FOREST RIVER, N.D. – If this was a baseball game, the regular starters would have been absent, only to be replaced by three rookie fill-ins who came off the bench to take their place.

It wasn’t a baseball game, though; it was a “shed hunt,” a search for antlers that whitetail bucks shed every winter on a prime piece of hunting land along the Forest River near the border of Grand Forks and Walsh counties.

Most years, brothers Philip Schanilec of Apple Valley, Minn., and Ben Schanilec of Minto, N.D., along with spouses and friends, scour this family property early in the spring looking for antlers that bucks lose when hormone levels drop after the rut, or mating season.

It’s a social occasion that’s typically followed by a wild game feed put on by Brian Schanilec of Forest River, the brothers’ dad. Brian, an avid hunter known for his cooking prowess, owns Forest River Bean Co., and several hunting properties in the area.

In recent years, though, family commitments sometimes have taken priority over shed hunting for the two Schanilec brothers.

“I haven’t been up there in probably three years now for shed hunting, but my brother has taken friends out,” Philip Schanilec said in a phone interview. “Living in the Cities now with two kids, it’s a grind to make the trip, but we’ll get back up there one day.

“It’s fun stuff.”

First-time shed hunter

Among the newbies in the field on this brisk March day was Kelly Schanilec, the boys’ mother. While new to shed hunting, it didn’t take her long to catch on to the program.

Kelly Schanilec walks between tree rows looking for antler sheds on her family’s land near Forest River, N.D., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. She was “shed hunting” — searching for antlers that whitetail bucks shed every winter on family land along the Forest River near the border of Grand Forks and Walsh counties. (Eric Hylden / Forum News Service)

She definitely had a good eye, once she got the hang of what to look for. Think of blocking out everything on the landscape that doesn’t look like an antler and you get the idea.

Find the first one, Kelly says, and the others become easier to spot.

“I love being outside doing these kinds of things,” she said. “It can be a great family experience.”

While Brian Schanilec was the host of this shed-hunting excursion, which provided an opportunity to tromp through rows of mixed conifers and a deer-attracting food plot, he prefers to showcase his culinary talents rather than his antler-spotting prowess during his sons’ springtime shed hunts.

Ben lives nearby, but a new baby and other family commitments kept him away on this Saturday shed-hunting excursion.

“This is their annual deal but none of them can make it,” Brian said. “It’s a two-, three-hour deal, and then afterwards, we have a little meal at my house with two or three different types of wild game.

“That’s kind of our tradition.”

Getting started

According to Ben Schanilec, the tradition of looking for antler sheds on the 177-acre site began about 2012. A 20-acre (or so) food plot on the hunting property can attract more than 100 deer at times, Ben says, which got him and his brother thinking.

An antler shed pokes up out of the shelterbelt floor on Schanilec family land near Forest River, N.D., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. Family members were “shed hunting” — searching for antlers that whitetail bucks shed every winter — on family land along the Forest River near the border of Grand Forks and Walsh counties. (Eric Hylden / Forum News Service)

“I don’t know how we got the idea,” he said in an interview. “We were just thinking there might be a lot of sheds out there in the spring. I think whenever the snow came off that year – it was probably March or April – we went out there, found a bunch and since then, we’ve done it pretty much every year.

“It’s something fun to do if the weather’s nice.”

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Prime shed hunting time begins when about 90% of the snow is gone and before vegetation turns green, the brothers say. The antlers become more difficult to spot after green-up.

“I think the longer you wait, like if you did it in the summer, it would be harder to find them, and then the sun can really bleach the color of the antlers,” Ben Schanilec said. “And then, I don’t know what kind of rodents chew on antlers, but if you had a really nice shed, like from a nice buck, you’d rather not have the chewing on it.”

Another key is focusing on wintering areas, places where the deer spend a majority of their time and are most likely to drop their antlers.

“Our first year shed hunting, we went to every corner of the property, climbing over logs, under logs and getting scraped up,” Philip said. “Based off of how much effort we were putting in vs. what we were finding, we found the most efficient thing to do is chase the feeding areas.”

Besides being the most productive, they’re also the most accessible, he says.

