Pardon my ignorance, I love camping, hiking, fishing, etc, but I don't know much about the yearly cycles of large animals in the forest, cause hunting isn't my bag. Do large antlered animals lose their antlers every year? I know deer grow from spikes and go from there, forked horns, etc, but do they shed their antlers every year? Do all antlered animals do this? Elk, moose, jackalope? :new_tonguesmiley:
My thinking is that if the antlers fall off, which I think they do (going by the limited info I know), what happens to the antlers? If they are removed by the owning animal, what happen to them? Do they disentigrate? Eaten by other animals (bone-like) I doubt that.
Or do they stay on the head year after year? Do they spend the winter with their yearly growth, and then the antlers continue growing? That would make sense, too, because the bigger the trophy for hunters, the better. But does a 30 year old elk have 30 year old antlers, or do they grow back every year? Fill me in here, help me expand my knowledge.
Full Version: Deer, Moose, Elk, etc...
Typically they are collected by a group of volunteers each spring and sent to recycling plants where they are mixed with various polymers to create synthetic composite materials used in the aerospace industry.
Whatever is not collected is eaten by rats, as they contain high mineral and salt content.
Whatever is not collected is eaten by rats, as they contain high mineral and salt content.
Bucks shed their antlers every year after the rut is over with. I have seen pictures of winter bucks still holding onto their antlers as late as Jan/Feb but those are rare. Once shed the antlers are broken down by the normal natural processes such as insects, varmits, etc. that break down all animal remains.
Deer, elk and moose all shed antlers in late winter/early spring with the exception of female caribou. Caribou females are the only one of the deer species (to my knowledge) that have antlers. They lose them later to protect themselves and their calves from the males.
Generally speaking antlers get larger with each succesive year but it does depend on the health of the animal. They do peak at some point.
Shed antlers are eaten by rodents and other scavengers.
Here's a website I just googled that might help too: http://netgeist.com/antlers.htm
Redwolf
Generally speaking antlers get larger with each succesive year but it does depend on the health of the animal. They do peak at some point.
Shed antlers are eaten by rodents and other scavengers.
Here's a website I just googled that might help too: http://netgeist.com/antlers.htm
Redwolf
Great link, Redwolf, I appreciate it. It answered my question. Nobody knows. Science has no definative idea why certain species lose their antlers. Lots of speculation ( do you see me taking this and running with it yet...?)
So all antlering animals shed their antlers every year. Thanks, guys, that ends one of my mental qwandries...(if that's a word)
The deer, elk, moose, etc, that survive the hunting season shed their antlers in the winter, yes?
At that time the shed antlers would be on the forest floor.
So, at the end of every winter season, the forest should have (more or less, depending on the population) antlers laying around.
But then the mice and other varmints do their thing. So by the next spring, all the antlers shed in the previous winter (2-3 months?) have been decomposed, eaten, picked up, whatever. Right?
So all antlering animals shed their antlers every year. Thanks, guys, that ends one of my mental qwandries...(if that's a word)
The deer, elk, moose, etc, that survive the hunting season shed their antlers in the winter, yes?
At that time the shed antlers would be on the forest floor.
So, at the end of every winter season, the forest should have (more or less, depending on the population) antlers laying around.
But then the mice and other varmints do their thing. So by the next spring, all the antlers shed in the previous winter (2-3 months?) have been decomposed, eaten, picked up, whatever. Right?
I gotcha antler sheddin' info right here............
How antlers grow and why they are shed each year is a source of wonder and curiosity. Antlers are one of nature's most remarkable accomplishments. Deer, which are capable of re-growing antlers every year, are the only mammals with the capacity to regenerate these complex appendages. The speed at which antlers grow also makes them the fastest growing structures in the animal kingdom.
Antler growth in bucks begins when they are fawns, however, buck fawns never grow antlers larger than short "buttons," or pedicles, which on rare occasions become hardened. These pedicles then develop into the buck's first spike, or branched antlers, when he is a yearling (1-1/2 years old). Antler size then continues to increase each additional year, normally peaking at age 6-1/2.
Deer farmers discovered that if buck fawns were castrated before pedicle formation, they would never grow antlers. If females are given testosterone, small pedicles develop on their forehead that occasionally further develop into hardened antlers. Scientists have even succeeded in growing antlers on the legs and hips of deer by grafting a portion of the skull bone, where the pedicle forms, to these areas!
