saw a small buck today with his left side already dropped couldnt see anywhere that he looked injured so i guess i will start watching a little harder maybe get lucky find one early

Im glad you posted this. Every year everyone says cant wait till Feb or March for shed antlers. If you sit till then you already missed the best time to find most of the big ones. It is a crap shoot when a deer when will shed. It doesnt matter how cold, how warm, nutrition, it is when each deer is ready. My dear friend who is the best shed hunter ever has already found 2 this year. They both were shed a couple weeks ago. So if you enjoy the outdoors and like to walk get looking.

So far around here every buck that I have seen since Oct are still carrying their antlers. Except the ones that have been taken durning hunting season.

Ditto what lofjas said. Missed a big 8 tonite still packing!! And I've been steadily looking too when out hunting.

I watched an episode of Deer & Deer Hunting recently that was about sheds. They were saying while stress and such can play a role in it doe density plays a bigger role. Said that when the buck to doe ratio is doe heavy the inbreed does will keep cycling through estrous in turn making the bucks maintain a higher level of testosterone. Likewise, areas with a lighter doe density allow the bucks to lower the testosterone and create another hormone that starts to turn the pedicles porous and drop sooner.

Was interesting, but incredible how serious people take shed hunting. Calling game wardens because neighbors were legally creating food sources, they were more worried about the deer spending time in that field and dropping their antlers leaving them with less on their property.