Drought Effects?

[Brushbuster]

Has anybody been able to see any drought effects on antler growth this year yet?

 

[BLooDTRaCKeR]

Nope. Everything hanging in my garage still looks the same.?

But in all seriousness, I am curious too, as I have not had a chance to make it out to my hunting spots this year. Been too busy with work and family.

 

[gwp4me2]

This should be a good antler year for much of the west. The winter was very mild allowing the animals to spend more energy in the spring on antlers rather than body recovery. The early spring also allowed for an earlier green up. What may have hurt is if the animals went into the fall in bad shape. I was out scouting over the weekend and where I was was lush and green. Most of the antler growth is done for the year. The dangerous cycle is if they don't go into the winter in great shape and we get a hard winter next year would be bad.

 

[Fallfreak]

This should be a good antler year for much of the west. The winter was very mild allowing the animals to spend more energy in the spring on antlers rather than body recovery. The early spring also allowed for an earlier green up. What may have hurt is if the animals went into the fall in bad shape. I was out scouting over the weekend and where I was was lush and green. Most of the antler growth is done for the year. The dangerous cycle is if they don't go into the winter in great shape and we get a hard winter next year would be bad.

Thanks gwp4. It's good to hear some positive news. I hope you are right and there are some great bulls and bucks to chase thus fall.

 

[Bigwiffy]

What drought???? Been cutting trenches all afternoon to keep it out if my basement, Southern Utah is flooding. Antler growth is phenomenal from what I've seen. They will finish out strong.

 

[BLooDTRaCKeR]

I will say the drought was similar last year in the area we hunted and my dad pulled out a bull that didn’t show any affects of poor antler growth. I think the majority of these animals I hunt live in alpine areas with springs that are well known by the animals….as well as good foraging areas.