How fast deer antlers grow

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Deer with One Spiked Antler. Spike One Side. An investigation into this phenomenon in whitetail deer. Are you ready to get off the couch and back outside enjoying nature?

Before you do, Mossy Oak wants you to know how to identify poison ivy. For deer hunters, the month of November is what we have spent the entire year waiting for. The month of November is primarily the time in most regions that the whitetail deer have their breeding season or what is more commonly known as the rut. Deer , How-To. The Decline of Mule Deer Populations. Mule deer habitats are vast, ranging from above timberline in the Rocky Mountains to the sage plains of the Sonoran Desert.

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Are you using the best choke to knock pheasant down? Mossy Oak wants to help you find the best choke for pheasant hunting. Small Game , Firearm. By the end of July, most bucks' antlers have fully formed, and they can begin the hardening process.

Most bucks will complete their antler growth in the middle of August when the blood flow to the antlers decreases. The antlers will harden over the next 20 to 25 days. During this time, the antlers seem to shrink because of the velvet shrinking.

When a deer's antlers are fully mature, the antlers are cut off from the animal's blood supply. In the summer, you may find bucks of different ages traveling together. In late August through mid-September, the velvet dries up and the deer rub it off, strengthening their back muscles and antlers for mating season.

In the fall, bucks start the rut or mating season. As their testosterone levels rise, they leave their groups and start to branch out on their own. By this point, their antlers are hard and ready to fight for their mates. At the end of October and the beginning of November, the mating season is in full swing. The fall is when most hunters see bucks freely moving around their property. As the temperature starts to drop, deer shed their antlers.

The deer will start preserving energy to keep warm and will build up energy to start growing its antlers back in the coming months. They will spend these months gathering food to prepare themselves for the spring.

If your hunting area needs a boost of protein-rich foods to promote large deer antler growth, our team at Texas Hunter Products has a wide selection of protein feeders for the deer and fawns in your location. You can use our gravity feeders in year-round to give your local deer the nutrients they need to grow bigger antlers, and grow them faster.

Our high-capacity protein feeders are available in several capacities and are designed to make supplemental feeding easy. Protein pellets provide high-quality nutrition for your deer, and the feeders have UV protection for years of continuous use. Contact us online for information about our protein feeders and to find a dealer near you. Compared to the photos, where are your bucks at? Courtesy of Charlie Alsheimer via Legendary Whitetails. All prices are in USD.

Please wait Currency Displayed in. Wish Lists. View Cart 0 0. Whitetail Deer Antlers Whitetail deer antlers contain bone with the fastest growing tissues in the animal kingdom. Antlers vs. Horns While many people tend to confuse antlers with deer horns, the two are different from one another.

How Antlers Are Formed Male deer have pedicles — two soft spots on their skulls. Antler growth is determined by: Nutrition Age Genetics Hormones Injury and disease While some of these factors, such as genetics, are out of your control, you could make sure your local deer population has adequate nutrition and is safe from injury.

Nutrition The most important part of a deer's antler growth is its access to proper nutrition. Age Bucks tend to start growing their antlers during their first year of life. Genetics Like all other mammals, each deer contains a unique set of DNA passed on from its parents. Hormones The growth of deer antlers is related to the deer's hormone levels. Injury and Disease Deer try to avoid injury during their velvet stage.

Three Years Old Most bucks have reached more than half of their optimal antler growth by three years old. Four Years Old At four years old, the buck has developed into a strong, healthy deer.

Five to Seven Years Old Generally, bucks' antlers fully mature between five and seven years old. Eight Years and Older Since most free-range deer are hunted during their prime age of five to seven, you will find few deer older than eight years old. Whitetail Deer Antler Growth Process Whitetail deer begin to grow their antlers in the spring, and you'll start to see deer losing antlers in the winter.

April Deer begin to grow antlers between late March and early April. April 1: April May In the middle of spring, May is when more nutritious foods are available to bucks. May 1: May June During the summer, after a healthy season of rainfall, lush, nutritious food will be available for deer to continue their growth process. June 1: June July At the beginning of this mid-summer month, the buck's antlers should be very bulbous. July 1: July August Most bucks will complete their antler growth in the middle of August when the blood flow to the antlers decreases.

August 1: August September, October and November In the fall, bucks start the rut or mating season. October: December, January and February As the temperature starts to drop, deer shed their antlers. Get Bigger Bucks With Texas Hunter Protein Feeders If your hunting area needs a boost of protein-rich foods to promote large deer antler growth, our team at Texas Hunter Products has a wide selection of protein feeders for the deer and fawns in your location.

Once mineralized, chondroclasts resorb the cartilage, and bone is laid down on the remaining "scaffold" by osteoblasts. For more details on this process see the review by Price et al. There are two types of bone within an antler, spongy bone and compact cortical bone.

Spongy bone makes up the inner portion and is less dense, softer, and weaker. Spongy bone is highly vascularized during growth, which allows the transport of nutrients and growth regulating hormones. Compact bone forms the outer shell of the antler, and its greater density and stiffness provide strength for fighting. Spongy bone makes up about half the diameter of an average antler McDonald et al.

Antler shape or form, known as conformation, is highly variable and depends on age, genetics, and nutrition. Points or tines are classified as typical points generally symmetric and arising from the top of the main beam and abnormal or non-typical points arising from other than the top of the main beam or asymmetrical with the other side. Abnormalities include kicker points projecting laterally from a tine or beam, drop tines projecting downward from a main beam, extra main beams, palmation of the main beam or between tines, and clustered tines.

Some deer antlers exhibit annual variation in conformation, and a deer's last antler set may be quite abnormal. The same deer at 10 years A and at 14 years of age, just prior to his death B. Another deer at maturity C and the year of his death D.

The frequency of abnormal points increases with age, and are rarely seen at 1 and 2 years of age. White-tailed deer antlers usually have more prominent brow tines and lack the bifurcated branching present in mule deer. However, abnormal points arising from the second tine, similar to the bifurcated branching of mule deer, are relatively common in mature whitetails, perhaps indicative of the close taxonomic relationship of the two species.

A similar situation occurs in the other direction, in that Sitka black-tailed deer antlers resemble those of white-tailed deer. Diagram of a growing antler tip illustrating the main anatomical regions.