Bucks begin growing their antlers in late winter or early spring, within weeks of when the previous year's antlers are shed. Antlers grow very slowly at first, but by late May, they begin growing rapidly. Antler growth is usually complete by the end of August. The velvet then hardens and falls off during September. The hardened, polished antlers remain until they are shed sometime between January and March.
Why are there annual cycles in antler growth?
Believe it or not, the 23-degree tilt of the Earth's axis is the cause for the annual cycles in deer antlers. If the earth were perpendicular in it's orbit around the sun, there would be no changes in temperature and day length and no need for calendars. This tilt is what causes the annually recurring seasons. Deer have adapted their physiology and behavior to these seasonal changes.
The environmental cue that regulates antler growth is the amount of daylight, or photoperiod. The physiological cue is the male hormone testosterone. The way this works is complicated, but changing daylight periods are sensed by the eyes, which send this message, via the optic nerve, to the pineal gland. The pineal gland, a pea-sized organ at the back of the brain, produces many different hormones. One hormone produced is the luteinizing hormone, which controls the amount of testosterone produced in the testes.
The pineal gland also produces a hormone called melatonin, which acts to suppress the production of luteinizing hormone, holding back production of testosterone. Melatonin is produced in higher and higher quantities as the amount of darkness during each day increases. During early summer, as nights get shorter and days get longer, the production of melatonin decreases, allowing the pituitary to produce the luteinizing hormone. Increased amounts of this hormone then result in increased testosterone production, which triggers the antlers to harden and the velvet to shed. Unlike antler shedding, velvet shedding usually occurs within a 24-hour period.
The antler cycle lags several months behind the changes in day length because the hormonal changes take time. During the fall, shorter days cause melatonin production to increase, resulting in the decreased production of both luteinizing hormone and testosterone. Decreasing testosterone levels then cause the antlers to shed.
Can the cycles be altered?
When day length cycles are artificially changed, deer grow antlers according to the new cycle. Scientists have shortened day length cycles to six months in stead of one year. This doubling of the annual cycle caused deer to grow two separate sets of antlers in the same year! When scientists tripled the annual cycle (one annual cycle completed every three months), bucks grew three sets of antlers in one year, but the antlers only grew to about half of their normal size. Scientists have also lengthened day cycles, causing deer to grow antlers every other year. These antlers still only grew to normal size, but the length of time bucks are in velvet increases.
In the past, scientists have also relocated deer from one hemisphere to another, such as the transplanting of different deer species from North America and Europe (northern hemisphere) to New Zealand (southern hemisphere). These transplanted deer adapted their antler cycles to the opposite day length cycles of the new hemisphere even though temperatures at the new location decrease as day length increases. Deer that live on the equator, where there are no seasonal fluctuations in day length, are able to breed year round. However, breeding and antler growth in individual animals still occur on 12-month cycles that depend on the animal's birth date.
Why do antlers shed?
In the past, it was believed that deer withdrew to secluded places to shed their antlers in order to avoid the loss of virility in "public." However, it is likely that deer are unaware of when they will lose their antlers. Antlers are shed when a thin layer of tissue destruction, called the abscission layer, forms between the antler and the pedicle. This layer forms as a result of the decrease in testosterone. As the connective tissue is dissolved, the antler loosens and is either broken free or falls off on its own. This degeneration of the bone-to-bone bond between the antler and the pedicle is the fastest deterioration of living tissue known in the animal kingdom.
In whitetails, a restricted diet has been found to cause bucks to shed their antlers early. It has been suspected that the lack of adequate nutrition somehow affects testosterone output. Nutritionally stressed bucks may also grow their antlers and shed their velvet later. Older-aged bucks are thought to shed their antlers earlier than younger bucks.
It has also been reported that higher-ranked (more dominant) bucks cast their antlers sooner than lower-ranked (subordinate) bucks. Older-aged more dominant bucks probably shed their antlers sooner because of the high energy costs incurred in maintaining a higher dominance rank. Large caribou bulls that are stressed may even shed their antlers following the breeding season, while female caribous (the only female deer that grow antlers) do not shed their antlers until the calving season during the following spring.
The farther deer are from the equator, the more defined their antler cycle. In other words, northern deer have a shorter "window" when antler shedding can occur, compared to deer herds in southern states. In addition, the specific date when a buck will shed his antlers may be determined more by his individual antler cycle than any other factor. This cycle is independent of other bucks and is believed to be centered on each animal's birth date.
