All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North. Photo above courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North. Photo courtesy National Deer Association.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

Hard to believe as it might seem, White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginiana, were indeed disappearing from North Carolina's landscape, not because of habitat loss but from severe and constant overhunting. From the time first Europeans arrived in North America, deer were a prime source of protein—abundant, easy to shoot, and less demanding than raising livestock. By 1900, deer had been hunted relentlessly for 200+ years without regulation.

Even though deer habitat actually improved during this period, hunting pressure was simply unsustainable: Deerskins were traded, venison sold in markets, there were no bag limits or closed seasons, and professional hunters could harvest deer in vast numbers year-round. (See photo above from Wisconsin Historical Society.) Fortunately, by the 1930s restocking of herds from other states and enforced hunting regulations—plus continued good habitat—led to rapid recovery of deer in North Carolina. By the 1950s white-tails were thriving again, leading to today's bountiful statewide population of at least a million. Quite a rebound from that waning 10,000 individuals 125 years ago, a success for conservation.

Curiously, White-tailed Deer are less common in Ashe County and the North Carolina mountains than in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. This seems counterintuitive because people think about our mountains as a pristine wildlife paradise. That's the problem: Deer are not as prevalent in deep forests across the Blue Ridge but prefer edges and open areas enhanced by logging and agriculture. Ashe itself has a pretty good mix, so deer can retire to the woods for shelter and wander out to roadsides and your garden or power line cuts to browse and graze (artistic rendering above). That's certainly what happens here at Hilton Pond North when deer drift in several times per day to eat bird seed spillage beneath our feeders—especially when snow covers the ground.

We've been thinking a lot about White-tailed Deer this winter, about how they survive in cold weather and where they are right now in their annual cycle. By coincidence we were walking up one of our trails on 13 February and came across an interesting artifact that told us the 8-point buck that occasionally entered the bird feeding area at Hilton Pond North is no more. Well, to be clear, the buck is doing fine, but he's lost his headdress. What we found was his four-tined left antler (above), very recently discarded as indicated by a tiny bit of fresh blood on its base. Ironically, we even had a photo (below) of this buck on 2 February, just 11 days prior, still wearing both antlers and all eight points.

When we posted our photo of the dropped left antler to Hilton Pond North's Facebook page, several readers asked for an explanation of what was going on. Some didn’t realize bucks lose their antlers annually and grow a new set, with others wondered about the actual process. We promised full explanation, so here goes.

Among the hoofed mammals, there are two main kinds of pointy head ornaments in North America: 1) Horns (made of fingernail-like keratin that is permanent and typically continues to grow throughout the animal's life, typically with a bony core), as in bovids such as cattle, sheep, bison, etc.; and, 2) Antlers (bony appendages that last one year), as in members of the Cervidae (deer, Moose, and Elk). For most cervids just males bear antlers, male AND female Caribou being the exception. (A third New World group is the Pronghorn, a native antelope in which both sexes have antlers with a bony core, covered by a keratin sheath shed annually by males, irregularly in females. Thanks to Wayne Woodroof for the Pronghorn reminder)

A male White-tailed Deer has two raised spots in front of his ears (the rear of the skull being at left in the photo above); these "pedicles" give rise to antlers. In a baby buck they are just bumps that in his first fall may start to form simple spikes.

Unlike regular skeletal bones (which grow from growth plates at their ends), antlers grow from the tip. There's a specialized growth center at the very end of each developing antler tine where new bone cells are constantly being produced and added. (Think of it like a tree growing upward. New growth happens at the terminal bud, not at the base.)

The bone starts out as cartilage that gradually ossifies as hard bone from base upward. During peak growth antlers add up to a quarter-inch per day—the fastest-growing bone tissue in the Animal Kingdom. From the start antler bone is covered by soft spongy "velvet" (above) that is not just a protective covering but specialized skin with a dense network of blood vessels. These deliver oxygen, nutrients (especially calcium, phosphorus, proteins), and hormones that regulate antler growth. Velvet also contains nerves, so bucks act gingerly with antlers during growth; damaged velvet is painful and can also deform an antler permanently.

In late summer testosterone levels rise and trigger a series of changes: 1) Blood flow to the velvet gradually restricts; 2) Velvet begins to die from lack of blood supply; 3) Bone underneath velvet fully mineralizes and hardens; 4) Dead velvet becomes itchy and uncomfortable; and, 5) The buck rubs his antlers against trees and shrubs to remove old velvet. He's almost ready for action—having just produced up 10-20 pounds of bone outside his body in 4-5 months.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North. Photo from public domain.

Through October and into early November, testosterone levels continue climbing and the buck enters the pre-rut phase, rubbing saplings to mark territory (above) and making scrapes on the ground where he deposits scent from glands near his eyes and between his hooves. As late November arrives in upper Ashe County, does begin coming into estrus and the rut kicks into high gear.

The buck becomes almost single-minded; he eats little, sleeps less, and spends his days seeking receptive does while using his antlers to spar with rival bucks to establish dominance. When he finds a doe in heat (below), he'll tend her relentlessly for 24-48 hours, herding and guarding her from other males until she's bred, then move on to find the next receptive female. This exhausting cycle continues through early December until most does have been bred.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

As the rut winds down and daylight hours lengthen after the winter solstice, a buck's testosterone levels plummet. This hormonal crash triggers specialized cells at the abscission layer—the boundary between pedicle and antler base—to dissolve the bone connection. Within days in February the antlers simply fall off, sometimes both at once with a sudden movement, sometimes days apart. There's minimal bleeding since blood vessels have already constricted. The buck is left with raw, slightly bloody pedicle stumps that scab over within 10 days, and the cycle begins anew. He has essentially no down time when it comes to antlers.

New antler cellular activity starts immediately: Even as that pedicle scab is forming, cells are already starting the growth process at the microscopic level. Within a month a noticeable swelling or bump appears at the pedicle base as a new antler begins to form, still covered in velvet. By late March small velvet "buttons" or "nubs" are clearly visible; antlers are growing and expanding, with older, healthier males often producing an ever-larger number of points year-to-year.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

So that's the story. After we found that left antler this week from the eight-point buck, we placed it on the trail and walked north to the still-frozen pond. On the way back, lo and behold, there was his RIGHT antler (above) sticking in the earth not six feet away from the first! We must have missed seeing it on the way up. In a lifetime of roaming the woods we'd never found an antler, and now we have a matched pair from a deer we actually know at Hilton Pond Center. We wonder how many points he'll have next year?

The adventure continues . . . .