Antlers
In our area I've never seen or heard of deer carrying their antlers this late. It seems that most of the bucks where I hunt (southern ON) drop their antlers between mid-February & mid-March. I've actually seen instances of bucks shedding early though; 3 years ago a friend shot "the biggest doe he'd ever seen" to fill his antlerless tag a week before Christmas. When the deer was recovered it turned out to be a buck who had JUST shed, as neither pedicle had even scabbed over yet. I picked up the shed from an 8-point buck last year and was talking to a neighbour who leaves hay bales out for the deer over the winter. They regularly see the same 5 or 6 deer in their yard throughout the year, and he recognized the shed as being from a buck who had antlers on Christmas day, and none on boxing day.
It's generally accepted among biologists that the time a buck sheds his antlers is influenced heavily by testosterone, and thus, the amount of breeding that that buck did. So if a spike buck in one area managed to do a lot of breeding, he might lose his antlers as early as January or even December. At the same time, a 2 or 3 year old 8-point in an area with more dominant bucks might not breed very much, or not at all. In that case he is likely to hold onto his head gear much longer.
It is also possible that it is a racked doe. This is a very uncommon occurence, but still a possibility. Does occaisionally grow antlers, and it's not certain why, but when they do they are generally very small. Often the does don't peel the velvet off either, as they don't have the hormonal impulses bucks do. Does will shed these antlers, but much later than bucks, possibly in April or even May. It is assumed that a doe who grows antlers one year will also grow them the next, but to my knowledge nobody has been able to document this.
A recent issue of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine had a reader question sent in with a similar jist. Basically the question was whether a buck that sheds late will have smaller antlers than one that sheds earlier. The answer is yes. Obviously there are differences in genetics, age, and health, but all other things being equal, the earlier a buck sheds, the better the next rack. Since bucks begin to grow their next set of antlers as soon as they shed, shedding late adversley affects their antler growth for the next summer. The peak growing period is May-July, with very little antler growth over the winter. Even so, a buck that doesn't shed until April is already behind a buck that started (albeit slowly) in February. Since the bucks will rub the velvet off at the same time, the antler has less time to grow before it has to mature & harden.
Hope that helps, Cheers.
Tim H