Penned deer studies have allowed scientists to measure the exact dates of antler shedding for individual deer year after year. One study in Mississippi found that individual bucks usually shed their antlers at the same time each year and almost always during the same week. yearling bucks with only spike antlers shed sooner than yearling bucks with forked antlers, likely because they were more nutritionally stressed than fork-antlered bucks. This study also indicated there was a relationship between antler mass and date of antler shedding, although other studies have shown that bucks shed their antlers earlier as they grow older. Additional penned studies have also revealed that bucks usually shed both antlers within one to three days of each other.
Bucks maintained on artificially high levels of testosterone after the breeding season do not shed their antlers until testosterone levels are allowed to decrease. In bucks that are castrated while they have hardened antlers, the antlers are soon shed because of the immediate decrease in testosterone, regardless of the breeding season. If bucks are castrated while the antlers are still in velvet, the antlers will not harden and the velvet does not shed. If bucks are castrated after they have cast their antlers and after they have reached one year of age, the antlers will grow, but the buck will never receive the hormonal cue to rub-out and his antlers will remain in the velvet stage.
Although there is no clear evidence that weather directly affects antler shedding, it is likely that severe winters may also cause bucks to shed their antlers earlier than normal because of the nutritional stress this causes.
The purpose of shedding
We have examined the environmental and physiological changes that occur to cause bucks to shed their antlers every year, but we still haven't addressed the purpose of shedding antlers. Why do bucks spend so much energy in growing antlers, only to shed them a few months later, forcing them to re-invest an enormous amount of energy to re-grow the antlers again the following year? Why don't deer antlers stay attached and continue to grow throughout life like the horns of sheep, goats and cattle? Scientists have pondered these same questions for many years and still do not know the answers. However, several theories have been developed to explain the purpose of shedding antlers every year.
One of the most common theories is that bucks shed their antlers annually so that they have the potential to replace any damage to antlers that may have occurred in the form of broken tines or a broken main beam. This theory that antlers are shed to compensate for anticipated breakage seems valid because antlers are extremely important in display for acquiring females and because they are used during dominance fights with other bucks. If a buck breaks a main beam and is not able to replace that antler, he may not be able to acquire future breeding privileges. A related theory suggests that bucks shed antlers the following year, in order to keep pace with their increasing body size. This theory is based on the fact that antlers quickly mature into non-growing structures before the buck is able to attain full body size.
Another theory suggests that antlers are shed in order to stop the dieback process that occurs at the junction of the pedicle and antler from traveling down into the skull. Yet another theory suggests that antlers are shed to eliminate any danger that antlered bucks may hurt newborn fawns, which are normally dropped after bucks have shed their antlers.
An evolutionary theory suggests that antler shedding developed in the primitive antlers of ancestral deer from temperate zones. Antlers of deer in these colder climates would have been vulnerable to freezing if they were not shed. The only way to prevent freezing would have been to stop the blood supply to antlers before the onset of winter.
Another possible theory suggests that deer shed their antlers due to exhaustion and emaciation caused by the breeding season. It is thought that ancestral males shed their antlers so that they were able to mimic the healthier, non-antlered females. It is thought that this reduced their vulnerability to predation because predators may have actively searched for antlered males due to their weakened condition. One final theory simply suggests that antlers are shed each year as an energy-conserving measure so that males don't have the added weight from the antlers to carry outside of the breeding season. Antlers are cumbersome and energy-expensive structures that are not needed after the breeding season. However, for this to be true, it must also be true that re-growing the antlers is less energy-expensive than maintaining the antlers through the winter.
One theory states that antlers are shed simply because of an accident of evolutionary chance. In other words, there is no real reason why antlers are shed. Antlers are different from horns, not because they need to be, but because of different evolutionary origin.
Which of these theories is right? Who knows for sure? Maybe the answer is a combination of these theories or maybe none of these theories is the actual answer. Hopefully, scientists will be able to unravel this great mystery in the future.
__________________
How antlers grow and why they are shed each year is a source of wonder and curiosity. Antlers are one of nature's most remarkable accomplishments. Deer, which are capable of re-growing antlers every year, are the only mammals with the capacity to regenerate these complex appendages. The speed at which antlers grow also makes them the fastest growing structures in the animal kingdom.
