The Hunting Beast

It's been a hot summer here in south west WI..... Does anybody know, will that hurt the growth of antlers for the year ? I mean, it's always hot in the south like Texas, and they still get some big racks down there, maybe it doesn't matter ?

I have no science to back up my claim, but I believe any type of stress will affect antler growth, just don't know how much. I would assume the longer the heat wave the more it will affect it. As for the Texas Deer, they have probably adapted to the heat, just like northern bucks have adapted to the cold. Just my .02.

I personally think it does have an effect. If the buck is constantly playing catch-up with hydration then I would think that is taking at least a minimal amount of nutrients from growing the hardware.

[ Post made via Android ]

If there wasn't much water available in the area I could see if having an effect but if the deer have plenty of water in the area I don't think you will notice much of a change.

headgear wrote:If there wasn't much water available in the area I could see if having an effect but if the deer have plenty of water in the area I don't think you will notice much of a change.

X2

I believe it has an effect... How much? Who knows, we need a study to find that out... I believe its mostly the drought and how it effects the plants the deer eat. I think it could be hot, but have a lot of rain and the effect would be less damaging... When you refferance deer from "Texas" remember that texas whitetails are a sub-species that are different from our northern deer. They are smaller and more adapted to taking higher heat and drought... Our Whitetails in the North are bigger animals that have to put on a lot of fat over the summer to build up for the winter. Heat and drought effects them differently.

If an animal is stressed by heat it could very well effect antler growth.

Dan is correct. The heat is stressful but not nearly as much as drought condition in which it effects food source quality especially during the critical stages of antler development. The difference between Texas and midwest deer is the difference in diet not heat. Dr. Grant Woods is predicting 20-30% reduction in potential development for antlers this year based on the drought conditions he is experiencing in Arkansas.

Stanley wrote:If an animal is stressed by heat it could very well effect antler growth.

Stanley! Welcome to the beast.

[ Post made via Android ]

I think it will but I don't think too many places in the upper midwest are in drought conditions. There are still plenty of creeks, ponds, lakes, etc to keep them going. Even when it got really hot here for a few weeks we still had dew on the grass in low lying areas, which would be enough to keep a deer going.

Last year was an exceptional growth year throughout the MidWest... this year not as good, but still producing whoppers in the right areas

I thought horn growth was up this year in Eastern WI. Bucks look to be finished up growing around my neck of the woods.