White-tailed deer hunters know that bucks in Texas usually experience antler growth during the spring and summer and then shed their antlers during mid to late winter each year. This typically ends up being sometime in January, February, or possibly even March. Although the bulk of 2010 was an outstanding year for the habitat that produced an abundance of forbs and browse, some ranches discovered that their bucks had gone through early antler shedding. And by early I mean these bucks lost their antlers in late summer. What? Yes, antler shedding during August and September.
Yes, you read that correctly. Landowners and biologists on several properties in South Texas first noticed otherwise healthy bucks shedding antlers during late summer and early autumn, often when the antlers were still in velvet. Because some of these bucks were photographed regularly at feed sites, they could be readily tracked as autumn progressed. Several of these bucks began growing antlers again, resulting in small antlers whose velvet was then shed. Continue reading Early Antler Shedding by Bucks in Texas