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When Whitetail Bucks Lose Their Velvet

When Do Bucks Lose Their Velvet?

It’s a common and important question hunters ask every year. When do bucks lose their velvet on their antlers? In short, it varies from buck to buck, but the transition from velvet-covered antlers to a “hard-horned” buck takes place in late-summer. The process of antler formation is said to be the most rapid growth known in the animal kingdom.

So, how does a white-tailed buck get such a huge quantity of minerals from his diet and into his antlers so rapidly? Well, they don’t. Yes, a white-tailed buck gets some of the minerals needed for antler growth from its diet. However, the remainder of the minerals needed come from the internal reserves found within its body.

Grow Antlers, Shed Antlers, Repeat

A whitetail buck can not get all the raw material it needs for this rapid growth of antlers from the food it eats that season. Instead, the deer must borrow it from within its body. In a process similar to that of osteoporosis in humans, minerals are taken from a buck’s ribs, sternum, and skull, and redeposited in growing antlers.

When do bucks lose their velvet?

It’s an amazing process. In fact, research has found that bone density may decrease by as much as 30 percent in whitetail bucks following the antler growing season! It also helps explain why mature bucks can grow larger antlers than their younger counterparts. The skeletal bones of a buck continues to grow until it is at least 3 years of age.

As a result, only older bucks can store more of the minerals need for antler growth in their bones. In addition, they also do not have a requirement to use them for skeletal growth. Many bucks will exhibit a significant increase in antler size at 4 years of age.

That is also why the big-antlered bucks always seem to be the heaviest bucks, as well — because they are! Good body condition within each deer found on a property is the key to maintaining a quality deer population in any area. That’s why I continually stress sound habitat management be implemented on your property so that the land can provide optimal year-round deer nutrition.

When Bucks Shed, Lose Their Velvet?

By about the first of September antler growth is generally complete in whitetail bucks across their range. Almost as if someone flipped a switch, bucks undergo a rapid transformation. When it happens, bucks shed the soft velvet from the exterior of their antlers and start to beef-up for the breeding season.

This is marked by a sharp rise in testosterone level that triggers a shutdown of the blood supply to the velvet, which results in velvet dying and being totally removed with amazing speed. The velvet will simply fall off, though many bucks because of increased testosterone levels will begin to rub on shrubs and small trees. Lose velvet hanging from shedding antlers can also be annoying, as witnessed in the video below:

Lastly, when I say velvet is lost fast, I mean fast. Velvet can be completely shed from a whitetail buck’s antlers within a day or two. In fact, I’ve seen an older age class buck with no sign of shedding velvet that was sporting completely clean antlers within 22 hours! Antlers are cool, but white-tailed deer are amazing in their own right.

Selective Whitetail Breeding Works in Texas

Texas allows the owners of high-fenced (game fenced) properties to operate under a Deer Management Permit (DMP) after meeting specific requirements. This permit allows DMP property owners to place 1 white-tailed buck and up to 20 white-tailed does in a breeding enclosure ranging between 5 to 100 acres for genetic “improvement” with the ultimate goal of increasing antler quality in bucks. After breeding, the deer must then be released onto the property and are considered “wild,” meaning they can not be recaptured.

A recent study at the King Ranch attempted to assess the effectiveness of the DMP by comparing antler scores of between pastures including DMP offspring and pastures without DMP offspring. To collect antler measurements by age class, white-tailed bucks were captured using helicopters and nets guns. Continue reading “Selective Whitetail Breeding Works in Texas”

Bag A Big White-tailed Buck Through His Stomach

No, we are not talking about a poorly placed shot here, but rather literally feeding to every buck’s primary need — food. Summer is a serious stress period for white-tailed deer. With that said, quality food is hard to find in many parts of the country right now, unless your area has been blessed with summer and late summer rainfall.

So, what do deer eat and how can you capitalize on hungry deer? Yes, yes, you know the answer is providing food, but you have two choices at this point. Do you wish to bait or actually provide supplemental feed the deer in your area? There is a difference and I’ve talked about baiting versus supplementing before. For those that are ate up with keeping deer in prime condition, most provide supplemental food year round through either food plots or free-choice protein.

