The Antler Growth Timeline

New growth is all around us, as the trees are budding, flowers are blooming and young animals are being born in the woods around us. It’s a truly beautiful and exciting time of year, but I’d think its even more exciting for hunters than for most. As May is beginning, bucks across the United States are starting to visibly be putting back on their head gear and who doesn’t like to see that! Antler growth is truly an amazing thing. I read somewhere that antlers are the fastest growing living tissue in the animal kingdom, growing even faster than cancerous cells. Over the next couple months watch for significant growth on your local buck’s antlers. Below I’ve laid out the basics of how much antler growth you should see over the course of the next couple months. So get out those trail cams and binoculars and make sure to track your bucks this summer as they develop their newest rack. If you’ve found the right buck and if you’re lucky,  maybe they’ll be his last.

April: By the end of April brow tines and 1-2 inches of additional antler growth should be visible

May: Look for visible G2′s and antler beams should be at about half their final length

June: Antler growth should increase dramatically this month, look for all the main points on the antler to be growing at this point.

July: Antlers should be fully formed by the end of July

August: Blood flow to the antlers will cease and the hardening process will begin.  Toward late August peeling of velvet should begin.

September: Peeling of velvet continues and should be complete by the end of the month.

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2. Aging Deer On the Hoof
3. Knowing is Half the Battle: A Guide to Public Land Colorado