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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Deer Hunting Forum
Bucks still Carrying antlers in Franklin County
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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 3207478" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>First, it's OK to disagree and argue on this site!</p><p></p><p>Second, testosterone levels are an important factor in how long bucks hold their antlers, and highly physically or nutritionally stressed bucks cannot maintain testosterone levels post-rut, hence drop their antlers early. Healthy bucks are able to maintain testosterone levels until the growth of the new set of antlers in spring pops the old set of antlers off from underneath. And when individual buck's shed antlers isn't as important as when the <strong>majority</strong> of bucks shed antlers. There will always be individual bucks that shed early or late, but when the majority shed is the best indicator of herd health. The fact the majority of bucks have shed at Tim's Ford indicate nutritional or physical stress.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, that scrape you found in late March had nothing to do with breeding. To start the antler growth process, a buck's body will produce a short-lived surge of testosterone. That surge of testosterone not only gets the antler growth process started, but also causes the buck to suddenly act "rutty" again, including making scrapes. Every year at this time (usually the start of turkey season, when hunters get back in the woods), I get questions about these spring scrapes. They are not breeding scrapes, they are "antler growing" scrapes--scraping caused by bucks' bodies producing the surge of testosterone needed to start the antler growth process.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 3207478, member: 17"] First, it's OK to disagree and argue on this site! Second, testosterone levels are an important factor in how long bucks hold their antlers, and highly physically or nutritionally stressed bucks cannot maintain testosterone levels post-rut, hence drop their antlers early. Healthy bucks are able to maintain testosterone levels until the growth of the new set of antlers in spring pops the old set of antlers off from underneath. And when individual buck's shed antlers isn't as important as when the [b]majority[/b] of bucks shed antlers. There will always be individual bucks that shed early or late, but when the majority shed is the best indicator of herd health. The fact the majority of bucks have shed at Tim's Ford indicate nutritional or physical stress. Lastly, that scrape you found in late March had nothing to do with breeding. To start the antler growth process, a buck's body will produce a short-lived surge of testosterone. That surge of testosterone not only gets the antler growth process started, but also causes the buck to suddenly act "rutty" again, including making scrapes. Every year at this time (usually the start of turkey season, when hunters get back in the woods), I get questions about these spring scrapes. They are not breeding scrapes, they are "antler growing" scrapes--scraping caused by bucks' bodies producing the surge of testosterone needed to start the antler growth process. [/QUOTE]
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Bucks still Carrying antlers in Franklin County
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