Horn Growing Season

[grizzly]

What is the optimal weather situation for antler growth?

I have heard a wet spring vs. a dry spring can vary elk antlers by as much as 30" in arid areas like Southern Utah and Arizona.

What is the most important factor in antler growth, above-average winter snowpack or rain during spring/summer? Which months are the crucial ones?

I just don't understand how this works.

Grizzly

PS. Tristate, please be an adult and respect my wishes that you do not respond to any of my posts. I, in turn, will do you the courtesy of not responding to any of yours. I simply do not wish to converse with you.

 

[TOPGUN]

For an animal to grow a good rack or horns, it first of all has to go into Spring in decent physical shape. If it had a tough winter, it will be putting everything it eats into it's body to try and get back into good physical shapeand the horn/rack growth will suffer. If it goes into Spring in good shape and the forage is good with the needed moisture right on through the summer growing season, then you have optimal conditions for some good bone in the Fall. I would not doubt that 30" statement you mentioned about elk, but that really isn't that much when you think what just several inches shorter on each tine and beam length could amount to.

 

[desertbonehunter]

I saw last year 1st hand in Nevada how much moisture has to do with antler growth in deer. During the 2011 season, it was a really good wet spring and early summer, and I had a deer tag that year, the antler growth was exceptional. The buck I eventually killed, we found him on July 4th and he was a great buck, we figured a little over 200. When I ended up killing toward the end of August, he exploded in that last month and ended up at 226 and change. There was another buck that never got killed that year, his sheds were later found and he grossed 243. The next year (2012) every buck in this area suffered like I never could have guessed. Every buck that we had found both years lost 20 inches or more. And the buck that was 243 was killed. At 205"!!! We had ZERO rainfall all spring, we had the worst winter I can ever remember, pretty much no snow, and we didnt get any rain until after the Fourth of July, I believe it was too little too late at that point. I couldnt believe it, bucks that were 190"-200" inch bucks the previous year were 160-175" bucks.