Dark colored antler?

Years ago I read an article about what contributes to dark more chocolate colored racks. I recently saw someone advertise it was part of their genetic line they had for sale. I think that is bologna. What I recall is that sap from a certain type of trees was rubbed on while shedding velvet. I would like to try to create an environment in an area fenced off within a pen where I can let my bucks into to shed and get this staining effect. If anyone has info on what creates this coloration I would like your input.

Thanks

Every year come august we will cut pine limbs, give the antler color and we encircle live trees to prevent the rubbing and killing of those.

Bell,


  I too have always thought chocolate colored racks were based on the trees that the buck rubs


 but last year we had a buck with a chocolate rack, one thing we noticed about him is he didn't rub velvet, he just let it dry and it eventually came off. So, If the dark rack is a genetic feature, we will certainly know after he grows out this fall, or perhaps the dark rack is just because he is too lazy to rub the velvet off.

Ryan

That sounds pretty simple. I have seen the bleached white racks in the wild where there was both lots of pine and cedars. My brother lives in western Arkansas and most of the racks there are dark. Timber companies cultivate a lot of pine trees there. I am wondering if a certain type of grime or soil in combination with the sap is also necessary.

Mike

Keep us updated. It seems if it was genetic the bucks whole skeletal system would be darkened.

Not sure why but the deer we kill in the river swamp have dark horns and the ones killed in the hills are much whiter. Overall the deer here are not white horned like the northern deer. You never see the Snow White horns.

Brett

Maybe it's the Kudzu? Lol

Yankies don't know much about it.

Darker colored antlers has more to do with the amounts of blood left on and in the antlers after rubbing velvet then anything around here. The best way on our wild deer to tell if he is older is by having the darker rack. Think about this, younger bucks rub on every other tree trying to show off, this eventually rubs the darkness of the dried blood into the really white horns you see. Older bucks are smarter and don't waste near as much time and energy rubbing trees with their racks, that's why they are also rougher generally. More dark dried blood in a heavier older buck gives it the darker color, old dried blood is brown. Just what I've noticed over the years. You will also see some older bucks that still are show offs and do rub every other tree and they generally will have whiter antlers. I've also noticed my heavier antlered bucks with more blood flow in my pens generally have darker racks, the ones that rub the least have the darker antlers and the ones who rub the most are lighter colored.

I think it is in the soil and vegetation eaten but have no support for my belief. Our hill deer are lighter colored on the coat and horns.

It all has to do with what they rub on how much they rub and what kind of soil they rub in. I had one that was really dark hardly ever rubbed trees always saw him rubbing in dart along creek. Think about it when cutting antlers they all have same color underneath white at least mine do.

If you are using pine limbs try taking a couple of them and burning them first, the added ash and soot along with the sap can stick in the nooks and crannies and add more color to the racks. I knew someone that did this with their deer, he said the first couple deer that scrubbed out had their entire heads completely black for a few hours. I know if you have cedar for the deer to scrub out on you can definitely notice a reddish brown hue on the antlers, I will ask my friend if he has any pictures still from his little burned pine experiment. 

There is a humorous story that happened to me involving stained antlers. About ten years ago one morning in late August I entered my buck pen to chore and there standing on a rise in front of me was a 190" wide heavy long tined 10 point. His horns were bright pink. We are talking like fluorescent pink. The first thing that crossed my mind was that my neighbor had pulled a prank on me and spray painted his antlers. I went back to the house and got the binoculars. I then could tell it wasn't paint. It looked more like a bright pink stain. After feeding, I began to walk my buck pens and soon I found the source of the amazing pink antlers. The buck had thrashed a large stand of polk weeds that were covered with their purple skinned ink berries. The color stayed on his antlers about three weeks. At that time I didn't have a decent camera to photograph him. He was quite a sight to behold so proud holding his head high with his bright pink horns.

We have been raising deer since 1979 in northern Mn. Traditionally our antlers have been comparable to the wild deer in the area as far as color goes. Two years ago we came across a product in Texas called MASS XL. We started top dressing our ADM feeds with about a cup to a 5 gallon bucket during and prior to the antler growth period..typically April thru July. Our mature bucks started producing almost chocolate antlers and even our little guys darkened up. I don't know all the science of why but I have been told things I don't understand about surplus proteins and how amino acids contribute to dark antlers specific to blood flow in the antler at the time they come out of velvet.

Our pasture areas are heavily wooded yet we still see seasonal antler fade as we get into January and February.

There is no doubt that our hunters greatly prefer the dark antlers

Kevin

Arrowed1

That is very good info if they started getting the dark antlers on your farm only AFTER you began to use the product. I will look into that some more.

Thanks

Found an interesting statement in the writings of a wildlife biologist out west,he states"Although antlers are bonewhite when the velvet is first removed, they become stained various shades of brown as plant compounds accumulate through constantly being rubbed by brush and trees. The color results from a chemical reaction of the plant compounds with the air, in a process known as oxidation."

There has to be certain brush,plants, or trees that contribute more coloring than others. I am also beginning to think bucks that spend their lives in thicker environments tend to have the darker colored horns resulting from their constant contact with brushy materials of the thicket environment.

