Antler growth question

F

Firehunter

Guest
Just curious what you guys thoughts are as to when antlers are pretty much done growing? Where they are now as way of percentage of growth? And how much variation there is among bucks growth rates in the same area? Thanks
 
Elk are usually fairly close as far as their horn length goes.
I would say most of the bigger bulls are probably a good 70-80% grown out already if not more. Most elk will be done or close to being done growing by the end of July and I say MOST because there's obviously the exceptions. Deer on the other hand are more all over the place. Some of the smaller 3 and 4pts. will almost look like their done growing and will be standing next to a bigger buck that's only halfway done. Most grow around the same pace but deer won't be done growing until a few weeks into August and some after that. That's my knowledge anyway maybe wrong or right but that's what I typically have seen.
 
What you see is what you get by the first week in august with deer. A bit earlier than that for elk. I was looking at 8 bucks this morning of all age classes and horn growth progression, so there is some variation. You should know by now, however, who the studs are and who the duds are!
 
I'm with mathewsman. bucks shed at different times, so they will be done growing at different times also. I would say that by the first week in august they are done, except maybe some toads. but by the time the archery hunt starts, the bucks are done.
 
I am not so sure all bucks are done by the time Utahs archery hunt opens. A few years back my son shot a buck that was still balled up on his 4th points and the velvet was still carrying lots of . A few bucks are hard and clean by the first week of sept.The biggest bucks are usually the first to complete antler growth IMO.
 
I drove past an elk ranch in SE Idaho the other day and the big bulls were 95% grown. I would guess they are a but further along than the wild elk due to health and feed restraints.
 
I went out this morning scouting and saw a group of 4 bucks. I was focused on the one in front, that being a 4x4. Still looked like he had room to grow. He was very wide and still looked to have lots more upside.
 
I know at least one monster buck that was only about half grown by this date three years ago. We saw him on the 4th and he was just barely turning up, but by the 24th he was split on all forks and pretty well finished by the first part of August. Yet down the road a bit there was a nice non-typical that was almost totally done by the 4th of July. We saw both bucks on the archery hunt. The non-typical didn't look much different, but the monster 4 point had 30 guys sitting in his bed on opening day and we never saw him again. He was the biggest velvet buck I have ever seen, but he didn't put on the growth until late in the summer!
So who knows?
 

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