Antler Traps for Shed Hunting

[Buckmeister]

Antler traps...has anyone heard of them or used them? Up till last night I had not. I am wondering about the ethical implications.

I was talking with a fellow about shed hunting and he asked me if I had ever used them. I replied by saying I had never even heard of them. For those who have not, this is how he explained it. You can set the trap in December at the soonest, and a trap can be a naturally fallen tree where you simply place something the deer might be interested in eating (food or minerals I assume) down underneath the openings between branches and limbs. The premise is the buck, in an effort to get at the bait, will wiggle his head and antlers down into the openings, and when he tries to get his head back out, the antlers will become trapped amongst the limbs. As he struggles to get out, the antlers fall off, and you come around later and find perfectly matched sets in hopefully good shape.

The idea is interesting, but my concern is this, what if the buck isn't anywhere near ready to drop his rack? You might just come along later to find not just a set of antlers, but the entire deer itself, dead! :shock:

Thoughts, opinions, and experiences anyone?

[Liveforthehunt]

That sounds unethical and just plain stupid. Just asking for a disaster as you mentioned if everyone did that there would be a lot of dead animals caught In those traps

[Sylus]

It seems to me like a deer would know how not to get stuck to the point that they would starve to death, otherwise we would see a lot more of it. It is not like this is the only time in a deer's life that something tasty they want is blocked by tight brush and branches. Just my opinions on it, never tried it myself, nor am I interested too. Putting in the time hiking to find sheds is half the fun of a shed hunt!

[1980skywalker]

2 years ago I was out shed hunting and came across a really nice blacktail shed from the previous year, later while checking my cam I realized the same buck was hanging around. Knowing I would now drive myself insane trying to find his antlers when they dropped I 'racked' my brain for a solution, I too had heard of antler traps and decided to give it a go. A quick search on the internet showed all kinds of gizmos but I must stress they are not designed to trap the animal but simply provide a medium for the buck to bump his antlers on in hopes that they will fall off.

So I devised a trap and left it for a few weeks when the first bucks had started to drop, a couple weeks later I came back and to my amazement it had actually worked! I tried it again this year with no success, it can be done and it sure is a bonus when it works.

[TheProvider]

All sorts of antler traps out there. Some people use natural things like branches or trees and others use all sorts of things, twin, wire, fences etc. Animals have been known to come tangled in them but as you can imagine they do work.

I personally enjoying shed hunting and use it more to scout new areas and mountains. I have no interests in setting up antler traps,

[bcsteve]

I thought the whole fun of shed hunting was to go out and look for them.

[358mag]

I thought the whole fun of shed hunting was to go out and look for them.
Yes to me that's what its all about Effort = Reward but that's just me, go out spend a day hiking the hills looking for a shed or 2 .
There's others out there that want instant success , guess what ever floats your boat .

[rocksteady]

Most of the antler traps I have seen on the net have bungee cords, so risk of killing a not ready to drop antler buck are very slim.

[rocksteady]

Gotta ask.... where would ethics become involved?

[1980skywalker]

From experience I can say that knocking a bucks antlers off in a specific location is a lot harder than putting boots to the ground to find them, both take time and effort. Whatever floats your boat is right, but if you have a target buck and a chance to knock off his antlers then believe me it is worth the effort. Don't be fooled by the 'trap' part of the equation, when you design one they will not trap an animal, it will simply give the buck something to naturally knock his antlers off, work smarter not harder, and yes most are made with bungee cords.