Antler drop dates

[Dougfirtree]

When do deer tend to drop antlers in your neck of the woods? I picked up an SD card the other day, that I'd left out since early December. On it, I have pictures of bucks with antlers, a buck who has one antler left in mid-January and another that seems to have lost his by December 9th... That seems really variable to me. Anyone know more about this topic than I do? Is this an indicator of something?

 

[Bucksnuff]

February in East Texas

 

[D4570]

Feb or March I think here

 

[F250]

Varies. I have found them on top of the snow during our muzzle loader season in Vermont…first week of December. I seen some bucks in Late January still carrying them.

 

[Foggy Mountain]

There’s a lot of variables. Some years I’ve seen all kinds of bucks dropping Early December. I’ve seen them hard horned in March and once, this year actually, in April. Never even heard of that one but this is all within an hours drive

 

[Corax]

I remember reading that one factor is breeding activity which then causes testosterone levels to drop. Many years ago in NJ I picked up a large shed on Dec. 12.

 

[Foggy Mountain]

I’ve seen opening week in NJ where everyone was bringing horns to the check station in their pockets, my buddy being one of em. They’d be horned until they fell, than they’d fall off. Nothing those years had horns it seemed by 2nd week in Dec. That same year another buddy in Dec had a group driving muzzleloader season, killed 7 shed horn bucks. What a shame

 

[Gellar]

I usually find one or 2 in December, but the bulk of them are in March when the snow starts to melt from the fields, not that they lose them then, just the snow has melted enough to make it traversing. I’ve heard of people shooting bucks in January and when they grab the antlers they pop off.

 

[Fullquiver]

In my part of MI I have seen antlers drop as early as late November and I have seen hard horned deer in late April... Most lose their antlers in late December to early January..

 

[Corn king 60]

In SWPA I’ve found them in December but they usually come off February through March although I have seen them into April still carrying them. Our buck to doe ratio is a little heavy on the doe side and I have read that if there are still does cycling they will hang onto their horns

 

[Bc1992]

In west Alabama this past season I shot a buck in November that had already shed one side due to pedicle injury and found the shed while recovering a doe I shot on the same hunt almost 800 yards from where the buck stepped out at. I’ve found sheds in late January and I’ve seen bucks carry both sides well into April.

 

[antlerradar]

Whitetail start in mid Dec., most are shed by the end of Jan. but some will keep them into April.
Mule Deer start in Jan. Most are shed by the end of Feb. and some will keep them into April.
Elk start the first part of March, The bigger bulls are shed by the end of March and some of the young bulls will keep them into May.

 

[MarvB]

Was kinda late around central Oregon this year, still was seeing partial drops in late March

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

Pretty close to Valentine’s Day every year out here locally in CA

 

[WATERMAG]

Ohio it seams to be January-March. But of course will have outliers. MY brothers buck he shot this year mid November became a half rack when it hit the ground, but it had a nut injury (they were the size of softballs)

 

[bullbugle307]

Saw a few this year that were packing one antler in December. Normally, it seems like most deer I've watched drop anywhere from late February to April.

 

[Walkalot]

Deer usually may, elk june.