dukemichaels wrote:I have been shed hunting for many.. many years. I've learned a lot from observation and from other shed hunters across the country. I've also been utilizing trailcams more regularly over the past 5 years.. with much heavier emphasis on scouting for bucks who have shed their antlers (that's right.. I use them mainly for this).
I think everyone in this thread is correct for the most part. It's a testosterone thing.. that seems to happen more or less quickly depending on the outside factors of food.. and travel stress after the rut.
And.. if you were to talk to any shed hunter who knows his/her salt about antlers.. they would more than likely tell you that the injured and 2 year old bucks are often the first to shed.
Why age two? Well.. if you utilize trailcams its pretty obvious to see that they are often the most mobile in the rut. In fact.. over the years I've gotten pretty good at guessing which buck(s) will drop early just by checking cams.
One of the farms I hunt is over 1500 acres of the worst ground you'll ever see. When I get a two year old to walk in front of the nearly 10 cameras on this farm inside of two.. three.. weeks. I know he's going to shed quickly.. as those 10 cams cover miles and miles of ground in between them. Those two year olds drop quick. And it happens repeatedly every year.
As far as dropping on the same date each year.. not wild deer. Penned raised deer with the same food sources and very little ground to cover sure.. but not wild deer.
My observations.. food and each individual bucks travel distances seem to be the greatest of factors. And they.. like someone stated.. likely directly effect testosterone.
I agree with your observation.... it is stress related for sure... more intense rutting = more stress, injury = stress, less food available = stress, deep snow with ice layer = nutritional stress, more deer to breed due to over abundance = stress
Some how stress equates to hormonal changes that cause casting of the antlers
In a controlled environment you eliminate most of the stress and timing of the drop has been shown to be consistent... not the case in wild deer. I have a PILE of sheds and history with many deer to prove that wild deer rarely drop the same day year to year. The date is from trailcams and not the day the antlers were picked up. I used to run up to 15 cams with friends in Dec-Mar... getting lazy I think we only have 3-4 out now
"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear