Extremely Early Antler Drop?

[Groundpounder]

Had a doe with a tank of a body come through at 15 yards tonight. I was amazed at how big she was right before I drew. It was silent in the woods tonight so when I drew she heard a little noise. I'm just about to shoot and she turns her head and I see bloody pedicles. It surprised me so much I did a double take and as she continued to walk I lost my opportunity to shoot. Walking away I could see that this deer was indeed sporting buck hardware between the back quarters.

Anyone else see a buck naturally drop anters this early? My first thought afterward was disease. I hunt a lot of cwd positive or nearby areas in Michigan. He looked healthy. Alert, over 200 lb body, no visible injuries.

Thoughts?

[BigAir]

I heard of a report in northern wisconsin of a buck shedding already as well? I know last year they seemed to lose them early with many shed before the end of the year. I believe if the buck had a hard rut along with this early onset extended cold that they get depleted to the point of early antler shedding, just my belief, no real research on the subject.

[218er]

Not sure on the biology of it but if the front end of winter is severe they’ll drop early. I’ve heard it has something to do with self preservation. I saw it about 5 years ago in northern mn on trail cams. There were all these random does with bulging necks and bloody heads on trail cams.

[218er]

Sure enough I just got a trail cam photo of a buck on Monday that appears to have dropped its antlers. It was cold awhile ago but it has been pretty seasonal typical with no snow on the ground currently. This photo is from just outside the twin cities area in mn.

[Hawthorne]

I had a 1.5 one year that was shed nov20. He had a injury to his face I think is what caused him to drop. I had that buck on trail cam the whole summer the next year. He was easy to identify due to his injury. He was about a 110” 10 point at 2.5. Sadly I found him dead on my property with healed over broken bones in his snout and a few missing teeth. His rack is hanging in my garage

[Dewey]

Not good with gun seasons coming up unless you hunt in a buck only zone or at least one that has extremely limited antlerless tags. Hate to see them get shot up and tagged as antlerless.

[P&YBuck1]

We live in southeastern Wi and my son just got trail camera of a small fork missing one of his antlers. You can zoom in to see the pedicle with blood on it, so interesting to wonder how gun hunting will go...