Antlers

[Walden]

If bucks shed their antlers annually, why do we not generally find them lying around?

[Pammy]

Have you ever been to Jackson Hole? They have dozens of them stacked up to make arches to walk through.
Perhaps all the bucks go there to shed their antlers

[s1m0n]

If bucks shed their antlers annually, why do we not generally find them lying around?

I don't know about you, but I've got one.

[Nanohedron]

Mice eat them for the calcium, I'm given to understand. Might explain some of it.

[Denny]

the local hiking forum has annual threads devoted to shed hikes

[dwest]

I've seen thousands, I leave them where they are, which is where they belong, nutrient recycling ya know. The BSA use to be one of the greatest abusers of this, "Love nature, now go rob it."

[Walden]

The BSA use to be one of the greatest abusers of this, "Love nature, now go rob it."

I knew the Boy Scouts must be to blame. Little paramilitary kids runnin' all over the place exploitin' natural resources!

[anniemcu]

Natural nutrients for all sorts of wild beasties... wish I could get hold of some... they are the only thing our dachshund can't destroy in under 5 minutes! LOL!

[Innocent Bystander]

If bucks shed their antlers annually, why do we not generally find them lying around?

Morris Men. Horn-handled knives. Horn Porridge-spoons. And I've seen those hunting lodges where there are antlers all over the wall. You'd never get your hat down off the top ones.

Actually it's a thing I've wondered about. Yearling stags only have one point on their antlers, where as older stags have much more complicated arrangements. So, DO they grow again, more complicated, the second or third year? Do they just grow? Or am I confusing two different kinds of deer? Why do they have to rub the velvet off? Is that only European deer? I plead ignorance. Irish deer have no antlers. (Which is why Irish dancing is performed with the hands strictly by the sides of the body.)

[dwest]

The red deer which are the only native deer to Ireland have antlers. In NA the red deer is comparable to our elk or Wapiti. In Ireland there used to be a mammoth elk species that is extinct now but of which remains exist including the largest antlers, period. There are only two native species to the whole of the Isles, the other four species that are common are all introduced. Even yearling deer of certain species can have large racks. I raised a white-tailed buck that had nine points his first year, he used to think the greatest place to rub his velvet was on my legs, it started getting a little dangerous at one point.

[missy]

everything you've ever wanted to know about white tailed deer antlers (the kind we have around here...)

http://www.pabucks.com/deerantlers.html

[chrisoff]

Yearling stags only have one point on their antlers, where as older stags have much more complicated arrangements. So, DO they grow again, more complicated, the second or third year?

Yup.

Size of the antlers is a good indicator of age I believe. Pretty amazing that they can grow them so big in a year.

Guess the older stags are the ones that are usually dominant and they have the biggest antlers, so if the younger stags want a chance to mate they need to grow good antlers. Then the older ones have to stay one step ahead like some kind of antler arms race.

[Innocent Bystander]

The red deer which are the only native deer to Ireland have antlers.

Up to a point, Lord Copper.

Red Deer ARE the only native Deer species to Ireland. But they went extinct and had to be re-introduced. The ones that got introduced have antlers. The ones that went extinct, did not - like Manx cats having no tail.

[dwest]

The red deer which are the only native deer to Ireland have antlers.

Up to a point, Lord Copper.

Red Deer ARE the only native Deer species to Ireland. But they went extinct and had to be re-introduced. The ones that got introduced have antlers. The ones that went extinct, did not - like Manx cats having no tail.

So they were only females, no wonder they would have become extinct if that had been the case. Luckily it wasn't and antler size is mostly an indication of diet. The red deer in Ireland was not expatriated, there may have been introductions over the years but a continuous population has existed for some thousands of years.

The buck I raised was fed a commercially prepared diet plus all the greens we could gather, at seventeen months he weighed in excess of 175lbs which is big for a white-tailed deer here in an urban environment and certainly is the reason his rack was so large his first season.

[Whistling Archer]

The red deer which are the only native deer to Ireland have antlers.

Up to a point, Lord Copper.

Red Deer ARE the only native Deer species to Ireland. But they went extinct and had to be re-introduced. The ones that got introduced have antlers. The ones that went extinct, did not - like Manx cats having no tail.

So they were only females, no wonder they would have become extinct if that had been the case. Luckily it wasn't and antler size is mostly an indication of diet. The red deer in Ireland was not expatriated, there may have been introductions over the years but a continuous population has existed for some thousands of years.

The buck I raised was fed a commercially prepared diet plus all the greens we could gather, at seventeen months he weighed in excess of 175lbs which is big for a white-tailed deer here in an urban environment and certainly is the reason his rack was so large his first season.

How did you control your buck? A guy I know raised one and it was real nice & sweet until about a yr or so old. I dont know exactly when . But then it started getting aggressive. and it sure wasnt 175. A 175 buck was probably be a record in the place I go , Leon county .tx