This reminds me.... a nice buck crossed the road in front of me a couple of days ago.... still wearing his antlers.

One time I saw a nice buck around the Dilley area in May still had his antlers.

Neighbor has a recent game cam pic of one that already dropped near Freer.

Hunt not far from you in Goldthwaithe. Still seeing bucks on camera with antlers. Taking the kids up there in 2 or 3 weeks. 7, 5, & 3 year old are all fired up about looking for sheds.

It crossed my mind but it just didn't have any of the traditional signs of bedding areas. But I agree with the pressure suggestion.

I've seen them drop as early as Jan. 10 and as late as the end of march.
My observations are the heaviest losses occur in the 1st three weeks of march.
Most deer that I saw lose them early were either really old, or appeared sick.

This is Lavaca and Duval counties
I'm sure there are variations.

Just as dropping times vary, I've noticed the same with antler growth. I feed year round on a property and really paid attention to multiple bucks last year. One buck I had been watching for several seasons took off growing quickly and was out front of most of the other bucks. However, he stalled out or wrapped up earlier than some that started with growth a few weeks behind. He was a big mature buck. Two other 10 pointers started out later but grew an extra few weeks and ended up with really impressive racks.

Currently on a place in Burnet county. Not dropping yet.

Nutritional stress, injury/exhaustion from rut and a natural drop in testosterone following rut are what normally cause antlers to drop. Seeing one or a few bucks dropping their antlers early means absolutely nothing, seeing a huge amount of the herd means the animals are currently and most likely were in poor nutritional shape going into rut. Adding whole cottonseed to the diet late in the season can also add to an earlier antler drop.

At my ranch in STX I'll have bucks dropping as early as mid to late January if there's any kind of early rut/chasing going on in October/early November or if the buck is old or gets injured. But most all of my bucks will hold on until March to start shedding.

I haven't seen any bucks drop antlers yet in Hamilton. Most of the bucks are on the neighbors place around the wheat field right now though. My best success has been on public land hunts but mainly bc I cover a lot of ground scouting. I find on average 1 shed antler for every 3-4 miles of hiking/scouting that I do. Now this is in places like Big Lake Bottom and Richland Creek where deer densities are fairly low and cover is very thick so it's hard to find them unless you practically step on them. Haven't found any true giants but have found sheds from multiple 150" class deer at RC.

I'm curious what the area is like where you're finding all of these within a 25-35 acre area? Terrain, cover etc.

all of mine on camera still have theirs. both whitetail and muley.

Dr. Deer

"Why is antler casting date a management metric? When we post on this topic, some folks argue it's negative! Here is why it is not!

Antler casting is strongly influenced by the physical condition of a buck. Here is just one example. Years ago Doc shot a great buck in Kansas for North American WHITETAIL TV. It was a very long shot, and when they filmed the recovery, the buck was in poor condition from obvious fighting! They took the buck back to camp and left him on the ground while they went inside for some coffee. When they returned to dress out the buck, both his antlers lay on the ground around his head. They had cast even though he was dead!

A buck that has been tasked with a large amount of the breeding commonly loses his stored fat and stress hormones are released from the adrenal glands! So the amount of fat a buck has stored going into the rut and the buckoe ratio determines timing of antler casting. We strive for better nutrition, and a more balanced sex ratio. In areas where ratios are as bad as 1:4, herds are over-populated and nutrition is poor, bucks cast earlier!

When Doc took over the management of the North Boggy Slough Hunting & Fishing Club in 1974, bucks traditionally cast in December! In fact, they had to suspend late doe season, because over half of the antlerless deer harvested were cast antlered bucks! In 1987, not only had the Club produced the biggest buck killed in Texas that year, but bucks were holding their antlers into March!

So, antler casting is a great metric for herd health!"

montanagriz said:

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Dr. Deer

"Why is antler casting date a management metric? When we post on this topic, some folks argue it's negative! Here is why it is not!

Antler casting is strongly influenced by the physical condition of a buck. Here is just one example. Years ago Doc shot a great buck in Kansas for North American WHITETAIL TV. It was a very long shot, and when they filmed the recovery, the buck was in poor condition from obvious fighting! They took the buck back to camp and left him on the ground while they went inside for some coffee. When they returned to dress out the buck, both his antlers lay on the ground around his head. They had cast even though he was dead!

A buck that has been tasked with a large amount of the breeding commonly loses his stored fat and stress hormones are released from the adrenal glands! So the amount of fat a buck has stored going into the rut and the buckoe ratio determines timing of antler casting. We strive for better nutrition, and a more balanced sex ratio. In areas where ratios are as bad as 1:4, herds are over-populated and nutrition is poor, bucks cast earlier!

When Doc took over the management of the North Boggy Slough Hunting & Fishing Club in 1974, bucks traditionally cast in December! In fact, they had to suspend late doe season, because over half of the antlerless deer harvested were cast antlered bucks! In 1987, not only had the Club produced the biggest buck killed in Texas that year, but bucks were holding their antlers into March!

So, antler casting is a great metric for herd health!"

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That's a lot of sentences ending with a !

They must have been caffeinated up when posting for Doc!

We are going up to our place in Wilbarger County next weekend to walk for sheds and do some scouting as well. Eager to see if any of them are dropping there or not by then.

Will update the results upon our return

Just a heads-up: we are finding sheds already just north of Goliad. I also saw a very freshly born fawn that could barely stand. Both of these events are happening much earlier than we usually see. Not sure what the reason is behind this. We usually see sheds in mid March and fawns after that.

Our deer heard on our lease is very healthy - and we still see about a month swing in antler growth / hard horn / shedding. This is a general statement and doesn't include sick or injured deer - and covers watching about 30-40 mature deer.

Just started seeing antlers drop in Mills county this week

Very few patches of thick honey mesquite. Mainly the mesquite and the few oak trees are spread out well. It doesn't strike me as a traditional bedding area. Very flat.

Seems the early warming of Feb. and continued drought in the hill country is perhaps effecting early shed drops. Early fawns are due to early rut last year.