Ive only really been shed hunting on public land in the states, but is this much of a thing in the UK? Would it be impolite to approach estates or land owners to ask permission to pick up sheds? Would try my best to go outside of any main shooting seasons of course. Ive seen antler chews in some pet stores for silly money, and thought it might be nice to be able to collect my own for my dog. Any guidance or advice is appreciated, thanks!
Antler Shed Hunting
- Thread starter Moaky
- Start date
One difference you might notice is that it is always deer season here. You have a pretty extensive right to walk where you like in Scotland, and I very much doubt anyone would mind you picking up shed antlers. I'd think it would be absolutely fine to ask estates. You may find a stalker whose happy to put aside antlers from culled beasts for you.
The antlers do belong to the landowner though, so even if you have a right to walk on the land in Scotland, you don't have a right to pick stuff up and carry it away.
Always best to ask. It's unlikely that anyone would say no.
Never considered asking the stalkers about culled animals, thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the reply. I would definitely always ask before taking anything from a piece of ground, but I just wasn't sure if that was something landowners or estates were even open to around here. I guess I really just need to start asking to find out! Just didnt want to look silly if there were already 'protocols' around this type of thing. Good to hear folk may be pretty open to this sort of thing.
I think veterinary dentists are earning quite a bit thanks to the antler chews sold in pet shops.....
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
I appreciate you are in Scotland, but people do hunt for them on Exmoor and do quite well.
Dog chews, I have only ever heard bad things....however this might be of interest to you!
Dog chews, I have only ever heard bad things....however this might be of interest to you!
Yes
@Moaky See my post here:
Don't do it - our 3rd rescue Vizsla cost us £4K last year in recovering hard bone teeth cracks from the previous owner - antlers are just as bad!
They are not treated. In my instance it wasn't antler but similar hard "load-bearing" bones. In the past I used to supply band-sawed fallow antlers as chews up to the point where a friend's pet required extractions due to them. My regular vet has given up doing small animal practice now to concentrate exclusively on canine dental work - he's making a fortune and the bills are astronomic, leaving aside the obvious rest of life issues for the dog in losing their principal molars
man that is such good info to know, I cant believe more people dont talk about that. I would have totally given by dog these had I not known.@Moaky See my post here:
Don't do it - our 3rd rescue Vizsla cost us £4K last year in recovering hard bone teeth cracks from the previous owner - antlers are just as bad!
They are not treated. In my instance it wasn't antler but similar hard "load-bearing" bones. In the past I used to supply band-sawed fallow antlers as chews up to the point where a friend's pet required extractions due to them. My regular vet has given up doing small animal practice now to concentrate exclusively on canine dental work - he's making a fortune and the bills are astronomic, leaving aside the obvious rest of life issues for the dog in losing their principal molars
A quick search on Google on this topic and these 2 came out top of the searches, Please don't quote me on this as legally binding and this is just cut and paste from the search.
(1). The legal stance is that no-one owns the deer, only the right to shoot them, so no-one owns the cast off antlers
(2) This was thrashed out in courts throughout the land years ago so that the landowners who encouraged large numbers of deer on their land were not to be liable for paying farmers whose crops were raided by the deer. So if you find a cast off antler, or whole skull, you can legally keep it
No-one owns the wild deer while they are alive.
Once they are dead, they belong to the person who's land they lie on.
So, by extrapolation from that, the antlers belong to no-one while they are attached to a live wild deer. Once they're lying on the ground the situation changes, and ownership of the cast antlers is vested in ownership of the land, just as for whole deer.
That's my understanding, and appears also to be the understanding of Parkes & Thornley in Deer: Law & Liabilities.
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
I saw that when I posted, I doubt it isn't by accident, more by design
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