Antler growth in bucks begins when they are fawns, however, buck fawns never grow antlers larger than short "buttons," or pedicles, which on rare occasions become hardened. These pedicles then develop into the buck's first spike, or branched antlers, when he is a yearling (1-1/2 years old). Antler size then continues to increase each additional year, normally peaking at age 6-1/2.
Deer farmers discovered that if buck fawns were castrated before pedicle formation, they would never grow antlers. If females are given testosterone, small pedicles develop on their forehead that occasionally further develop into hardened antlers. Scientists have even succeeded in growing antlers on the legs and hips of deer by grafting a portion of the skull bone, where the pedicle forms, to these areas!
Bucks begin growing their antlers in late winter or early spring, within weeks of when the previous year's antlers are shed. Antlers grow very slowly at first, but by late May, they begin growing rapidly. Antler growth is usually complete by the end of August. The velvet then hardens and falls off during September. The hardened, polished antlers remain until they are shed sometime between January and March.
Why are there annual cycles in antler growth?
Believe it or not, the 23-degree tilt of the Earth's axis is the cause for the annual cycles in deer antlers. If the earth were perpendicular in it's orbit around the sun, there would be no changes in temperature and day length and no need for calendars. This tilt is what causes the annually recurring seasons. Deer have adapted their physiology and behavior to these seasonal changes.
The environmental cue that regulates antler growth is the amount of daylight, or photoperiod. The physiological cue is the male hormone testosterone. The way this works is complicated, but changing daylight periods are sensed by the eyes, which send this message, via the optic nerve, to the pineal gland. The pineal gland, a pea-sized organ at the back of the brain, produces many different hormones. One hormone produced is the luteinizing hormone, which controls the amount of testosterone produced in the testes.
The pineal gland also produces a hormone called melatonin, which acts to suppress the production of luteinizing hormone, holding back production of testosterone. Melatonin is produced in higher and higher quantities as the amount of darkness during each day increases. During early summer, as nights get shorter and days get longer, the production of melatonin decreases, allowing the pituitary to produce the luteinizing hormone. Increased amounts of this hormone then result in increased testosterone production, which triggers the antlers to harden and the velvet to shed. Unlike antler shedding, velvet shedding usually occurs within a 24-hour period.
The antler cycle lags several months behind the changes in day length because the hormonal changes take time. During the fall, shorter days cause melatonin production to increase, resulting in the decreased production of both luteinizing hormone and testosterone. Decreasing testosterone levels then cause the antlers to shed.
Can the cycles be altered?
When day length cycles are artificially changed, deer grow antlers according to the new cycle. Scientists have shortened day length cycles to six months in stead of one year. This doubling of the annual cycle caused deer to grow two separate sets of antlers in the same year! When scientists tripled the annual cycle (one annual cycle completed every three months), bucks grew three sets of antlers in one year, but the antlers only grew to about half of their normal size. Scientists have also lengthened day cycles, causing deer to grow antlers every other year. These antlers still only grew to normal size, but the length of time bucks are in velvet increases.
In the past, scientists have also relocated deer from one hemisphere to another, such as the transplanting of different deer species from North America and Europe (northern hemisphere) to New Zealand (southern hemisphere). These transplanted deer adapted their antler cycles to the opposite day length cycles of the new hemisphere even though temperatures at the new location decrease as day length increases. Deer that live on the equator, where there are no seasonal fluctuations in day length, are able to breed year round. However, breeding and antler growth in individual animals still occur on 12-month cycles that depend on the animal's birth date.
Why do antlers shed?
In the past, it was believed that deer withdrew to secluded places to shed their antlers in order to avoid the loss of virility in "public." However, it is likely that deer are unaware of when they will lose their antlers. Antlers are shed when a thin layer of tissue destruction, called the abscission layer, forms between the antler and the pedicle. This layer forms as a result of the decrease in testosterone. As the connective tissue is dissolved, the antler loosens and is either broken free or falls off on its own. This degeneration of the bone-to-bone bond between the antler and the pedicle is the fastest deterioration of living tissue known in the animal kingdom.
In whitetails, a restricted diet has been found to cause bucks to shed their antlers early. It has been suspected that the lack of adequate nutrition somehow affects testosterone output. Nutritionally stressed bucks may also grow their antlers and shed their velvet later. Older-aged bucks are thought to shed their antlers earlier than younger bucks.
