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Redfish on the half shell downright easy to enjoy. By the time May comes to an end, the deer will start to show a second point on the deer rack. Also, the antler beams will be about half of the length they will be at full maturity. The month of June ushers in the summer, and it follows after a season of rainfall that leaves the vegetation lush and with nutritious food for the whitetail deer.
The lush green vegetation is essential in the antler growth process. Also, June comes with so much daylight that is necessary to trigger the hormones that make the deer antlers accelerate the growth process. By the time June comes to an end, the buck should have grown all the primary points on its antler racks.
Throughout this month, the buck will develop stronger antlers as the points and beams will be quite extensive and mature. Adequate rainfall generates more nutritious foods that promote healthy antler growth. In the case of drought, antler growth is affected and may be weak or grow abnormally. As July comes to an end, most bucks will have formed full and mature antlers and can begin the hardening process. By mid-August, most bucks will have completed their antler growth, and the blood flow to the antlers will also have decreased.
The coming 20 to 25 days is the hardening period, and most antler sizes will appear to shrink while it is the velvet that peels off. As the summer continues, bucks of different ages will start to travel in groups as well. During this time, the bucks rub their antlers on trees to shed off the velvet from their antlers. The months of September to November represent fall. During this period, the bucks are getting ready for the mating season. By this point, they will have fully developed antlers that are strong and mature and can fight other bucks for mating rights.
After the fall, the temperature will slowly start to drop. Once a buck is full-grown he will normally establish a pattern of dropping his antlers at the same time each year. When the antlers are shed, a slight amount of blood oozes from the spots where they were attached.
Scabs quickly form over the raw pedicels, and before long only scars remain to mark where the antlers were. Once the pedicels are healed, new antler buds form, and the buck begins growing next year's rack.
This growth is initiated by the buck's pituitary gland, which is stimulated by increasing hours of daylight. Growth is extremely rapid and requires a tremendous amount of food. If the buck is able to find enough high-quality, protein-rich browse to satisfy his increased appetite and antler-growing needs, he can produce a full rack in about three months.
Since young deer, like teenagers, are still growing and developing their bodies, the majority of their nutritional energy is directed toward body development, and only the leftover energy goes to antler development.
For this reason, a young buck's antlers are small and may have only one fork. Mature bucks need less nutritional energy to maintain their bodies, so they have more energy available for antler growth.
They can produce a large rack with many points, or tines, each year. Deer that grow antlers with no forks or points are called spike bucks. From the time the new antlers be gin growing from the pedicels until they reach their full size, they are covered with a soft skin called "velvet.
If you were able to touch this velvet, it would feel very warm because of all the blood flowing through it. This velvet covering also may help keep the deer cooler in the summer by bringing some of the animal's body heat to the surface where it can escape. An antler in velvet is soft, tender, easily injured, and will bleed if cut. Bucks make every effort to protect their growing antlers; a serious injury could produce a deformed set. Once the three-month, rapid-growth period is over, the antlers begin to harden mineralize beneath the velvet.
By September the fully developed antlers have hardened, and the buck's body starts getting ready for the breeding season. His complex hormone balance changes, and the blood supply to the antlers is cut off. The unnourished velvet dies and begins peeling away from the hardened antlers. As the buck rubs his antlers on trees and brush, he eventually rubs off all the velvet, but until this is accomplished, it is not unusual to see bucks running around with shreds of dried velvet hanging from their antlers.
Once more, majestic, polished antlers adorn the buck's head when the breeding season starts. Then, if the buck is not harvested during the hunting season, he will again shed his antlers, just as he did the year before. By this point you may be wondering what happens to all those antlers the bucks are shedding each year and why you haven't found any lying around in the woods.
Once antlers are shed, they don't last long in the wild. Since they are storehouses for mineral salts so prized by rodents, they quickly become food for mice, rats, squirrels, and porcupines. As these animals nibble away, the antler's calcium and phosphorus provide nourishment, and the gnawing action it-self helps keep the rodent's teeth worn down. Those antlers not eaten are bleached, softened, and weathered away by the sun and rain until they become part of the soil.
Their minerals may one day provide the nourishment for a plant that will be eaten by a buck and in turn provide nourishment for his growing antlers.
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