Antlers
The Whitetail’s first antlers
are usually a single spike.
A three-yearold would be
expected to have eight
points, but there can
be more or less. Antlers
begin to grow in late spring, covered with a highly
vascularised tissue.
Young males begin to grow their antlers in
the spring, then towards the fall the skin on their
antlers (called velvet) begins to deteriorate. The
velvet is very itchy and the young male will rub
its new antlers on anything possible just to stop
the horrible itch. Only the males have antlers,
which they shed in January to March, and grow
out again in April or May.