Conservation Corner: December 31, 2001

Antlers, Not Horns
by James L. Cummins

In many deer camps throughout Mississippi, it is not uncommon to hear someone refer to a whitetail buck's headgear as "horns". In reality those "horns" are actually antlers. In fact, I even had to correct my father when he was defining a "rub" to my nephew, Parker, this past Thanksgiving. There is a difference.

Horns are made of a bony core covered by thin layers of keratin. Horns are slow growing and permanent and are usually grown by both sexes. Horns grow in yearly rings which may be an age indicator.

Antlers, on the other hand, are made of fast growing bone and are shed every year (except in rare cases). Antlers are usually grown by males and are branched instead of singular like a cow horn.

White-tailed bucks in Mississippi grow their first set of antlers during the first 1 1/2 years of their life and generally that first set of antlers are spikes. Young deer are growing rapidly during this time and most of their nutritional intake is used in muscle and bone development. In cases where young deer have excellent sources of nutrition, it is not uncommon for a 1 1/2 year old deer to have six or maybe even eight points.

A whitetail buck's antlers begin to grow around June. During this growing period the antlers are covered in a soft skin which is called "velvet". The velvet is made up of blood vessels which supply calcium, phosphorus, and protein to the growing antlers. By October the antlers are usually completely formed and are no longer growing. When this occurs the blood vessels begin to dry up and the velvet detaches from the antlers.

Bucks speed up this process by rubbing their antlers on trees. This rubbing process also helps to polish the antlers and strengthen the bucks neck muscles which will be important during the rut.

A whitetail buck's antlers generally increase in size with each year of his life, dependant on availability of food and nutritional intake. After about 4 and 1/2 years, a bucks body will stop growing and almost all nutritional resources will go into antler development. If a whitetail buck is allowed to mature to this age, this is when he can really grow some impressive antlers. Whitetail bucks in the wild will generally peak out around their 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 year and from then on antler growth usually diminishes.

Around late February a buck will shed his antlers due to a change in hormone levels following the end of the rut. But these shed antlers do not go to waste. The shed antlers provide a rich source of nutrients (calcium and phosphorous) to small mammals such as squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents.

Learning more about Mississippi's fish, wildlife, and plant resources will enable us to be better stewards of these precious resources. Spread the word.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.