.
 
That early would be rare here in Tn from what I have witnessed. Not that it could not happen though. I generally hunt whitetails up until nearly the end of the year and have never seen a buck that has already dropped his rack. I am usually still seeing sporadic rutting activity that late. I have even seen bucks with their racks while turkey hunting in April before, multiple times. I would think Feb would be ideally the peak of antler shedding here. Maybe how hard the winters are determines it. I don't really know. I do know that our rut/breeding is so sporadic that I see new fawns from May until September.
 
Off topic but I saw a whitetail last night with both antlers still on. It has to be the latest I've ever seen a WT with both still on. What's the latest you guys have seen?
 
Mid April. A few years back I kept track of a good buck. He lived to 8 or 9 and on his best years would score close to 140-150. He never shed earlier than the second week of April. He was defiantly the exception.
 
I saw a whitey in South Dakota with both sides on 4/20 many years ago. Saw a muley (3-point) still packing a side on Tuesday.
 
Saw him again tonight. At this point I almost expect to see them drop when I startle him.
 
A couple of years back, we had a small buck still holding antlers on May 2nd.
 
I grew up hunting in W. TN and have never seen a buck that's shed in December. Like others have said, that's not to say it can't happen, it's just unlikely. There are a lot of things that could contribute to this happening, but it's definitely not the norm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wihunter12
Late December/January Duck Guide Recommendations
Replies
2
Views
481
wihunter12
wihunter12
SCliving Outdoors
My First Coues Deer
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
zigmos
Z
CowboyLeroy
My second buck of a lifetime.
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
zigmos
Z
P
Finally an equitable balance between resident and non resident shed hunting access.
3 4 5
Replies
89
Views
7K
Watts307
Watts307
T
'23 Wyoming Elk
Replies
12
Views
1K
MT_elk
MT_elk

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
111,097
Messages
1,946,780
Members
35,023
Latest member
dalton14rocks

Share this page

Back
Top