Now I got the itch bad

[Liv4Rut]

I saw something tonight that just made my day, it wasn't nothing big by any means, about a 135 class buck that had shed almost all the velvet off his left antler. I have no clue why he did and still dont believe it, and I still wouldn't if I had not seen it with my own eyes. He had about 5-6 inches of velvet from the bottom of the base that looked kind of shredded then about 3 inches above that was white and bloody, then the whole rest of his antler was complete hard horn, his horn was fully developed with sharp tips. His right antler still had full velvet. This is extremely wierd to me, because I've never seen a buck this early that had shed some velvet and I didn't think they ever could and I thought if one side had shed the other would too which dont make sense. So any ideas why he may have shed his left antlers velvet. I wondered if maybe he didn't somehow hurt his antler or something forcing him to rub it against a tree or something. It still doesnt make sense to me, and i know it had shed it was only 20 yards in front of me and i had the 10x50s on him

Man after seeing that, I want to go HUNTING!!!!

 

[5465]

the only conclusion i have for this liv, is that all the older, bigger and more mature deer are playing with your head.

they have sent this pretty good fellar out to get you all excited about the upcoming hunting season, making you think "wow look at that buck, i bet you there are ones bigger then that out there". then the night before season starts they all go into hiding and laugh at you all winter.

 

[PAHunter]

That is alittle different,LIV4RUT,I've heard of injured or unhealthy bucks retaining their velvet longer than normal, and in some cases never shedding it.But if he's actually shedding,maybe his testosterone levels are out of whack for some reason.As levels drop they begin to cast their antlers,so maybe he had a sudden increase, or spike in levels for some reason?Just guessing, but your theory seems more likely, where he severely injured the base and severed the blood supply to the antler.