It has also been reported that higher-ranked (more dominant) bucks cast their antlers sooner than lower-ranked (subordinate) bucks. Older-aged more dominant bucks probably shed their antlers sooner because of the high energy costs incurred in maintaining a higher dominance rank. Large caribou bulls that are stressed may even shed their antlers following the breeding season, while female caribous (the only female deer that grow antlers) do not shed their antlers until the calving season during the following spring.
The farther deer are from the equator, the more defined their antler cycle. In other words, northern deer have a shorter "window" when antler shedding can occur, compared to deer herds in southern states. In addition, the specific date when a buck will shed his antlers may be determined more by his individual antler cycle than any other factor. This cycle is independent of other bucks and is believed to be centered on each animal's birth date.
Penned deer studies have allowed scientists to measure the exact dates of antler shedding for individual deer year after year. One study in Mississippi found that individual bucks usually shed their antlers at the same time each year and almost always during the same week. yearling bucks with only spike antlers shed sooner than yearling bucks with forked antlers, likely because they were more nutritionally stressed than fork-antlered bucks. This study also indicated there was a relationship between antler mass and date of antler shedding, although other studies have shown that bucks shed their antlers earlier as they grow older. Additional penned studies have also revealed that bucks usually shed both antlers within one to three days of each other.
Bucks maintained on artificially high levels of testosterone after the breeding season do not shed their antlers until testosterone levels are allowed to decrease. In bucks that are castrated while they have hardened antlers, the antlers are soon shed because of the immediate decrease in testosterone, regardless of the breeding season. If bucks are castrated while the antlers are still in velvet, the antlers will not harden and the velvet does not shed. If bucks are castrated after they have cast their antlers and after they have reached one year of age, the antlers will grow, but the buck will never receive the hormonal cue to rub-out and his antlers will remain in the velvet stage.
Although there is no clear evidence that weather directly affects antler shedding, it is likely that severe winters may also cause bucks to shed their antlers earlier than normal because of the nutritional stress this causes.
The purpose of shedding
We have examined the environmental and physiological changes that occur to cause bucks to shed their antlers every year, but we still haven't addressed the purpose of shedding antlers. Why do bucks spend so much energy in growing antlers, only to shed them a few months later, forcing them to re-invest an enormous amount of energy to re-grow the antlers again the following year? Why don't deer antlers stay attached and continue to grow throughout life like the horns of sheep, goats and cattle? Scientists have pondered these same questions for many years and still do not know the answers. However, several theories have been developed to explain the purpose of shedding antlers every year.
One of the most common theories is that bucks shed their antlers annually so that they have the potential to replace any damage to antlers that may have occurred in the form of broken tines or a broken main beam. This theory that antlers are shed to compensate for anticipated breakage seems valid because antlers are extremely important in display for acquiring females and because they are used during dominance fights with other bucks. If a buck breaks a main beam and is not able to replace that antler, he may not be able to acquire future breeding privileges. A related theory suggests that bucks shed antlers the following year, in order to keep pace with their increasing body size. This theory is based on the fact that antlers quickly mature into non-growing structures before the buck is able to attain full body size.
Another theory suggests that antlers are shed in order to stop the dieback process that occurs at the junction of the pedicle and antler from traveling down into the skull. Yet another theory suggests that antlers are shed to eliminate any danger that antlered bucks may hurt newborn fawns, which are normally dropped after bucks have shed their antlers.
An evolutionary theory suggests that antler shedding developed in the primitive antlers of ancestral deer from temperate zones. Antlers of deer in these colder climates would have been vulnerable to freezing if they were not shed. The only way to prevent freezing would have been to stop the blood supply to antlers before the onset of winter.
Another possible theory suggests that deer shed their antlers due to exhaustion and emaciation caused by the breeding season. It is thought that ancestral males shed their antlers so that they were able to mimic the healthier, non-antlered females. It is thought that this reduced their vulnerability to predation because predators may have actively searched for antlered males due to their weakened condition. One final theory simply suggests that antlers are shed each year as an energy-conserving measure so that males don't have the added weight from the antlers to carry outside of the breeding season. Antlers are cumbersome and energy-expensive structures that are not needed after the breeding season. However, for this to be true, it must also be true that re-growing the antlers is less energy-expensive than maintaining the antlers through the winter.
One theory states that antlers are shed simply because of an accident of evolutionary chance. In other words, there is no real reason why antlers are shed. Antlers are different from horns, not because they need to be, but because of different evolutionary origin.
