However, just as important is the rate of antler growth while bucks are in velvet. In general depending on location and quality of food available new antler growth begins as soon as the previous set is shed. They continue to grow through early to mid August. At this time the antlers are still covered with velvet, but begin mineralizing hardening and not adding additional size. This means we can observe or get images of bucks during mid August and know about how large of antlers a buck will produce.
Protein is a big component of antlers. Plants experiencing severe drought stress have very low protein levels. In most whitetail locales May bursts onto the scene with an abundance of high octane food, both natural and man-created. All natural food and forage preferred by whitetails are high in protein and other essential nutrients throughout May. By the time May draws to a close the G-2 points 2 nd point on a typical rack should be noticeable.
If rainfall is normal, nutritious food will be lush and readily available. This coupled with the longest amount of daylight of the year, provides the hormonal support that allows antler growth to accelerate.
By the time June draws to a close, nearly all the primary points on a rack will have started to grow. Having adequate rainfall is key to insuring that optimum antler growth continues during the month because if drought conditions take place the nutrition level of the food decreases, which has a tendency to cause a drop in antler growth.
Most northern bucks will have completed their antler growth by the 10 th of August, at which time the blood flow to the antlers diminishes. For the next days the antlers will harden. Male deer have pedicles — two soft spots on their skulls. During the early spring, the pedicles grow two little stubs of bone wrapped in sensitive skin called velvet. The velvet around the stubs of antlers provides the blood and oxygen that the antlers need to fully mature.
After they have fully grown, you will see the antlers of the whitetail deer in velvet. To remove the velvet from their pedicles, deer will rub their backs and heads.
This strengthens their back muscles as well as properly clears their antlers. The common belief is that you can tell the age of the deer by the size of its racks. While age does affect antler size, nutrition and genetics also play a part in a deer's antler growth. A more reliable way to tell the age of a deer is by its teeth. Since bucks start to develop their antlers at around 10 months, proper nutrition is essential at the very beginning of the buck's life.
If you want your deer population to have stronger and bigger antlers, you should start your deer on healthy protein-rich foods just after they are weaned. 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.
The most important part of a deer's antler growth is its access to proper nutrition. The availability of protein-rich food in a deer's habitat will determine its antler growth. While all deer need protein , studies show that young fawns should get their protein in as soon as possible so they can have large antlers that last throughout their lifetime. Bucks that follow this diet see much larger deer antlers than those that don't have access to protein-rich foods. Along with protein, deer also need calcium and phosphate to promote healthy antler growth.
Deer will take these minerals from other bones in the body to grow its antlers. Deer need the help of the nutrients in their entire bodies to grow their antlers. Bucks tend to start growing their antlers during their first year of life. You will start to see large deer antlers as the buck grows.
The antlers will shed and regenerate throughout its life, but each year, the buck will produce fuller antlers. A buck will reach its optimal antler height at six years old.
As the buck grows older, its antlers will start to shrink again. Even waiting one year to hunt a young fawn could result in the buck's antlers nearly doubling in size. The date of the fawn's birth also determines how quickly antlers will grow. Deer born in later months may take longer to develop their antlers. When fawns are born in the spring, there are more nutrients available, so they will be more successful in their antler growth. Like all other mammals, each deer contains a unique set of DNA passed on from its parents.
While some deer can have pointy deer tines or a short deer rack, others can develop long antlers and complex tines. The pedicles of a deer, like human fingerprints, are all unique.
The growth of deer antlers is related to the deer's hormone levels. Its hormones drop when the deer sheds its antlers, and as the antlers grow, hormone levels increase. When a deer sheds its velvet, its hormone levels have reached its highest point. Due to hormonal imbalance, sometimes female deer start to develop antlers. Although they are smaller than buck antlers, you may find does with short antler stumps in their skulls. Deer try to avoid injury during their velvet stage. Any damage to their antlers during the growth process could result in abnormalities.
A deer's antlers need calcium and other minerals from the rest of the body's bones to grow properly. Any injury or disease in the rest of the body can hinder whitetail deer antler growth. Of course, genetics are difficult to manage if you want to grow bigger deer antlers in your deer population. While you may not know each individual deer's parents, you can look at the deer in your area since they are all most likely related.
You should watch for trends in antler size and shape in your area during the spring and summer to prepare for hunting season in the fall. The buck reaches antler maturity at six years. Over its lifetime, the deer will develop and shed antlers, with new, uniquely-shaped antlers appearing each time. Generally, antlers grow in about days. This timeline of deer antler growth by year demonstrates what antlers will look like with age after the deer grows and sheds its antlers throughout the year.
While their antlers come in all shapes and sizes, most of their antlers look like thin beams sticking out by their ears. The deer that will have the strongest and largest antlers later in life are those that have multiple tines at a young age. By this point, a healthy buck should have antlers as wide as its ears.
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