The annual casting and growth of new antlers is an important part of the whitetail's mystique. However, it can range over a week period or more, easily. In fact, I’ve seen an older age class buck with no sign of shedding velvet that was sporting completely clean antlers within 22 hours! when I say velvet is lost fast, I mean fast. Antlers harden, the velvet is shed, and bucks continue to rub their antlers (and forehead glands) on bushes and small trees as a means of scent communication known as signpost behavior. It did seem that the bucks shed velvet a bit sooner this year than most. Velvet can be completely shed from a whitetail buck’s antlers within a day or two. Velvet shedding typically takes only a couple of hours, though it is not uncommon to see a deer walking around for day or two with bloody velvet tatters. They lack the chemical stimulation to express dominance or individualism. I am definitely excited. Their necks don’t swell and they don’t breed. And their behavior will change. More bucks will lose their velvet. Antlers are cool, but white-tailed deer are amazing in their … Then — in late winter after the rut is over — bucks shed their antlers. CONTINUED… GO TO Deer Scouting 2016. Deer lose their antlers every single year, but do you know why? Cryptorchids don’t rub or scrape as the rut approaches. It seems around here that they shed velvet around September 3 or 4 (with some starting a week earlier). It can take as little as 24-48 hours for the antlers to actually fall off, but the shedding process takes between two to three weeks and then new antlers will regenerate throughout the summer.. It’s one of the coolest times in the deer woods. Increasing levels of testosterone cause their velvet to peel off. Growth peaks in late August throughout most of the whitetail range. Later, the deer will shed the velvet by rubbing its antlers against trees and shrubs. A stag doesn’t shed his antlers; they remain in velvet year-round. One last thing you might not know: Bucks have been known to turn their heads and peel or even eat the dry velvet off their new racks. As days begin to get shorter, a buck’s testosterone level declines. I am excited that I finally got my cameras out so it is going to be interesting. Hang with me the upcoming weeks, they will bring big changes. More September photos and comments coming. Reproductively, they are stuck in neutral. Mule deer, whitetail deer and other ungulates shed their antlers once a year. Most bucks shed their velvet between mid-August and mid-September. But they found as they approached their dead deer the antlers were still fully cloaked in velvet, the delicate hairy membranes that help antlers grow. Now the tree rubbing and antler-polishing begin. Antlers grow rapidly from their pedicle (base) while in velvet during the spring and summer, as fast as 3/4 inch/week for yearlings and 1 1/2 inches per week for adults during peak growth (Jacobson and Griffin 1983). 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