Tag Archives: antlers

Time Of The Bloody Antlers

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There is a cycle that occurs in every living thing. Mule deer are no exception. Since his antlers fell off in late March and began growing again immediately, to sometime in early fall, this was mid-September when his antlers have reached their full growth, and the blood filled velvet covering them has gone beyond itchy to maddening, the Mule deer has completed one of the most important cycles of its life.

Right now he is at his most vulnerable. The velvet has been mostly cleaned off by rubbing and thrashing his antlers against the shrubs and bushes, tearing away the soft blood-filled velvet, leaving the antlers stained a deep dark red. The antlers are still hardening and he can’t afford an accident like sweeping them into a tree trunk or clashing with one of his herd mates. In fact as the blood rises in each of the bucks and they begin to feel the battle lust form they want to test the new antlers out on each other. Instead of charging each other and engaging their antlers as they would in full combat, they will often rise on their hind legs and paw at each other the way the doe’s do when they fight each other, not the most dignified behavior, but if they break an antler they are out of the game.

It is still a little early for that however, and the bucks congregate in small numbers of 6 to 10 or so to hang out in groups we call the Bachelor boys. That’s not scientific nomenclature but it is accurate. That lasts until a few weeks later when the cold has descended from the high peaks and the antlers have reached their full fighting readiness. The mating urge has risen and the fellowship has disappeared from the Bachelor boys and now it’s every buck for himself. They have disbanded and will challenge each other on sight if they have begun assembling a harem.

They’re still in fattening up mode right now, packing on weight so they’re ready to face any challenger. The time of the bloody antlers is drawing to a close. The rut is here, the doe’s are watching from the meadows edge, the primary bucks are done sizing the others up and before long you’ll hear the angry bellowing, the clash of strong antlers meeting each other in combat, and the cycle completes once again. The next time the antlers will be bloodied is during battle.

Golden Days

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What a difference a few months make. It was just six months ago and this bull elk was on top of the world, figuratively and literally. He was in his prime, he had bested every challenger that approached him and he had his pick of the cows. This was his time. Life couldn’t get any better for him.

That was then. Since those heady days he has faced a hard long winter. The snow has been deep, foraging hard, and his strength and weight has been depleted after a stressful rut. He is still lugging around nearly 40 pounds of antlers and has been throughout the winter. He needs to eat a lot to maintain the strength to hold his head up. Mid-March is when he normally sheds his antlers and it’s not a moment too soon for him.

A fellow named Kolten Banks was lucky enough to film an elk shedding his antlers. “Tines Up” a Utah-based hunting guide service, shared the footage this week. Here’s a link to the video.

Like the guy in the video says “How freakin’ cool is that?” Since this bull has made it this far there is a good chance he’ll make it to antler shedding time, and if he stays clear of the wolf packs he’ll soon be putting his weight back on, and will be busy growing a new set of antlers for the Fall.

This is a Yellowstone bull photographed a few miles outside of Mammoth. Judging by the size of his harem, which is grazing just outside of this frame, he did pretty good this past fall. But each year they all start fresh and there are always new young bulls with something to prove so the battles will be epic, as always.

The Bachelor Boys

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It is early fall at Great Sand Dunes National Park. The temperature is finally cooling down and the foliage is well on its way to completing it’s fall colors. The dunes are located down in southeastern Colorado and a few weeks ago you could have fried eggs on the rocks along the river bank. Actually the river that runs through the park and in front of the dunes is called Medano creek and is completely dry on the surface during late summer and fall. If you dig down a few inches though you’ll find damp sand any time of the year. In the spring it starts to flow again on the surface and you can easily wade across it without getting your pants wet.

It is surprising cold in the early morning at this time if year. I mean really cold. If you camp out you’ll want a pretty heavy sleeping bag and you’ll probably find frost on it when you wake up. That’s mainly due to the cold air flowing down from the snow-covered Sangre De Cristo mountains that border the dunes. By mid-morning though the heat starts to build up again but you’ll still need a light jacket.

