anyone got an answer or opinion?

[5465]

a friend and i were talkin' whitetails last night and an interesting question came up and i was wondering if anyone had an answer or opinion. the question is, for all the bucks that hold their antlers late like until april or so do you think it effects growth for the following year? because compared to some bucks who lose their antlers in late january and february they are losing about a month or so of growing time. i didn't really know how to answer the question but i told him i wouldn't think that it would effect a 1 to 4 1/2 5 year old deer but for deer older than that it would probably have an effect on bucks older than 5 years due to the fact that they have been around a while and it is now getting harder to move around and they probably eat just enough to get by. but who knows? any answers or opinins?

 

[Scott]

My taxidermist raises deer and we had this same conversation a couple of months ago. He said that the bucks that dropped early grow at a slower rate and the bucks that dropped later tend to have periods of accelerated growth. He said by mid summer all the bucks seem to have very similar amounts of growth. From what I have seen this pretty much seems to hold true. A buck that takes off early with growth seems to slow down faster later in the summer.

 

[Shredder]

Being that antler growth is somewhat controlled by testosterone and testosterone levels are controlled by photoperiod, I would think that antler growth would essentially be similar between bucks that drop early and ones that drop later. Just my 2 cents

 

[Scott]

Just my oppion:
I think common sense would tell us that bucks that drop later would have acclerated antler growth. If you think about it, lets say we got a buck that doesnt drop till end of march and compare him to a buck that dropped the first of January. So we have a 3-4 month period of difference between two bucks. Now i think it can be agreed that all bucks shed there velvet within a month of eachother. I usually find that most are within two weeks. So this would lead me to one of two conclusions: 1. The buck that dropped later experienced accelerated horn growth, or 2. The buck that dropped later never got as big as compared to the buck that dropped earlier. I think its pretty simple to see that the second is just stupid. It would be the same arguement if you were to compare birth date of fawns. To say that there is not some kind of accelerated growth through regulation of gene expression, is saying that the later born fawns will never get as big.
When I say regulation of gene expression, what i mean is that every gene in a deer produces a protein. The most abundant protein in deer antler is collagen. So when there is a need for collegen the gene is turned on it and it starts producing antler.
The same idea holds true for the other component of antler, that is minerals. Deer deposit minerals in there skeletons throughout the year, and when as shredder said before, the daylight hours increase and we see a increase in testosterone and a decrease in melatonin, we also see a transport of minerals from the skeleton to the antler. Its like a form of osteoporosis, simply the transport of minerals through bone.
Another point that i think is worth making is that antler growth comes second to body growth. A bucks body wont focus on growing antler until the needs of its body are met first.
All of this together just kinda of shows that "growth" is not a linear or constant process. What I have said is somewhat based on science, and some of it is based on my opinion. Deer are not exactly a highly studied organism and the exact mechanism of antler growth Im sure is not fully understood. Sorry for the long anwser but I love talking about stuff like this. By no means am i trying to say i know everything, just a few ideas I thought would apply to your question.

 

[Liv4Rut]

Now I see why im not a biology major

that makes sense Scott I.C. I guess as long as they finish growing before season, I won't think about it too much

 

[Ogz]

I agree with what Scott IC said. When a buck drops his antler early, lets say January, it's usuallya direct result of severe stress. The bucks body is saying whoa, we need to settle down and concentrate on surviving before we do anything else. Ever notice an early shed buck sporting antler buds in Feb.? Me neither. As Shredder said, photoperiod is the controling factor and the time just isn't right at that time of year for antler formation to begin.