I will try to keep this short, but need some input please.
My son and I have talked about a trip together if I reached a health goal that I have now achieved. We are talking about about a shed hunting trip for elk sheds. We will have a week off so figuring the weekends for travel from Northern Minnesota it will give us the weekdays for shed hunting. I would like to be in the mountains somewhere, to enjoy the scenery at the same time. We are both in good shape and looking to walk several miles a day. We are just in the beginning of the planning stage. The first few questions?
Are there areas that it would be realistic to expect to find a shed or two in a week of searching?
What areas would you recommend starting with?
What time of the year would be best?
We can tent, so will be able to stay right where we are searching.
Of course, I want a spot where bringing a couple home will be legal.
I don't expect anyone to reveal their honey hole, but any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jim

My brother in law hunts sheds in Wyoming, its pretty intense not only physically but lots of people do it. Lots of public land there, and i dont know the laws but theres a start for you. South slopes are often productive ive been told.

I would come as early in the season as you can. We can’t look until the first of may so that’s when everyone starts. It’s so competitive because of the antler prices that it gets pretty crowded around here sometimes but you can still find some if you go look hard enough. Whichever state you decide on, check the laws. In Colorado, she’s hunting actually has a season for public land and it opens on the 1st of may. Also, around here, most of your sheds won’t be up in the mountains. Most are in the sage and desert country because that’s where the elk winter

Colorado has a season on Shed antler hunting?? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Hope that doesn’t spread to other states.

You can pick up sheds year round in Idaho. The locals will have an advantage because they will know where the elk have wintered based on snow levels and such.

Hope you have a good trip where ever you go.

I do alot of shed hunting for whitetail antlers but unfortunately I don't know anything about elk since I'm in Tenn. It's probably one of my favorite things to do and it's got for ya, some days I'll log 15 miles or more. Good luck and enjoy wherever you go

It’s year round on private but is from May 1st to the end of December on public lands. They’re trying to give the elk a break for a few months. It’s so competitive here that there’s almost as many people hunting sheds may 1st as there is opening weekend of rifle seasons.

We got antlers but no mountains. lol

Southern Nevada has a season but other parts of the State don't

Yep this^^^
A lot of blm and state trust land is winter range
Most elk spend the green months in the mountains, and the white months in the sage at lower elevations
They generally shed February so they are on their winter range. In Wyoming look for altitudes of fifty five hundred to sixty five hundred sage flats adjacent to forested mountains. If you are in a good area you can probably get a half dozen or more a day maybe even a matched set. One of my dispatchers has a moose paddle and six point elk antler in his office this afternoon don’t know when he got them. He’s got a pickup bed full of them. Like posted above pretty competitive a lot of people do it for the money, some make 2 or 3 hundred a weekend picking sheds