Which of these theories is right? Who knows for sure? Maybe the answer is a combination of these theories or maybe none of these theories is the actual answer. Hopefully, scientists will be able to unravel this great mystery in the future.
__________________
OK, here is are my question. With comments tossed in for good measure.
Where are the discarded antlers? Have they all been eaten or dissolved? There are thousands of deer, elk, moose in the woods. Where are the discarded antlers? There has to have been some discarded antlers that havent been eaten or destroyed, if that is what happens to them. If it's been proven that elk shed their antlers, I want to see those antlers. Or deer. Or moose.
Save your steam, I know they shed them and I've seen huge antlers at lodges in the northwest. But I want you to think about the antlers. How often do you see an shed antler in the woods? Um...never? I thought so. So how often have you seen a dead bear in the woods? Same? See the pattern?
Thousands of animals shed antlers in the woods every year. Where are they? Thousands of animals die every year out in the woods...where are their skeletons?
You see what I'm getting at.
Where are the discarded antlers? Have they all been eaten or dissolved? There are thousands of deer, elk, moose in the woods. Where are the discarded antlers? There has to have been some discarded antlers that havent been eaten or destroyed, if that is what happens to them. If it's been proven that elk shed their antlers, I want to see those antlers. Or deer. Or moose.
Save your steam, I know they shed them and I've seen huge antlers at lodges in the northwest. But I want you to think about the antlers. How often do you see an shed antler in the woods? Um...never? I thought so. So how often have you seen a dead bear in the woods? Same? See the pattern?
Thousands of animals shed antlers in the woods every year. Where are they? Thousands of animals die every year out in the woods...where are their skeletons?
You see what I'm getting at.
QUOTE(im_justin_sane @ Jun 2 2006, 07:49 PM) 
OK, here is are my question. With comments tossed in for good measure.
Where are the discarded antlers? Have they all been eaten or dissolved? There are thousands of deer, elk, moose in the woods. Where are the discarded antlers? There has to have been some discarded antlers that havent been eaten or destroyed, if that is what happens to them. If it's been proven that elk shed their antlers, I want to see those antlers. Or deer. Or moose.
Save your steam, I know they shed them and I've seen huge antlers at lodges in the northwest. But I want you to think about the antlers. How often do you see an shed antler in the woods? Um...never? I thought so. So how often have you seen a dead bear in the woods? Same? See the pattern?
Thousands of animals shed antlers in the woods every year. Where are they? Thousands of animals die every year out in the woods...where are their skeletons?
You see what I'm getting at.
Where are the discarded antlers? Have they all been eaten or dissolved? There are thousands of deer, elk, moose in the woods. Where are the discarded antlers? There has to have been some discarded antlers that havent been eaten or destroyed, if that is what happens to them. If it's been proven that elk shed their antlers, I want to see those antlers. Or deer. Or moose.
Save your steam, I know they shed them and I've seen huge antlers at lodges in the northwest. But I want you to think about the antlers. How often do you see an shed antler in the woods? Um...never? I thought so. So how often have you seen a dead bear in the woods? Same? See the pattern?
Thousands of animals shed antlers in the woods every year. Where are they? Thousands of animals die every year out in the woods...where are their skeletons?
You see what I'm getting at.
Just depends on where the discarded antlers are in relation to animal/herd population...... Several guys I worked with in the USFS collect antler shed, they were excellent at knowing when and how to find them, looking for tree scuff and ground scuff. My boss's office was full of antler shed, it was actually a competition on the crew to outdo the boss in finding shed. Some of the crew found Moose paddles and made slingshots in small tree's :new_lmaosmiley: The shed is out there, you just need to look for it and know when/what your looking for. Decomposition rate of antler shed is going to be dependent on the area, eg; wet vs dry, sunny vs overstory cover and of course rodents/insects/beetles/bacteria/fungus etc., organic materials in the soil also affect decomposition rate. Skeletal remains will be affected by the same principals.
Some really great tips on shed hunting here:
Sorry link won't work. Anyway, just google shed hunting and you'll find loads of info.
Sorry link won't work. Anyway, just google shed hunting and you'll find loads of info.
QUOTE(im_justin_sane @ Jun 2 2006, 09:49 PM)
Thousands of animals shed antlers in the woods every year. Where are they? Thousands of animals die every year out in the woods...where are their skeletons?
The pattern is not quite there to see.