These guys have already put on their winter wear and find the shade to be more comfortable than walking around out in the sunshine. They’re also conserving their strength as the rut hasn’t started yet. These are Mule deer and they grow considerable size antlers due to the mineral content they take in while they feed. It won’t be long before these friends will be battling each other for breeding rights and they won’t be hanging out together like this again until their antlers fall off in late winter. Right now they’re all buddies and will be until the blood starts rising in a few weeks.

This lush scene is located away from the dunes several hundred yards and isn’t the type of view you expect when you’re thinking about the 750′ tall sand dunes just across the river. The sand dunes are surrounded by snow-covered mountains and is exactly the type of habitat Mule deer live in so it isn’t unusual to find herds of mulies roaming all through the park. Right now these bachelor boys don’t have a lot to do and they’re making the most of it. This must be a great time of year to be mule deer.

If you want to see other posts that feature the dunes simply type sand dunes into the search box at the top of the page.

Velevet On Velvet Off

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Well it’s that time of year again. The trees are just showing the first inclination to put on their party colors and then denude themselves, the air is taking on that brisk tang in the morning that startles you into realizing fall is coming and change is in the cold morning wind. The guys are still staying together in the small groups they formed when the antlers fell in the middle of the winter, but they are beginning to eye each other warily now, friends are becoming deadly competitors, all truces are off and its time to get serious, boyos.

All summer long they’ve been growing their antlers, always being careful not to damage them, and now they itch and they’re turning hard and this damn velvet has to come off and right now. That best friend he’s been hanging with could very well be his next deadly adversary because these boys don’t fight for fun. The points on those antlers are sharp for a reason and they’re eager to put them to use. The stakes are pretty high in their world and its no holds barred when it comes down to who is going to come out of this in one piece.

This is the critical moment in their yearly cycle, its velvet on, velvet off and the bell is about to ring. There is no best man wins in this scenario, its more a matter of survival and that makes it serious in a way that these guys know only too well. Right now the blood has to dry and then the antlers need to be polished. Then its good luck to the one left standing.

The Navigator

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If you have ever wondered how those bull elk with their huge antlers navigate through the dense woods in the mountains where they live here’s a small example. The antlers on these big boys can grow to some truly incredible sizes, spanning 48 inches or more and growing to a length of four feet. They can weigh as much as 40 pounds. Imagine walking around with a 40 pound bag of dog food on your head and you get an idea as to why these guys tend to get grumpy in the fall. Well, we know there are other reasons too, but this has got to be right up there.

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Taking a look at this thicket of dense shrubs, small trees, larger trees, deadfalls, snags and everything else that makes up prime elk habitat, you wonder why would he even want to go in there.

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But there is no way to tell what is going on in an animal’s mind and we can only watch and wonder.

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The grass being greener in the middle of the woods he starts into the stand of trees, slowly moving forward with his head down, so preoccupied with getting as much of that new fresh grass in his stomach that he soon finds his antlers under a deadfall.

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I neglected to mention that those antlers are covered in a soft downy velvet that has a blood flow just under the surface to maintain the growing process and are very sensitive. These fellows takes a great deal of care not to bang into things or damage those antlers in any way. Now if that were one of us with our 40 pound bag of dog food strapped to our head but having it sticking out two feet on either side and connected to our central nervous system we would be ‘freaking out’.  Not this guy though, he knows to a millimeter where the ends of those antlers are and he slowly but carefully maneuvers them down and around that snag without the slightest hesitation. His neck muscles have to be incredibly strong to be able to constantly control the tilt and angle of that heavy load day in and day out until he drops them in mid-winter.

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Having conquered that little obstacle he heads off into the dense forest. If you watch elk at all you will often see them running through terrain like this. They will tip their antlers back laying them along their flanks and just bust through those trees. Of course they usually do that when the velvet is off and the antlers have hardened to the point where they can withstand everything a bull elk does, from digging into the ground to throw clumps of grass and debris into the air to show how tough he is, to actually proving it by smashing into another bull his size, crashing their antlers together, hoping to vanquish his foe and thereby capture the ladies.