Bucks dropping antlers early...

Is late January "early" to cast antlers? I mean, the rut is effectively over, right?

I think it's based on the light cycle - maybe the weather, if this is indeed considered early.



ETA: NVM - I see you're talking about something that happened a month ago. Disregard.

We have pictures from previous year of bucks in late March/early April with horns. Haven’t seen any this year that dropped early yet, but maybe the colder temps will get them back on track to drop earlier

I've seen old bucks drop them early (christmas time)

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Haven’t seen any this year that dropped early yet, but maybe the colder temps will get them back on track to drop earlier

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I haven't been in the woods in a long, long time. The cold is what I figured (first guess), but I see now OP was talking about a month ago, which would be pretty early.

I think it is related to the season, the light cycle triggers a reduction of testosterone at some point. Old bucks start out lower, which makes sense they would drop a little early. Cold might do it, too. The cycle makes sense - get them all in the mood to make little deer at the same time - so the rest of the time they can focus on survival. If they were expending energy on reproduction all the time (inefficiently) they would all starve - deer straddle a thin line between starvation and thriving as it is.

Humans are some of the very few mammals that have no true cycle - the "monthly" (lunar) cycle of women is relatively rare, meaning children can be conceived/born essentially 24/7, 365 ( ).

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All depends where you are. Bucks shed due to testosterone dropping

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Bingo. It all depends on when the peak breeding period is. Deer in the marsh breed early in the year and drop antlers first. The rest of the state it kind of varies because deer breed at different times depending on where they were restocked from 50-60 years ago.

I saw a buck yesterday in MS that dropped its horns. ~2 yr old if that matters

ETA
Also saw a one antlered spike the past few days

I stopped at a decent 6 point road kill yesterday south Mississippi. Kicked on his horns hoping they would fall off. Nope. Too early this far south

Climate change.

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I stopped at a decent 6 point road kill yesterday south Mississippi. Kicked on his horns hoping they would fall off.

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I don't know why, but this made me

Might be something to it. But harsh winters also mean browse is gone quicker. Nutrition is the most important thing. It can dictate dropping horns early.