Strange

Went to one of our Ky farms Sat to put some feed out and check cams. We know we aren't going to be getting any pics of big deer with horns cause they have dropped them by now, BUT we did get a pic of a small 6 pt on Feb14 that still has his horns, we thought it was strange for him to still have his head gear in the middle of Feb? Will post pic after I get them downloaded. Also found a couple small sheds,all in all had a good time just being in the woods.

That is strange, But cool. Can't wait to see the picts.

All the snow is finally melting here so hopefully we can get out next weekend and find a few sheds to. It looks like we will be taking stands down finally to.

Thats cool. It does seem strange but I have seen them with hard horns in April in Neb. I quess each buck is different.

I'm not a deer biology expert at all but I know that there is a chemical that forms on the base of the antler that allows the deer to shed them. Some deer struggle for various reasons to get this chemical to form and that's why the will shed super late. There are even cases where it doesn't form at all and the deer will carry the old set into the next growing season. It's just one of those weird things that mother nature has going on.

Robert wrote:

I'm not a deer biology expert at all but I know that there is a chemical that forms on the base of the antler that allows the deer to shed them. Some deer struggle for various reasons to get this chemical to form and that's why the will shed super late. There are even cases where it doesn't form at all and the deer will carry the old set into the next growing season. It's just one of those weird things that mother nature has going on.

yeah that's why we decided to leave that cam, we want to see how long he carry's them.

That was awesome info. Robert. I for one did not know that. I actually thought they dried up and just fell off. lol Show's ya how much i know. lol

30pointbuck wrote:

That was awesome info. Robert. I for one did not know that. I actually thought they dried up and just fell off. lol Show's ya how much i know. lol

Hey not a week goes by that I learn just how little I know about deer and hunting. You'd think after 28 years of hunting them that I'd know more but it always happens that I learn a million new things every year. I guess that's one of the reasons I enjoy it so much

X2 On that. Just when you think you have it, Mother Nature alway's show's you something different.

Im with Robert I also know that sometimes if they have a injury it will also effect them. I had a friend kill a buck that was in velvet during our gun season. The DEC said the deer had a injury to his boy parts that affected his hormones and that caused him never to shed the velvet of his antlers. They never got hard underneath

I picked my mom up at the airport yesterday and on the way home we saw 5 deer running across the field and one of them still had both sides on his head. nothong big but a could see them up there

I've seen bucks here in IN with antlers up until April before

and last spring in Louisville,KY (in the city limits) I saw a 140+ buck still sportin' his rack in April

Thanks for the update and I know a lot of deer around here are still carrying.

Must be the Indiana deer, they just dont want to let go

I have a smaller buck at my feeder that still has both his head gear.

I read it can really effect next years antlers also. If they lose them late they have less time to grow a nicer set the next year. There was just a question about this in a recent issue of some mag I subscribe to.

oregonzach wrote:

I read it can really effect next years antlers also. If they lose them late they have less time to grow a nicer set the next year. There was just a question about this in a recent issue of some mag I subscribe to.

Saw the same article.

I don't the actual name of the process in which the antler base breaks down right now but I have read that it is the fastest process of deterioration in nature. It's amazing the stuff we cant explain in this world.