Antler Eaters

[tineseeker]

I was wondering how fast the mice, rabbits and squirrels can work up a shed?

[TJF]

Mice and rabbits (jackrabbits) aren't much of a problem here. Squirrels on the other hand seem to chew the up pretty fast. Here is a picture of a shed the squirrels had their way with. The ate most of the main beam except for the one side (1/8 of an inch was left) laying against the ground. I could bend the shed in half with ease. When I would let the one end go it would go back to the original shape.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pff6d6d4f83f3efd3ecd54a5974e52a7e/fe0bfffe.jpg

[This message has been edited by TJF (edited 01-10-2002).]

[ceo]

Takes most rodents months to do severe damage to a large antler, however a coyote will eat it whole in a night.
If you have a chance go to the shed hunting seminar at the iowa deer classic. Any and all your questions will be answered.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tineseeker:
I was wondering how fast the mice, rabbits and squirrels can work up a shed? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Iowa1]

In my experience, mich and other tiny critters don't do significant damage, but I've seen antlers destroyed by squirrels within a few days of dropping if they happened to drop in the right place. Squirrels are often on them almost the minute they hit the ground.

[NWBuck]

This is an interesting topic. I'm not a dedicated shed hunter by any means, but do get out a few times each spring and seldom find anything. I find more sheds by accident than I ever have intentionally. We have pretty decent timber with food plots and a healthy deer population. It is a traditional yarding area and you'd think we should find sheds when we look for them. However, the place is infested with fox squirrels and coyotes, so maybe this explains it. This is the first time I've heard of coyotes eating sheds...is this common ???