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Buck dropping antlers already….
- Thread starter redblood
- Start date
We have every conversation every year.
tellico4x4
Well-Known Member
One guy saw one at our place on 12/31 & I just saw one too. Wayne Co.
Saw a basket 8 yesterday morning still holding both sides and then a buck in the afternoon that has dropped both sides. He was walking with a limp on his back left leg and could see a knot below the knee where he had some kind of injury.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Glad you started this thread redblood.
Antler drop timing is a function of buck health and stress levels. Bucks that are nutritionally and/or rut stressed will drop their antlers much earlier than bucks that are not nutritionally stressed or rut stressed. I've seen highly stressed herds where bucks would be dropping antlers in December turned in a herd that would hold antlers until spring by removing nutritional and some rut stress.
On my place, older bucks generally drop antlers late February through mid-March, with some yearling bucks holding antlers until opening weekend of turkey season. However, I've never seen anything like this year. Antlers started falling off like fall leaves on my place stating right around January 6th. I took my cameras down January 9, and from the 6th to the 9th, antlers were falling off left and right, especially among the older bucks. I would say 75% of the older bucks on my place had already lost at least 1 antler by the 9th. That's CRAZY early for my place.
I blame the summer/fall drought and the local acorn failure. I also believe I'm seeing more rut stress in the bucks from fighting. An insane percentage of the older bucks were limping on a front leg by the end of the rut.
Antler drop timing is a function of buck health and stress levels. Bucks that are nutritionally and/or rut stressed will drop their antlers much earlier than bucks that are not nutritionally stressed or rut stressed. I've seen highly stressed herds where bucks would be dropping antlers in December turned in a herd that would hold antlers until spring by removing nutritional and some rut stress.
On my place, older bucks generally drop antlers late February through mid-March, with some yearling bucks holding antlers until opening weekend of turkey season. However, I've never seen anything like this year. Antlers started falling off like fall leaves on my place stating right around January 6th. I took my cameras down January 9, and from the 6th to the 9th, antlers were falling off left and right, especially among the older bucks. I would say 75% of the older bucks on my place had already lost at least 1 antler by the 9th. That's CRAZY early for my place.
I blame the summer/fall drought and the local acorn failure. I also believe I'm seeing more rut stress in the bucks from fighting. An insane percentage of the older bucks were limping on a front leg by the end of the rut.