“We’ve had a little routine going where we start with the food plot, then we go to the tree rows around the food plot, then we go toward the feeders that are in the trees and then we do the evergreens up in the meadows,” Philip said. “You want to look for areas where they spend most of their time. If you’re finding a trail that they traverse once a day for two minutes, the likelihood of them dropping a shed on that trail is probably pretty small.”

They’ll find 25 to 30 sheds on a good day in years with higher deer numbers. More recently, 15 to 20 would be a good day, the brothers say.

“If you wanted to look under every log in the property, you could spend a whole month out there,” Philip said. “Our group size is usually anywhere from as small as two to as big as probably six or seven, and we’ll spend anywhere from an hour and a half to five hours out there, depending on what the weather is like and how much fun we’re having and all that kind of stuff.”

The brothers have a knack for picking those perfect spring days with little wind and a high temperature of 49 degrees or so, Brian Schanilec says.

“They somehow figure that out, and they kind of make a social occasion out of it,” he said.

Finding shed antlers also saves on tire repairs when replanting his food plots, Brian says.

“I’ve popped tires before” by driving over antlers, he said.

Tougher winters with deeper snow, which force the deer to congregate in smaller areas, often provide the best shed hunting opportunities – or worst tire-popping risks – once the snow melts.

“This year was a very mild winter, so I saw deer spread out all over here all winter,” Brian said.

That’s apparent by the abundance of feed, such as brassicas, still in the ground in the food plot.

“They weren’t even in our property because there was still a lot of corn in the ground, and on top there wasn’t much snow,” Brian said. “So they didn’t need to come.”

Productive hunt

Philip Schanilec couldn’t make the trip for last weekend’s shed hunt, but he still got involved by putting together a map, highlighting spots where the brothers have had their best luck finding antlers over the years.

Kelly and Brian Schanilec compare a couple of antler sheds during a shed hunt on family land near Forest River, N.D., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. “Shed hunting” is searching for antlers that whitetail bucks shed every winter. (Eric Hylden / Forum News Service)

The shed hunters found 14 sheds during their two-hour excursion. Not bad for a trio of rookies.

“Some people do the shed hunting experience to gain knowledge of certain deer on their property,” Philip said. “We moreso do it as a time to be outdoors. It’s getting a little bit warmer out, you get to be outside after a cold winter and it gets you excited for deer season already, starting in February or March.”

In keeping with tradition, the elk Brian prepared for a post-shed hunt feast was spectacular. And if the day was any indication, the Schanilec brothers will have a new shed-hunting partner in years to come.

That would be their mom.

“This was so much fun,” Kelly Schanilec said. “I want to go again.”

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Today is Saturday, March 29, the 88th day of 2025. There are 277 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 29, 1974, a group of Chinese farmers digging a well struck fragments of terra-cotta buried underground; archaeologists would ultimately discover terra-cotta sculptures of more than 8,000 soldiers and other figures. The “Terra-cotta Army” would become one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

Also on this date:

In 1943, World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began, limiting American consumers to store purchases of an average of about two pounds a week for beef, pork, lamb and mutton using a coupon system.

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In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.)

In 1961, the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.

In 1971, Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the 1968 My Lai massacre. (Initially sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor, Calley’s sentence would ultimately be commuted by President Richard Nixon to three years of house arrest.)

In 1971, a jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. (The sentences were commuted when the California state Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972.)

In 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1984, under the cover of early morning darkness, the Baltimore Colts football team left its home city of three decades, sending the team’s equipment to Indianapolis in moving trucks without informing Baltimore city or Maryland state officials.

In 2004, President George W. Bush welcomed seven former Soviet-bloc nations (Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) into NATO during a White House ceremony.

Today’s Birthdays:

Comedian Eric Idle is 82.
Former British Prime Minister John Major is 82.
Basketball Hall of Famer Walt Frazier is 80.
Football Hall of Famer Earl Campbell is 70.
Actor Brendan Gleeson is 70.
Actor Christopher Lambert is 68.
Actor Annabella Sciorra is 65.
Comedian-actor Amy Sedaris is 64.
Model Elle Macpherson is 61.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, is 61.
Actor Lucy Lawless is 57.
Tennis Hall of Famer Jennifer Capriati is 49.
Musician-author Michelle Zauner is 36.

There is no better remedy for the Timberwolves than a matchup with Phoenix.

