Thread: Please Tell Us About Antler Growth

My nephew shot a red stag a few days ago whose antlers hadn't yet broken through the skin. But last night I spotted a red stag which had massive antler growth. It got me wondering.....

The process of growing antlers seems miraculous compared to normal bone growth.

What have you observed in your area? When do they generally drop their antlers.... when do the new ones start to sprout..... ? Thanks in advance.

Here's last night's stag. I was in an open paddock under a bright full moon, but I was able to crawl slowly toward the deer (over the cow turd minefield) to get the photo. I was out looking for possums, but didn't see any. Spotting the deer made the trip worthwhile.

Well the big mature stags drop first,regrow first and often strip first.scraggly scrappers later. On farms it's quite spread out but GENERALLY give it a month and they have all dropped from the first one.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Well the big mature stags drop first,regrow first and often strip first.scraggly scrappers later. On farms it's quite spread out but GENERALLY give it a month and they have all dropped from the first one.

That's good info thanks Micky. I have learned surprisingly little about this sort of thing. So what month do you reckon most of them start to drop?

Deer antler is the fastest growing bone in the world. Approx. 12mm per day

Originally Posted by McNotty

Deer antler is the fastest growing bone in the world. Approx. 12mm per day

Pffft. What about a 77 year old on viagra?

Originally Posted by Tahr

Pffft. What about a 77 year old on viagra?

Still 12mm per day

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Still 12mm per day

I'd settle for that

Originally Posted by Tahr

Pffft. What about a 77 year old on viagra?

What a crack up. I can’t stop cackling like an old hen.

Now...when grass starts to take off and apparently ,just like roaring it's all to do with daylight hours...why the new Caledonia rusa are in velvet,hard,rutting most of the year round....not enough change in season/daylight length to put them in synchronisation... I normally just watch farmed deer to see what's going on. Fawning is pretty much nothing,nothing,nothing,nothing...holy smoke fawns everywhere lol.

That fact you spotted the antlers on thermal is its growing now, velvet is body temperature with all the blood. Keep an eye on him and aim to find him again in February you will be all good.

The better the feed the better the growth, antlers have been know to grow as fast as 1.5 inches a day on velvet/trophy deer farms with heaps of feed etc...

HONESTLY what you see is what you get varies so much depending on what feed they are getting - meat animal shoot it - want to leave for a potential trophy leave it - that simple - it simply varies so much - the deer you see shoot or leave -

Originally Posted by Billbob

That fact you spotted the antlers on thermal is its growing now, velvet is body temperature with all the blood. Keep an eye on him and aim to find him again in February you will be all good.

The better the feed the better the growth, antlers have been know to grow as fast as 1.5 inches a day on velvet/trophy deer farms with heaps of feed etc...

This, that first pic is clearly a good animal with some good velvet thats going to grow into something special.
As Tahr said ive noticed a few animals still in hard antler around here im wondering if its to do with the season its pretty late for here.

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Originally Posted by Coote

My nephew shot a red stag a few days ago whose antlers hadn't yet broken through the skin. But last night I spotted a red stag which had massive antler growth. It got me wondering.....

The process of growing antlers seems miraculous compared to normal bone growth.

What have you observed in your area? When do they generally drop their antlers.... when do the new ones start to sprout..... ? Thanks in advance.

Here's last night's stag. I was in an open paddock under a bright full moon, but I was able to crawl slowly toward the deer (over the cow turd minefield) to get the photo. I was out looking for possums, but didn't see any. Spotting the deer made the trip worthwhile.

Attachment 285195

Antlers don’t break through the skin, velvet grows from the Coronet.
Can see from this photo Stags at different stages of growth.

Originally Posted by EmpireSafaris

Antlers don’t break through the skin, velvet grows from the Coronet.
Can see from this photo Stags at different stages of growth.

You will note from this picture that the ones which eat meat grow velvet later/slower than their vegetarian friends.

Thanks for all the replies. For some reason I did not get notifications about them.

Up until a few years ago, I never noticed a tick on a deer. I've seen lice on pigs for decades, but nothing on a deer. However I see ticks on deer now, and I've even had three of the little beggars cling on to me after three separate hunts and I was unaware of them until I felt discomfort or noticed them while I was showering. One latched on to the skin between my toes, one made a home just below my belly button, and the other dug in to the back of my neck just below the hairline. After they were removed, a couple of them left welts that would settle down and then get a bit inflamed.... and this went on for quite some time. Several weeks I guess.

Interesting to read in one of the comments that there are several varieties of tick in the country . Didn't know that thanks.

If there are flies around, I hang carcasses in bags made from cotton sheets. If I've had a pig in a bag I generally always see lice in the bag when I'm washing it.... but the lice seem to mostly die in the washing process. However I've seen deer ticks in the bag still moving after going through a hose-down and a full warm wash with detergent.... then hanging on the clothesline in the sun. Tenacious little sods.

Thanks for the photo of the carnivorous deer @7mmwsm. This could help to explain the decline of bird populations in forested areas. And I think that it is now fair to look at deer species in relation to missing hiker mysteries and the phenomenon of cattle mutilations in America.