Shed Hunting

My brother Tom found this shed (wedged up by the 4" stick) during an early May BWCA trip a couple of years ago.  Shed hunting seems like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.  We had each more or less stepped over this shed several times while exploring an island before Tom noticed it.  With the lack of snow this year, shed hunting isn't out of the question right now in some areas, especially near the shore of Lake Superior where there is hardly any snow.  In Duluth, yards are still mostly bare once you get down near the lake.  I'm not sure what it's like further up the shore, but I may give it a try this weekend if we don't get too much snow today.  The other day when I was driving into Duluth, I noticed a buck that had one half of his rack still attached, but I suspect that he was one of the hold-outs and that most bucks have already shed both sides.

The island where the shed was found was littered with what appeared to be at least two wolf killed deer carcasses.  The shed appeared to have been naturally shed, as it was away from everything else.  We couldn't tell if the shed antler came from this skull, but it seemed like a fit. 

Here is a link to a MN DNR article about shed hunting:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/mayjun07/wooodland_crowns.html 

This photo was taken on our way up to the early May BWCA trip that resulted in finding the shed.  Most of the snow melted by the time we got to camp, but it wasn't a good feeling to start a trip with snow on the ground, especially considering that there was a fire ban at the time.  I have a feeling that we might start the open water season off with a BWCA fire ban again this year.  Knowing my luck, we'll probably make up for lost precipitation while I'm on a canoe trip!