I just checked my cards today and I still have deer with antlers. The latest on camera was on Monday. What is up? Any of you all seeing any that have not dropped yet?
I’ve seen them into about the 2nd week of April and they still had their horns.
That’s how Booners are made, They just keep them going.
"Bucks dropping their antlers already."
It’s becoming a common refrain in the late-season deer camp.
And it’s true.
Each year whitetail antler “drops” or “sheds” are picked up during deer season. And once in a while, a hunter shoots a doe, only to find out that upon inspection, it’s a buck.
Why is that?
Well, deer researchers have studied the annual phenomenon and come up with some reasons.
It seems the consensus today is that the reason that bucks drop their antlers is partially due to their changing hormones and pheromones.
And their priming hormone generation is especially stimulated by ovulating doe.
Bucks with higher testosterone and other pheromones are said to keep their antlers into spring, even March and early April in the Northeast and Midwest, because doe are continuing to have an estrus cycle.
It’s rare, but some doe will cycle into the spring. And of course that is why once in a while we see little spotted fawns during deer season.
That’s the proof.
The one constant is the gestation period of deer. Whitetails will drop their fawns in 200 days (give or take) after conception.
So if a doe is bred in late October around Halloween, that fawn will hit the ground in the middle of May.
Of course when speaking about animals and behavior, we have to realize that they are individuals and that exceptions always occur in a population.
So, some bucks will drop their antlers very early during deer season, even with lots of doe and other bucks rutting, because that buck is just not “feeling it.”
Or the deer could be sick, malnourished, recovering from and old injury, or even be socially intimidated.
Same with doe, they are individuals too. Even deer breeders remark that some doe, when artificially bred, sometimes “don’t take.” And in the wild, some doe are barren, and don’t produce fawns every year.
https://www.eveningtribune.com/stor...r-drop-timing-is-still-a-mystery/69928348007/
To kind of back up this news story, we still have active scrapes at our farms along the tree lines.....in March.
Here is a pic of one two weeks ago.
The news story above is way North of our location, but it does show that not all deer shed/breed at the same time.
It’s becoming a common refrain in the late-season deer camp.
And it’s true.
Each year whitetail antler “drops” or “sheds” are picked up during deer season. And once in a while, a hunter shoots a doe, only to find out that upon inspection, it’s a buck.
Why is that?
Well, deer researchers have studied the annual phenomenon and come up with some reasons.
It seems the consensus today is that the reason that bucks drop their antlers is partially due to their changing hormones and pheromones.
And their priming hormone generation is especially stimulated by ovulating doe.
Bucks with higher testosterone and other pheromones are said to keep their antlers into spring, even March and early April in the Northeast and Midwest, because doe are continuing to have an estrus cycle.
It’s rare, but some doe will cycle into the spring. And of course that is why once in a while we see little spotted fawns during deer season.
That’s the proof.
The one constant is the gestation period of deer. Whitetails will drop their fawns in 200 days (give or take) after conception.
So if a doe is bred in late October around Halloween, that fawn will hit the ground in the middle of May.
Of course when speaking about animals and behavior, we have to realize that they are individuals and that exceptions always occur in a population.
So, some bucks will drop their antlers very early during deer season, even with lots of doe and other bucks rutting, because that buck is just not “feeling it.”
Or the deer could be sick, malnourished, recovering from and old injury, or even be socially intimidated.
Same with doe, they are individuals too. Even deer breeders remark that some doe, when artificially bred, sometimes “don’t take.” And in the wild, some doe are barren, and don’t produce fawns every year.
https://www.eveningtribune.com/stor...r-drop-timing-is-still-a-mystery/69928348007/
To kind of back up this news story, we still have active scrapes at our farms along the tree lines.....in March.
Here is a pic of one two weeks ago.
The news story above is way North of our location, but it does show that not all deer shed/breed at the same time.
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I’ve still had a couple but haven’t seen them in a couple days.
Saw 3 deer come out in the neighbors field this evening.
Went in and got the binocs, sure enough, one still has both antlers. SURPRISE!
The other two, no antlers!
The no antlered deer was good sized like the antlered one, so I am think it was a buck group!
Went in and got the binocs, sure enough, one still has both antlers. SURPRISE!
The other two, no antlers!
The no antlered deer was good sized like the antlered one, so I am think it was a buck group!
