Antlers dropping

[Huntaholic]

I saw my first buck that has shed his antlers a few minutes ago. He WAS a pretty good 10 pt before shedding them. It seems a tad early to me but this particular deer has had it pretty rough since opening day of gun season when one of the neighbors shot him in the shoulder and neck. Im still not sure how one shot did what it did, but in any case it looks like he has at least made it through the year without the horn hunters getting him.

 

[GKG]

Interesting to hear about a drop so early, but expect you are right in the stress from being shot. Also interesting that he survived a shoulder / neck shot. Where exactly did the bullet hit, out of curiosity?

 

[Rackseeker]

I seen one about 2 weeks ago that had already dropped both sides. Looked to be a mature buck, this was in southern mid-tn.

 

[ridgehunter]

My brothers grandson killed one saturday and when he started to drag it one of his horns came off.I have spike on camera that has already lost one side.

 

[DRSJ35]

Is this a normal thing this time of year.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

Little early but I find fresh sheds in January often enough to know the season closes almost to late.

 

[darn2ten]

Not unusual to see bucks here still carrying the first part of turkey season, see it every year. Have not seen any that have dropped this year yet.

 

[TN24081]

Here's a pretty good article concerning this....

https://www.qdma.com/articles/causes-of ... er-casting

 

[KBotta]

prolonged flooding....Hmmm...

 

[Good time Charlie]

Just for conversation...I guess one would hate to kill a Big buck with no antlers for a doe .??

 

[jb357]

Just for conversation...I guess one would hate to kill a Big buck with no antlers for a doe .??

If it's a mature buck it shouldn't be that hard to tell.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

Can also check bone marrow for deer health....as far as having good nutrition

 

[Tanelson43]

Found this December the 8th. I have pictures of the buck and he looks very run down. He us a 4.5 year old and I'm guessing did a lot of chasing and breeding this year. I have stopped hunting around this farm and have already started feeding. I hope they can get fattened back up and make it through the winter.

 

[Huntaholic]

Interesting to hear about a drop so early, but expect you are right in the stress from being shot. Also interesting that he survived a shoulder / neck shot. Where exactly did the bullet hit, out of curiosity?

Its kinda hard to describe how he hit him but I will give it a try. Neighbor was on his way to his stand right at daylight ands this buck was chasing a doe in an overgrown field. Buck ran up to him broadside at 6 steps and he fired. Evidently just as he shot the buck wheeled to run and he ended up hitting him high in the shoulder, but it only traveled a couple inches down the side of his shoulder before exiting and burning a strip of hair off all the way down the side of his neck until it entered meat again about 3 inches behind his ear. It blew a spot out of his neck way bigger than my hand that was nothing but raw meat. The spot on his shoulder has healed up except for the scar but the spot on his neck is still maybe 2 fingers wide but its getting better! I hope this doesn't mess his rack up for next year.

 

[huntforme7909]

as far as antlers dropping in all my 36 years of life and 30 of them hunting and walking threw the woods scouting, turkey hunting, deer hunting, squirrel hunting, grouse hunting and ginseng digging ive never been lucky enough to find a good deer shed....I guess walk in all the wrong spots lol because I feel I do plenty of walking in the woods to find some.....

 

[easy45]

We see them with antlers almost to turkey season here, in 15 years of of hunting around this area I've never seen one drop in December and I don't remember any in January


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[JDS]

I have never seen this before either till this year. 2 weeks ago I saw a huge body deer that I first thought was a doe till I looked close with my bino's and saw it was a buck that had dropped. Today a friend of mine shot a deer that he thought was a doe right at last light and it wasn't till he got up on it to field dress that he saw it was a buck that had dropped. This is weird and I haven't seen this before and the guys I have talked too haven't ever seen it before either. Not sure what's up this year.

 

[Os2 Outdoors]

Was in KY today. Seen no less than 30 bucks ranging from 160" an down. Only 2 had dropped one side.

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[redhunterZ71]

Seen small buck that had lost one side this week and another good buck got killed on lease that had lost one side and when he shot it the other fell off.