The Place to Go to Find Deer Antler Sheds

It has been a standing joke between Amber and Rex that Amber couldn’t find a deer antler shed if it fell from the sky and hit her.  Come late winter every year, Amber spends many hours walking across the farm looking for antlers that have fallen off the deer; she couldn’t find so much as a spike’s antler.  Rex, on the other hand, would come in after being outside for a few hours and have a deer antler in tow.   

This year it all changed.  Amber has found THE spot to hunt deer antler sheds.  There is a pasture on the farm that is called the Diverse Native Grassland.  It has native warm season grasses, native cool season grasses, and native forbs and legumes (also called wildflowers) all mixed in one pasture.  It is a planting that was planted specifically for the purpose of grazing – it produces better forage than a fescue pasture- while improving soil health and providing benefits to pollinators and wildlife.  It looks like as far the deer are concerned, it must be excellent wildlife habitat since that’s where we found nearly all of the deer sheds this year.

In the end, it turns out that Amber only has a little spike antler to show for year’s find.  You see, she had her two young’ens, ages 5 and 3, with her and they claimed all of the other antlers.  Since she knows where to find the antler sheds now, she’ll just have to send the kids to visit Grandpa Rex next year so that neither the kids nor Rex lay claim to them all.