With regard to shed antlers, they drop throughout the forest as they break free. If you know the seasonal range, it is easy to find the "shed". I find them all the time.
With regard to animal remains, it depends on how they die. Sick or injured animals will normally crawl back into the deepest, darkest thicket they can find, where they feel safe to heal or get well. If they survive, they come back out and get shot by hunters. If they die, their remains lie in areas of dense foilage where not too many humans ever go. Of course, some animals may be wounded so bad they never make it to the thicket, and they are usually stumbled across by hunters the following years.
Porcupines are a significant threat to antler shed. In the PNW, I know of several "shed" collectors who will shoot Porcupines just to eliminate the competition.
This topic reminded me of a photo hubby took a few years back. We frequently have elk on our property and woke up one morning to a small herd of about 20 elk mulling about five yards away from the house. The largest bull had one antler ready to drop, it was twisted at an odd angle and it made him look a little goofy. We were hoping he would drop it around our property and he didn't. Despite the presence of many elk and deer on and around our property, we have never found a shed. Our elderly neighbor has only found a couple sheds and he has lived here over sixty years.
We took a photo of the above mentioned elk. I will try to post it this weekend.
Redwolf
We took a photo of the above mentioned elk. I will try to post it this weekend.
Redwolf
All of the above is correct stuff, but I thought I'd add a couple of "cents":
Members of the deer family (deer, moose, elk, caribou) have antlers, and they all shed (except female caribou, as RedWolf noted).
Sheep, bison, mountain goat, and antelope have horns, and they don't shed.
Since antlers are shed annually, there are more of them to find than skeletons, which are only "deposited" only once, at the end of the animal's life.
Either way, nature's disposal squad will make short work of them. Even under ideal conditions, they usually don't last long. All rodents (mice, rats, porcupines, etc) will eat them up, and in rainy environments, they rot away very quickly.
Finding shed antlers is a commercial business here in Alaska. They're worth money, even antlers that are over a year old. Asians buy them up, grind them up, and......................well, do whatever............
Once you know where to look, and if you're well equipped, you can find an incredible number of shed antlers. One hunting guide I know does just that in late fall and early winter after his fall hunting season ends. He knows where the bulls rut, and has an airplane. He flys around the rutting areas with a spotter in the plane, then goes back to that area with snowmobiles or ATV's and collects them up.
Members of the deer family (deer, moose, elk, caribou) have antlers, and they all shed (except female caribou, as RedWolf noted).
Sheep, bison, mountain goat, and antelope have horns, and they don't shed.
Since antlers are shed annually, there are more of them to find than skeletons, which are only "deposited" only once, at the end of the animal's life.
Either way, nature's disposal squad will make short work of them. Even under ideal conditions, they usually don't last long. All rodents (mice, rats, porcupines, etc) will eat them up, and in rainy environments, they rot away very quickly.
Finding shed antlers is a commercial business here in Alaska. They're worth money, even antlers that are over a year old. Asians buy them up, grind them up, and......................well, do whatever............
Once you know where to look, and if you're well equipped, you can find an incredible number of shed antlers. One hunting guide I know does just that in late fall and early winter after his fall hunting season ends. He knows where the bulls rut, and has an airplane. He flys around the rutting areas with a spotter in the plane, then goes back to that area with snowmobiles or ATV's and collects them up.
Big source of calcium for the little critters.
I just found this thread. Being a shed antler hunter myself I am interested. The newer shed antlers are collected by artist useing them in their designs. Also they find a use as handles for knives etc. I have found a few not a lot. Those that I did find had been chewed on. There is a ready market for them if you wish to add to your S.S. check. I was once told by a park ranger that it was against the law to pick them up and remove them from the National Parks. I guess they are to be protected like the plants, rocks etc. Has anyone else heard that?
I have alittle shed hunting knowledge and experience. I'm not cheap.., but I am good.
QUOTE(1sunseeker @ Jun 12 2006, 06:27 PM)
...I was once told by a park ranger that it was against the law to pick them up and remove them from the National Parks. I guess they are to be protected like the plants, rocks etc. Has anyone else heard that?
Nothing is legal in National Parks. If you are on National Park lands, you're breaking one law or another.
Yep, in National Parks, the idea is that the entire place and all in it belongs to everyone meaning that taking home something will deprive the next person from experiencing what was previously there. Petrified Forest has lost between 80 and 95% or so of its petrified wood due to collectors running amok. :new_thumbsdownsmileyanim:
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