Learn more about Antlers

Antlers are SOOO incredibly interesting, at least I think, and most people don’t know very much about them. I love studying anatomy and physiology (hence the medical profession choice) and I always want to know why things happen the way they do. 

Antlers and horns often get confused, but antlers fall off (shed) every year, whereas horns stay on and grow throughout an animals lifespan. Antlers are on animals like deer, elk, moose etc. where horns are on cattle, sheep, bison etc. 

During the end of winter/beginning of spring every year animals shed their antlers due to the drop in testosterone levels at the end of their breeding season (rut). Throughout spring and summer they grow back their antlers at a pretty rapid rate. While they are growing back they are softer and covered in a fuzzy substance called velvet. At this time they are highly vascularized and that helps carry nutrient-rich blood so they can grow. They grow back larger every year usually. Right before rut in the fall the antlers harden and the velvet starts to fall off. This is when you will find rubs on trees from animals rubbing against them to help get the velvet off. 

All these sheds that fall off every year allow for people to shed hunt and find these amazing antlers in their habitat, all while the animal that created them is still alive. 

Source: All the long lessons growing up hunting with my dad.