Photo: Kegan Roberts found this elk shed during a job shadow with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
When Missouri teens Kegan Roberts, 13, of Mountain View, and Mikey Hoffman, 14, of Birch Tree, had a chance to job-shadow Skyler Bockman who manages Twin Pines Conservation Education Center, both boys gained something extra during the experience.
The boys found sheds at Peck Ranch; Keegan found the elk shed, and Mikey found a deer shed. Any hunter can tell you there’s much more to the quest for sheds than simply searching for them.
During their day with Bockman, both Kegan and Mikey had a chance to expand their knowledge of what people who work in conservation jobs do.
Since he was six years old, Kegan has spent a lot of time in the woods with his grandfather learning about nature. When he arrived to job-shadow Bockman, he was already a veteran shed hunter.
“We would go to Rocky Falls, follow turkey trails and look for sheds,” he said of the trips with his grandfather. Those trips made an impact on Kegan, who now hunts sheds on his own. He’s found three deer sheds and one elk antler this year. Previously, he’d found six sheds, one with nine points on one side.
The trip to Peck Ranch Conservation Area to hunt for sheds was a first for Mikey, although he confesses a love of all outdoor activities.
The conservation area is predominantly forest with nearly 1,500 acres in glades, old fields, savanna, cropland and some wetlands, with four Natural Areas—Grassy Pond, Goldenseal, Stegall Mountain and Mule Hollow.
“I like to fish and to hunt for deer, turkey and squirrel,” Mikey said. He has now added shed hunting to that list, after experiencing a great find.
“We drove out to Peck Ranch and got to go behind the fences, walked through some fields,” Mikey said.
He recalled the excitement of visiting the pens where Missouri’s elk were brought during the reintroduction. There was a different kind of excitement when they found an elk shed, which Kegan spotted it before Mikey.
“We saw the antlers sticking up in the field and I was real excited,” Mikey said. “I’m going to take my dad next time because he’s always wanted to go.”
Bockman said his purpose in taking the boys out to Peck Ranch during the job shadowing experience was to fuel their appreciation of nature and show them what inspires people to work in conservation.
“Just as those two boys relate their excitement to experiences with their fathers and grandfathers, we work in conservation because it is a shared value across generations,” Bockman said. “We work to protect and manage the fish, forest and wildlife resources so that future generations, just like Mikey and Kegan, can enjoy them.”
Success in hunting (whether traditional hunting or shed hunting) can lead to a love of nature that spans generations.
Both whitetail deer and elk lose their antlers every year when testosterone levels drop during the rut. The old set of antlers are shed or dropped, and a new set grows. Those who spend time in the woods and fields where deer and elk graze have a chance to find the sheds.
In Missouri, any person who finds antlers still attached to the skull plate may take the antlers, but must report the find to a conservation agent within 24 hours to receive authorization to possess the antlers.
To learn more about Missouri’s deer and elk herds, and the conservation area the boys visited, go to www.mdc.mo.gov.
— From the Missouri Department of Conservation; Photos courtesy MDC.