Interesting indeed, If this was true, how come some of my bucks have dark chocolate antlers and some have really white antlers? Same pen, same vegetation, same feed? I don't put much weight into something coming from a "wildlife biologist" and even less coming from a gov't employed "wildlife biologist". He probably got a federal grant to do a 4 year study on antler coloration and had to make up something to justify the time and money spent(wasted) on it. Just my opinion on the biologists these days. Over the last decade I've seen nothing but bad ideas with no common sense and failed management come from them in my state. That's not completely true I guess, our mountain lions, coyotes and wolf populations are at all time highs. :blink: This is the reason I started raising deer, If they keep going in the same direction, the only quality deer left will be in a high fence. They are also thinking this, they'll never admit it. I think this is why we are seeing the big push against private deer and elk industry lately.  It's becoming more and more accepted by the public and they can't stand it. 

It is puzzling that you would have much different colored antlers in an identical environment where parameters are fixed. I have consistently seen the dark racks come from timber companies clear cuts where new forest growth was very dense. I also consistently see dark coloration wherever woody fibers are stuck around burr points. Grime ,sap, and weed juices sticks and stays on these areas because of the roughness of the surface. When velvet is shed the blood stays longer on the horns also in these areas.There has to be a more scientific explanation to this. I am going to keep searching.

Most mature(4 years old and older) typically DON'T rub their antlers on very many trees or anything for that matter(contrary to what most people think). With their age and added intelligence they don't want to use up anymore energy or make anymore commotion then possible. This is why a 5 year old bucks core area shrinks down to almost nothing, they don't need to run the country fighting and chasing does, they just **** their head and that big rack and TAKE the doe they want.  Sometimes a few do anyways and want to be show offs, no matter the age. The rougher part of the antlers that has the brown coloring around the bases is the inner pockets that DO NOT touch whatever it may have rubbed on, and the tips and outer edges of the burs that DO touch whatever they may rub on have the lighter more polished color. Heavier antlers in general are darker probably because of the added blood flow and more blood left in the antler after its done growing and the velvet is rubbed out. If you have a chance to look at antlers on wild deer the first week or 2 after rubbing out, a lot are dark, it's the more time they rub that makes em lighter. Nothing is always but in general this is why antlers are darker and lighter in general. I'm sure vegetation differences in certain areas affects the mineral content inside the antler also which may have something to do with different coloration in different parts of the country also.    

Very good point sd. I think your post is very spot on. This has been an interesting and educational topic.

 Thanks Antlershed, I am the luckiest guy around to have a really good place to study the wild bucks from year to year. My farm has around 1000 wild whitetails that never leave so I get to watch them and study their habits from year to year. It's open country and fairly easy to watch them with a spotting scope from a long ways off. I usually pick up between 4-500 sheds each spring and its interesting how they grow and change yet still have some of the exact characteristics and mainframe shape from year to year, just get a lot bigger.  I have several that make a huge size jump when they go from 3 to 4 and this is the year they usually become really dark, heavy and rougher in general. I also do have some that have been around for 10 years and they still rub on everything and are usually rubbed smooth and white. The reason they are still alive is because they usually don't have enough size for my guys to shoot. It's about impossible to get any rifle tags so we can't ever shoots em as a cull bucks. Young buck sees a herd of does and says to the old buck, "lets run down there and breed one of those does" and the old bucks says, "How bout we walk down and breed em all"! This is one weekend of picking up sheds. If you look at my website and some of the buck pics, most of the heavier ones are darker. We are out here in open farm country with few trees, most rub fence posts around here.


 


Cody


www.warneranches.com


 

Cody

I love your original thought on this topic. If you are seeing a darker color after your bucks shed velvet then a fade in color based on more rubbing, I believe they could be removing their velvet on some kind of smaller stemmed vegetation that is darkening their antlers in the environment there. They could be then polishing them making sign post rubs on something larger that doesn't stain. I would be very interested in knowing what type of small stemmed vegetation they are removing their velvet on in your area of South Dakota. When my bucks first shed velvet they are bleach white and then over time darken very slightly. I went through my sheds and my bucks of all ages have no distinguishable differences in color. I also called a couple other deer farmers in Indiana and ask them to look at theirs. They said the same thing that all ages were the same color. The bucks antlers I earlier referenced coming from the thick overgrown clear cuts in western Arkansas are all dark brown from their pedicels to the antler tips. My brothers daughters hunt this area and disappointingly shoot yearling bucks regularly and their horns are dark brown. I am not satisfied with the inventory I have done on my bucks colorations. I am going to go up to Russ Bellars and a few other places and study their older and younger bucks racks. I am artistic and my eye catches details very well. If I recall correctly all of Bellars older bucks sheds were very light colored just as mine. As soon as Thunderstorm and Thunderstrike shed their velvet, their antlers were very light colored and Thunderstorm was so old he barely rubbed anymore. This has something to do with the environment I am certain.

When I was trying to research this on-line I was amazed at the number of products marketed to stain antlers. It's hard to find writings on this subject because there are so many" how to stain antlers" articles. I would most like to try and create a situation where Mother Nature does the job.


I would appreciate the info if any others would inventory the coloration of any sheds you might have where the ages are known and if you are comfortable saying what state your deer are raised.

Thanks in advance for the input.