Members of the deer family are the only animals that grow and discard body parts on an annual basis. Male deer, elk and moose (and both male and female caribou) grow antlers on their heads beginning in the spring. By summer the antlers are fully grown. In fall, bucks and bulls use their antlers to fight rival males and attract mates. In winter or early spring, the antlers are shed and new antlers begin to grow. These bony treasures are beautiful and highly coveted by some folks. Best of all, they are free for the taking … if you can find them. Each winter and spring, thousands of people take to the fields and forests to look for these naturally shed antlers. For many, looking for sheds is like a treasure hunt. Although walking through the woods and staring at the ground may seem like a silly way to spend your time, the thrill of finding one of these bony appendages keeps people coming back for more.

Joe Shead (and yes, it’s really pronounced like “shed”) is a hard-core outdoorsman and a dedicated shed hunter. Professionally, Joe is an outdoor writer and a former managing editor of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine. Today, he freelances for many outdoor publications, writing stories about hunting, fishing and of course, shed hunting. His years of shed hunting experience inspired him to write the first full-length book about the topic. Shed Hunting: A Guide to Finding White-Tailed Deer Antlers is recognized as the ultimate guide to finding whitetail sheds. He followed up his book with two DVDs: the original Go Shed Hunting DVD and the Western Shed-Venture DVD.  Joe began shed hunting in his home state of Wisconsin for whitetail antlers, but his passion for shed hunting has led him across North America. He’s found whitetail sheds in several Midwestern states, mule deer sheds in the Rockies, elk antlers in Idaho and Saskatchewan, moose sheds in Alaska and Minnesota and even caribou sheds above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Although he started out looking for whitetail sheds, these days, he spends much of his time looking for moose antlers in Minnesota.