Both of these options are fine, most deer managers even use them in combination, and they are ideal ways to promote the highest deer body conditions and support maximum antler growth, but what about some of the lease hunters or individuals that can not afford to provide supplementation throughout the year? Continue reading “Bag A Big White-tailed Buck Through His Stomach”

Late Summer: Time for Deer Surveys

Late summer is not just a stress period for wildlife, its also the time of year to survey white-tailed deer! If you regularly perform surveys on your property, you know the importance of conducting annual population estimates. For those of you that do not, surveys allow deer managers to get a snapshot of the local deer population just prior to hunting season. Without this information, it’s difficult to make harvest recommendations that fall in line with your management objectives.

The first piece of data you need going into the fall is a deer density estimate, or how many acres are available for each deer. In central Texas, where I am located, a good rule of thumb is to 8 to 10 acres of good deer habitat per deer. Free-choice supplemental feeding can drop that to about 6 acres per deer, but one thing to keep in mind is that typically as deer density goes up the quality of individual deer goes down.

The best way to estimate deer density is to perform spotlight surveys. The information collected during spotlight surveys not only includes the number of deer spotted during the census, but also the amount of acreage that was actually observed during the survey. For example, if you have a ranch that is 1,000 acres, you can visually see 200 acres during your census, and you count 20 deer, then you have 100 deer on your property. Without good visibility data the spotlight count data will be worthless. Continue reading “Late Summer: Time for Deer Surveys”

Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program

The Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) program as developed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) allows Texas landowners involved in a formal deer management program to have the state’s most flexible seasons and increased harvest opportunities. The MLDP program is incentive based and focused on habitat management. The program really is set up to help landowners manage white-tailed deer. Participation in the MLDP program requires a written Wildlife Management Plan (WMP) approved by a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologist. However, a TPWD biologist, a landowner, or a landowner’s designated agent may prepare the WMP. A WMP prepared by a landowner or an agent must be in a format approved by TPWD and submitted to TPWD for approval. Although the program seems to be set up to run with minimal paperwork, permits will not be issued unless the WMP has been approved.

There are 3 levels of MLDPs (Level 1, 2, and 3). Higher levels offer additional harvest flexibility to the landowner, but also have more stringent habitat management requirements. There is no fee or written application, other than the WMP, for the MLDP program. Landowners or their designated agents should contact their local TPWD Wildlife biologist to request permits, but don’t wait until right before deer season. New applicants should submit all required information to their local TPWD contact by August 15 if they want to receive their permits before hunting season opens.

Permits are issued by the TPWD biologists through the Texas Wildlife Information and Management System (TWIMS), a computer automated system. Permits are mailed out of Austin each year after a TPWD biologist enters or modifies a harvest recommendation in the database. By the way, permits are valid only for the specific ranch for which they were issued.

An approved WMP will include an annually updated harvest recommendation for does and/or bucks, dependant on the level of participation. The annual harvest recommendation will determine the number of permits to be issued and will establish the maximum harvest for the property. If permits are issued after the start of deer season, all deer harvested prior to permit issuance, regardless of permit level, must be counted towards the maximum quota. Subsequent survey data may indicate a need to amend the harvest recommendation, which could result in a supplemental issuance of MLDPs.

Once permits are issued, all deer harvested (with the exception of buck deer on Level 1 properties) on that property must be tagged with the appropriate MLDP. Completion of the hunting license log and use of a hunting license tag are not required for deer harvested under the authority of a MLDP, but since all deer must have the MLDP, harvest is stricly regulated and intended to meet a landowners objectives.

Providing reliable harvest data, including accurate ages as determined by tooth wear and replacement, is a requirement for program participation. A suggestion for untrained individuals is to remove and label one jawbone from every deer harvested for a wildlife biologist to age at a later date. Jawbones must be labeled in such a way that the biologist can identify the deer on the data sheet. Check this out for more information on the aging deer using the tooth wear technique.

Now, it’s time for specific information about TPWD’s MLDP program. This information is straight from TPWD’s website: Continue reading “Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program”