Bucks that are injured or sick will drop early, sometimes very early. I had a very thin buck near my place that dropped in January. I've seen northern bucks drop in Dec when sick or injured...saw a huge buck that got EHD and really never recovered lose prolly 40" off his new rack compared to the last year. He dropped in Dec, last rack was about like the one the year before(small).

critters ain't eating the antlers in a month er two......

This. They don't get 'em that quickly.

We found 6. All from around March 6th thru March 16th, including a nice matching set.

That being said, I have a new lab that I'm training to shed hunt, so I've spent a lot more time looking this year than years past. Based on no food in the woods I was really expecting to find at least one in each field, but did not. Was a little surprised.

Along the same lines (possible effects of a harsh winer with little mass crop) I killed 3 turkeys this season at our farm. Their weights were 17, 15 and 15. I've killed over 30 turkeys at our farm over the past 15 years and prior to this year only one weighed 17 pounds and it was at the end of the season and run down. Based on this I can't help but be concerned about the health of the deer. Not saying they died, but just don't expect to see good horns this year (on average). Also did have one die of EHD next to us.

If you KNOW of one EHD death, I'd bet ya'll had a LOT more than one dead from it....

I looked a couple of weeks ago for hours and didnt find a shed where i will pick up two every year in the same spot. so i dont know whats going on this year with them.

yea... unfortunately, probably so. I know a few other guys on here have mentioned some on their land near us. Seems like it hit far North central to NE Jackson Co.

with that said, i had several cameras out all season and never got a pic of what appeared to be an unhealthy deer. So did my neighbor...same for him, but he's the one that killed the deer with EHD.

I still wonder if we didn't have a Bluetongue/ EHD outbreak is some areas of the state? I think herd population is WAY down in some areas, down too much for liberal doe season to accout for it.

Didn't see or hear of any in our part of the county, may have been a few but I heard no reports. I didn't notice any that looked unhealthy last Summer or Fall.

Possibly. Stuff happens every year. Some years are worse than others, and especially in years of low rainfall in summer.

Agree, but last year was one of the wettest Summers on record. Adds to the mystery.

you most likely won't see or get pics of EHD infected deer. They feel like chitt and don't move at all. Two, four days and they are dead. Dead deer around water in Aug-Oct are more than likely EHD deaths. Dead bucks found later with very sharp beading on the antlers are also most likely EHD deaths, died in very late velvet stage...Aug/Sept.

Wet summers won't stop it, dry summers may make it worse but it has killed deer around me the last two years.

I will say this for a fact. I'm not sure how protein type feeds or natural wild browse affects the timing of a buck dropping his antlers. But it's an interesting thought because ours for the most part in Pike and south Montgomery county as I stated are certainly shedding late. Our deer have been on protein feeds for a while. Our bucks seem to be in great condition. I do believe that a bucks overall health does have a lot to do with when he sheds. That's just my thoughts. Our bucks have been eating protein type feeds for longer periods of time. Do you guys think this is why they are dropping late? So far I have not picked up a shed around our several feed troughs. I have picked up one shed after season and it was last years shed.

Tbone, if you boys are really feeding a lot of protein food , not just a bag here and there, enough to make a difference in other words, you have healthier deer. Healthier deer hold antlers longer and in your case could be a benefit of your feeding program IMO.

If they hold their antlers longer, does that mean a shorter growing period for them to put on new racks? (less development?)

No, because the antlers grow very slowly for the first month or two anyway. A healthy deer coming into antler growing season will grow better antlers than the same deer run down from winter/rut and dropping early will.

I've heard and read antler growing was like compounding interest on $, starts slow but the growth increases , more and more.

I'm thinking your right 2dogs . Yes we do feed high protein and have been a while. This seems very logical to me. Judging by what we see I believe our over all herd is in great condition . Seems this winter was pretty hard and no doubt supplemental feed seemed to have helped our herd in general. In my opinion that is most important at the time they seem to be most vulnerable to natural issues a deer goes through especially after the rut starts winding down. I've allways noticed a heavy increase in bucks both mature and young on our feed stations right after or at the ending period of the rut. That's what we refer to as post recovery. Our bucks ; and does really hit the feed hard during this time usually February and March more than any other time. I believe that is important for a good start for the following year for the deer. Every year about April when all the new growth starts the budding process I have noticed the bucks visit the protein feed less often and seems to keep this pattern through out most of the summer months. The does on the other hand seem to increase their use of supplemental feeds and tend to stay on a fairly frequent schedule at the feed stations. They seem to actually increase the time they spend at feed stations. Now I'm not saying our bucks stop using them but it's almost like they regulate them selves to just the amount they need. I am going Friday / tomorrow and check a camera that I've had out for a while. Last time I checked it was about two weeks ago and most of our bucks were still full antlered then.It will be interesting to see how many if any of those guys are still carrying their antlers. I will post again tomorrow night for you guys who might want to see what happens on our cameras. That's about it guys and thanks for reading what's going on at our place.