Ry’s First Sheds
By: Jake Gehrke

    One warm February day last year, my then two and a half year old and I decided to take a walk in the woods behind our house.  Most of the snow had melted so it was easy walking for our little guy.  As we entered the woods I told Ryther to watch for “deer horns” and explained to him that the bucks shed their antlers in the winter and that perhaps one of the “daddy deer” dropped his horns in the backyard for us to find. 

    He was excited and eagerly scoured the forest floor for antlers while we made our little stroll through the woods.  I had also decided to let our black lab join us for our little adventure.  Drake was well ahead of us chasing squirrels and following his nose throughout our small pocket of trees. 

    Once we had explored all that there was to see, we headed back towards the house.  The dog led the way as Ry and I walked hand-in-hand enjoying the afternoon.  Suddenly, Ryther exclaimed, “Drake has a deer horn!”  I looked over at the dog and sure enough, he was sniffing a small 3-point shed in the neighbor’s backyard!  I could hardly believe my eyes.  Not only did I never expect there to be a shed in that location, but my son was honestly the first to see it!  I couldn’t have been more proud.  I told Ry to go and pick it up and he did so with the widest smile I’ve ever seen.  After exchanging high-fives, we headed back to the house and he excitedly showed his mom the treasure he had found.

    The next afternoon after work we headed to a small grove of pine trees on the edge of our yard.  The deer had used this area very frequently all winter long and I thought that this would be the most logical place for the matching antler to be.  We hiked into the pines and as I reached the crest of the hill I saw the bleached, white antler nestled on the ground in a bed of needles.  I just stopped and didn’t say a word.  I let Ryther walk ahead of me and within a few seconds he saw the antler as well and ran over to it shouting, “I found the match!” 

    I don’t think he would have traded that second antler for a million dollars.  As we marched back to the house he held the antler above his head like a victorious athlete holds the championship trophy.  Ryther quickly found its mate where he had left it and together he put them on exhibit for both his mom and me to admire.  We even had to call his grandparents so he could tell them about his wonderful find. 

    The only downfall to this whole story is that he achieved success so quickly.  Now every time we go for a walk he expects to find shed antlers.  I told him that it isn’t always so easy but it’s hard to explain that to my exuberant little shed hunter.  In the meantime, his matching sheds sit in a place of honor on a shelf in his room next to his toy dump truck and baseball.  I’m sure there will be plenty of other “prizes” our little guy will bring home to show his mom in the near future.  I can’t wait to see what they’ll be!