Question from a reader: Mike, I hunt deer on a ranch in eastern Wyoming. Some of the bucks have blonde antlers; others have chocolate-brown racks. Why is this?  Seems like the dark antlers are slightly more common on bigger bucks. I've also seen this difference in the whitetails I've hunted back home in Minn.--Tim Tim, biologists say antler coloration is determined by several things, including: (1) buck age. younger bucks tend to have lighter-colored antlers. Older, more dominant bucks often have darker antlers. But this is not set in stone. (2) bark coloration of the predominant rubbing trees in a region. Bucks that rub light-colored trees, like aspen, have light antlers, while bucks that blaze pines and cedars with sap [...]

July: Zoom Month for Antler Growth  Velvet antler is the fastest-growing tissue in the mammal world. In mid-summer, each beam and tine may grow a quarter-inch per day, the process driven by a buck’s hormones, photoperiod and the availability of good forage. According to Missouri whitetail scientist Dr. Grant Woods, a buck’s rack will have developed most of its points by mid-June, and most of the beam length will fill in by late June into early July. “Those are general rules, but the growth of individual racks can vary,” he says. “Some bucks will show a lot of antler growth early, while others will add a bunch to their rack during July.” July is the zoom month. Right now, fast-growing [...]

In a recent study, Understanding Buck Movement, scientists at the vaunted Mississippi State Deer Lab found that each day during hunting season, mature bucks use many different resting and bedding areas rather than one major sanctuary. The MSU researchers tracked GPS-collared adult bucks and found out that they visit and revisit different “focal areas” within a property with varying levels of regularity throughout hunting season. While the biologists could not determine exactly why the bucks frequented these areas, they believe that, based on slow and concentrated movement data emitted from the tracking collars, that the bucks were most likely bedding and resting in one spot before getting up and moving to another focal area. Nearly all the adult bucks in [...]