When sheds drop

[TREESTANDMAN]

I just wanted to get some of your opinions on wheather you think a bucks rack size has anything to do with when he drops? It would seem to me that having a larger rack would cause the bucks rack to drop earlier than a lighter smaller rack. In the past month or so I have gotten pictures of smaller bucks that have lost one or both sides and a nice big 100" that held onto his longer than the smaller bucks. What do you guys think or what have you noticed in the field?

[Benbrown]

When a buck drops his antlers is a function of the level of circulating testosterone in his system. This is primarily influenced by day length. Obviously, there is a great deal of variability between individual animals, but the size of the antlers has little, if anything to do with it.

 

Circulating testosterone reaches its lowest levels after the antlers have dropped. After a short period (with increasing day length in the spring), testosterone levels begin to rise and, when the critical level is reached, new antler growth is initiated. During the period of antler growth, testosterone levels don't vary much. In the early fall, as day length starts to decrease, the testosterone level rises again, antler growth ceases, the antlers ossify (become hard) and the velvet is rubbed off.

 

As days grow shorter. testosterone levels continue to rise to a higher plateau and, again,when the critical level is reached, rutting behavior begins. Increasing day length during the late winter and early spring causes the cessation of rutting behavior and eventually the loss of the last year's antlers.

 

I stress again that this cycle is quite variable between individuals. I have seen large and small white-tail bucks that have dropped their antlers in early January and others still with hard antlers in late May. In my experience, the timing is much more variable in Coues deer than in other white-tailed deer populations in the U.S. (as is the fawn drop).

 

On one ranch in Texas, we had a large buck that was marked with a neck collar that we observed for over 8 years. He retained antlers into late May and early June every year after most bucks had dropped their antlers by the end of March. Yet, each fall, he sported a new set of hard antlers at just about the same time as everyone else.

 

As you go north through the range of white-tailed deer, the synchronization in these cycles (antler growth and fawn drop) between individuals becomes greater. Although I have never observed it, I have been told by biologists in Mexico that in subspecies of white-tailed deer in central and southern Mexico you can see individuals with hard antlers at just about any time of the year.

[TREESTANDMAN]

Thank you for that reply. That makes sense.

[Brian Payne]

It sounds like you have really done your homework on this subject Ben Brown. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have wondered a lot about this topic. What you are saying makes sense. If I remember right the first fresh shed posted on this forum this year was a little forked horn. I have done a lot of shed hunting for elk antlers and have noticed the definate trend that the bigger bulls shed first. I always thought that this was becuase they needed more time to grow a large set of antlers before the fall rut. I have also notice that the bulls at lower elevation seem to shed much sooner. I don't know if anyone else has noticed similar patterns.

 

Brian Payne