At the end of the day, the best way to go shed antler hunting is to lace up the hunting boots and hit prime spots at the right time of the year. The new antlers are usually complete by early September, well before the rut, the deer family’s breeding season. This is an interesting question – actually two interesting questions: can taking deer antler velvet hurt you, and can taking IGF hurt you? Shed Hunting the Hard Way . by Tom Kalinowski. Antler velvet is a nutritional supplement made from deer or elk antlers. No not really. This is also the time when reindeer rubbing their antlers against tree trunks is a common sight. Check these places for fresh sign. The velvet dries out mostly but it does have some life in it still. Compare it to a scab on your self. Antlers can get very bloody when shedding the velvet. This process does not hurt the deer. When he stepped out from behind the sage into the clearing I saw the reason for his erratic gait: His right foreleg appeared to be broken. It has anti-inflammatory properties and is rich in some of the ‘building blocks’ of cartilage. The velvet is NOT totally dry and the WILL bleed when shedding the velvet. Contributing Factors. Antlers harden in late summer and then shed their velvet once they quit growing. The antler regeneration and shedding cycle follow one another, before and after every mating season. The velvet dries and falls away when its blood supply ends. Female deer do not usually shed their antlers. Bucks often hasten the process by rubbing their antlers against trees or brush, possibly because the dying velvet causes an itching sensation. Remember, most mature bucks have four-finger-wide tracks. When Whitetail Deer Antlers Lose Their Velvet. Velvet stays on antlers for just over four months, when males will start rubbing up against trees and bushes to remove it—a behavior that turns their antlers brown. It actually itches more than it hurts. Nothing can safely beat walking through large bedding areas or winter food plots (e.g., standing corn or soybean fields) for finding shed antlers. There was … He was a young buck, the nubs of his antlers still in velvet. When the antlers are ready to be shed , the blood supply is automatically cut off. The same situation goes for deer with declining physical conditions. 1 Comment. Wounded or injured deer usually cast their antlers earlier than normal because injuries activate the osteoclasts cells early. It is quite common for a small buck with only spikes or 4 points to loosen the velvety skin and completely shed this covering in a single scraping session. It has no major side-effects, but based on the results of two RCTs, there’s no evidence to suggest that antler velvet is effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis . At the start of mating season, they begin to shed this velvet layer, leaving them with shiny new antlers to intimidate and take down … In addition to this, the antlers of a female deer have lesser branches. Some deer shed their antlers earlier or later than normal depending on different factors. And the area should be littered with rubs if they’ve shed velvet. The velvet then withers, shrivels and falls off. He was moving slowly, and for a deer, rather inelegantly. Regardless, hang a camera if it looks good and set up another observation stand. This is because female deer either lack antlers or their antlers are smaller in size. I've seen a deer knock it's antlers off on a tree (they do this every year) and it definitely was in some pain afterwards -- but I'm sure it feels better right away. The antlers will get stained with blood. It hurts to an extent, but in the same way itching a scab does. 1 Deer Antler Shed: Gender. 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