MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

Long time listener, first time caller.
how much tine length and mass do the bulls have left to grow? Or is what I'm seeing now about what I'm going to get?

Just saw a bull in Southern Utah a couple of days ago and what you see is PRETTY MUCH what your are going to get IMO.

Some of them should start rubbing in a couple of weeks. Pretty much what you see is what you get right now.

There is about a two week window between the time a bull is fully grown and when he sheds his velvet.
The outfitter i work for has a velvet elk hunt that we do and it's held around the 24th of july every year.
So yes, they are just about there right now, what you see is what you'll get at this point.
Can you beleive it's already elk season for somebody!!
Hunting elk in 100plus degree weather....

I have always heard that they will keep growing until they shed their vlevet, it isnt much but its some. anyone heard any truth to this?

9er

Last year in Colorado I saw some small bulls still in velvet on August 27th, so I am not sure when they start rubbing. Also saw some that had obviously rubbed off the velvet within a day before, antlers still bloody and white. That leads me to believe they will still grow some.

This is what I know about it (Granted, it's not much and although I BELIEVE I know what I'm talking about I MAY be wrong...and I'm sure someone will correct me...LOL):

The antler growth will stop shortly before they begin to shed the velvet (time varies slightly but usually a day to a few days). An internal signal based on testoterone fluctuations will cause the blood vessels within the velvet to constrict. This will in turn begin to "kill" the velvet and put the brakes on any antler growth. The antlers will actually stop growing and begin to solidy even before the velvet is completely dead (Once the blood flow lessens to a certain point the antlers can no longer grow). At this point the bull or buck will begin to "shed" the velvet...or more appropriately "scrape it off on anything and everything they can". The reason you still get the blood during the shedding process is because the velvet still has enough blood flow to "bleed" during the process...just not near as much as you would find during the growth stage.
The timing of the velvet shed will vary from animal to animal depending on maturity. Generally speaking, the younger males and older "past-thier-prime" males will shed the velvet last while the mature, breeding age animals will generally be the first. This is also why you get your "cactus bucks". For one reason or another thier testosterone fluctuations are messed up and they never get that internal "signal" to stop growing and begin shedding.
As for the coloring, this is caused by a number of factors. Blood is always part of the coloring process. The second is the type of vegetation that the buck or bull rubs on and the color of soil in the region. As a buck rubs on various types of brush, trees, and shrubs it helps to stain the antlers. I have also read that some say that exposure to sunlight can/does have an effect on coloring (lighter antlers in areas where the animal is exposed to more sunlight, darker in more dense areas). This is why most bucks and bulls from the same general location will have like-colored antlers. This is also why most antlers are fairly pale looking when they first begin to shed the velvet.

I hope this helps..and please, if you think I may be off base on any of this then let me know. I am an avid reader and sometimes will mix up stuff I've read over the years.

hey if it comes from AGC then i consider it as good as coming from the encyclopidia itself! [sounds pretty much like what i've heard/read too]

LOL...thanks Killer.

Actually, after making that post I went back and broke out a couple books and a study I have that were written about deer growth. One study indicated that velvet shedding may be triggered by nothing more than the overall health of the animal vice age. Since smaller or younger bucks and older "past-thier-prime" bucks are generally not as "healthy" as mature breeding age animals, they will shed later on in the process.
Just another twist on the subject although the results are the same. Just a different way of looking at it.

Yep sounds accurate to me, from my experience watch them in the velvet...mosty deer that is; they actually stop growing quite some time before the shed or rub the velvet off. By the end of July they are pretty much done. Now, they may have some slight tips to finish, but not to much IMO. They actually hold there velvet for close to a month in IMO before shedding, or am I up in the night.