Three days ago, Minnesota was blitzed by the Pacers in Indiana for its third loss in four games, and the hopes of evading the play-in tournament by securing a top six seed in the West was dwindling.

Phoenix entered Friday’s bout at Target Center as a winner of four of its previous five games. The Suns need every win they can accrue simply to pass Dallas in the race for the conference’s No. 10 seed and, thus, the final play-in spot.

The Suns had motivation and momentum. And none of that seems to matter when they meet the Wolves on the floor.

As has been the case in each of the previous seven meetings between these two teams prior to Friday’s tilt, Minnesota again beat Phoenix. And, per usual, it did so convincingly.

Phoenix again proved to have no answer for Minnesota’s defensive physicality nor offensive firepower as the Wolves cruised to a 124-109 victory.

Minnesota (42-32) scored 14 of the game’s first 18 points and never really looked back. The Wolves led by 12 at the break and Phoenix never even threatened to move within single digits from there.

Devin Booker struggled mightily, not scoring his first points of the night until late in the third quarter. Kevin Durant went 7 for 19 from the field. Even the buckets the Suns (35-39) did generate looked incredibly difficult.

The opposite was true for Minnesota, who had eight players score at least eight points, including six guys reaching double figures. Julius Randle had 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead the way, while Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Minnesota shot 53% from the floor and 49% from 3-point range, even on a night when it didn’t have Anthony Edwards for a quarter. Edwards missed the second frame after exiting the floor with a towel pressed against his face after seemingly getting poked in the eye. But the guard emerged from the tunnel to cheers for the team’s halftime warmups and scored 17 points over the final two frames.

Minnesota next plays Sunday, when it hosts Detroit.

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With spring training dwindling to its final days, right-handed starter David Festa still wasn’t sure whether his season would begin on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis or along the Mississippi in St. Paul.

As things turned out, Festa headed north from Fort Myers, not to St. Louis but further north to St. Paul.

With Simeon Woods Richardson nailing down the fifth-starter spot with the Twins, Festa was sent to the Triple-A Saints of the International League. Moving past that disappointment, his season could not have gotten off to a better start.

The 25-year-old Festa pitched five scoreless innings in the Saints’ season-opening 11-0 win over the Indianapolis Indians on Friday night at CHS Field. He scattered three singles, struck out four and did not give up a walk.

Festa and Zebby Matthews, who also was in the mix to be the Twins’ fifth starter, will be at the top of the list if — or when — the Twins need to call up a starter. Matthews will get his first chance to state his case on Sunday.

Festa, who worked on adding a sinker during spring training, did not enjoy good results. He made four appearances, including three starts, and gave up 15 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings. The results were better when they counted Friday.

The 6-foot-6 Festa was the Saints’ Opening Day starter last season and spent three months with the team before being called up by the Twins. He made 13 starts for the Twins, going 2-6 win an ERA of 4.90.

Meanwhile, the Saints enjoyed an offensive explosion against the Indians.

St. Paul’s roster includes nine of the Twins’ top-30 prospects, according to ML B.com, including two who were among the hitting stars on Friday.

Center fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, the Twins’ No. 2 prospect and No. 37 among MLB’s Top 100, roped a two-run double to left-center field to get the Saints’ scoring started. The 22-year-old Rodriguez finished 3 for 4 with a walk.

Rodriguez joined the organization as an international free agent in 2019. His 2024 season was limited to 47 games due to injury. He made his Saints debut on Sept. 2 and appeared in seven games for the Saints, batting .217 (5 for 23).

Prior to his promotion to the Saints, Rodriguez batted .298 for Double-A Wichita, with 8 home runs and 20 RBI in 37 games.

Minnesota’s No. 2 Luke Keaschall, still recovering from Tommy John surgery, served as the Saints’ designated hitter Friday night. When healthy, he’ll spend time at second base and center field. Keaschall collected an RBI single in the fourth inning and finished 2 for 6.

The Saints broke the game open with two runs in the fifth inning and three in the sixth. They finished with 18 hits. Eight of the nine hitters in the Saints’ starting lineup had at least two hits.

Right-handers Scott Blewett and Kyle Bischoff and left-hander Kody Funderburk came on in relief of Festa to preserve the shutout.

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