Antler Drop Question

[mtlion]

You're giving me way too much credit. Im just a guy with a job that gives him too much free time.

That is badass. Are you guys hiring?

LOL Good one on the rooster! I'm not sure :W:

Roosters don't lay eggs. :hump:

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Roosters don't lay eggs. :hump:

I've seen roosters lay eggs.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I know WYO is for the state of Wyoming and that followup statement was not what you said originally when I questioned you! You said there are areas where elk don't shed their antlers. Now you're saying 79% of elk don't shed their antlers, which I also call BS on! That would mean that 21% of every elk in the US is a bull and there is no way that % is accurate either. I think you're the rooster that laid the egg on this one pardner, LOL!!!

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

No 79 percent of bull elk do not shed. Cow elk do not normally have antlers silly.

 

[mtlion]

I've seen roosters lay eggs.

Roosters lay chickens :hump:

Chickens lay eggs.

 

[hornart]

I`m sorry Wyodeerhunter,,I have been picking up antlers for over 40 years,,and the only elk or deer that I have seen that didnt loose their antlers were freaks,,I pickup truckloads of antlers,,in parts of Arizona the elk loose first,,In Washington State the blacktail deer start loosing theirs in december,,not really a rock solid rule on any time. It seems to be different geographically

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

How do you pick up elk antlers for 40 years when they don't shed?

 

[hornart]

Well it appears that maybe you arent out in the hills when the elk and deer are regrowing their antlers,,but take a look at my album in my profile,,if you still think they dont shed them then tell me how they are laying all over the ground in the spring

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Well it appears that maybe you arent out in the hills when the elk and deer are regrowing their antlers,,but take a look at my album in my profile,,if you still think they dont shed them then tell me how they are laying all over the ground in the spring

Those are dead elk. They died during the winter

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

So do you ride your moped off road to look for the dead elk? I bet you do you FAATVR

 

[Randy49er]

Roosters lay chickens :hump:

Chickens lay eggs.

Finally a straight answer

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Rooster on rooster is legal in a few states now fyi

 

[Randy49er]

Eeeew yucky!

 

[mtlion]

Rooster on rooster is legal in a few states now fyi

That is not a straight answer

 

[hornart]

Well I guess that some people are just ignorant,,I am mobility impared and I use my bike to carry my load but I ride only on the roads,,I walk and carry the antlers to where my bike is parked,,you cant see it in the pictures but I am already at my truck,,with the economy the way it is I ride my bike to places I want to walk,,not my truck

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Well I guess that some people are just ignorant,,I am mobility impared and I use my bike to carry my load but I ride only on the roads,,I walk and carry the antlers to where my bike is parked,,you cant see it in the pictures but I am already at my truck,,with the economy the way it is I ride my bike to places I want to walk,,not my truck

Yup I've never heard that excuse before.

 

[LuckyMike]

I wondered why I haven't paid much attention to "shed antler" threads!

 

[indian larry]

79% of elk do not shed their antlers. Fact.

I also know that 79% of people that find "truckloads" of antlers also used some kinda of off road transportation. 100% of them stay on the road. Fact.

 

[ardrhi]

I was hoping my post would get responses from people who had evidence that I hadn't considered. After a couple days away from the blog I came back to find a few helpful responses. Then there are a bunch of posts that are more difficult to digest.

Just measured 2 moose and two elk racks I have handy. The pedicals on the moose are 8-8.5" in dia right at the base of the antler and the elk are 6.75-7"... These are all mature animals. Not sure you're theory on frost bite holds much credibility. I'd say elk and moose are similar in diameter of equal age.

All most all moose shed in in the dead of winter. I would imagine that the thousands of moose that live in interior Alaska where its routinely 20-40 below zero when they shed, should all have frost bite?

That is pretty good evidence against the frostbite theory. I live in an area where some hunters seem happy to take a 30" wide bull moose on a once-in-a-lifetime tag. I have picked up a whopping 6 palmed moose sheds in my life and they all had pedicels similar to mule deer size.

I watched a perfectly healthy elk get eaten alive by a single wolf one spring morning. He could have defended himself with his antlers but didn't even try. He ran for his life and lost. I don't think antlered animals really use their headgear for defense.

I have watched elk and mule deer in the winter time charge domestic dogs head first. I'll admit this may not be the best choice for a lone animal against a pack of wolves, but I'm not convinced that antlers aren't useful for defense.

 

[SNOWCREST]

I was wondering if anyone knows if this is true. I was told that whitetails drop their antlers about now followed by Mule deer and then elk. I just have a hard time believing that an elk, who has to grow substantially more antler mass than a whiteail, would drop his antlers the latest. Thanks for any help.

Ok, in over 27 years of horn hunting in the mid west, (mainly MN) Canada, Alaska and for the last 16 of those 27 here in MT, this is what I've learned:

Whitetail: Shedding will vary through out a herd and under certain situations may vary from year to year. Stress will expedite shedding, like extreme snowfall or food supply. I asked a MN state biologist why it seemed that the bucks in the southern part of the state shed their antlers earlier than the bucks in the northern part of the state. He told me that as near as they have studied to date that the food intake was the determining factor. The southern deer ate corn which caused them to drop sooner that the deer in the north fed primarily on browse. I haven't seen any factual proof of this but it sounds like a good theory. I've found no consistency as far as the size of buck dropping from large to small. I've found very small sheds in Dec. and I've found very large sheds freshly dropped in March. As a rule the shedding will occur when the testosterone level drops which is triggered by the amount of daylight and the same is true for the shedding of velvet in late summer/early fall. I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but in all my years of observing deer or elk as far as that goes I've never seen a buck or a bull with antlers anywhere with a full hard horned rack in late May or June. I would say the peek of whitetail shedding late Jan. early Feb. in the northern tear states and Canadian provinces.

Elk: Of all the animals in the North American deer family the elk is the most consistent when shedding from large to small. The earliest I've heard of a bull shedding here in MT was Feb. 5th, that shed weighed 15#s. Right now (later Feb.) the large bulls are dropping and will be through late march and all the way down to spike which I've seen into the middle of May. In the third week of April in '97 I picked up a matched 300 class six point. A few minutes later I glassed three large bulls (one of which I'm sure was the bull that dropped sheds I had just picked up) all with antler growth beyond their bez points, then I panned down the ridge and glassed a number of rag horns and spike that were sill holding. To answer the question about an elk with so much antler mass being able to grow it at the same rate as a deer, consider the body size difference. A bull elk can grow up to 2" of antler in day during periods in June.

Moose: All of the bull moose I've observed dropped their antlers in Dec. through the first part of Jan. That goes for here in MT, MN, Canada and Alaska. Moose are alot like the whitetail as far as shedding from large to small, no consistency.