It’s that time of year again — when hunters begin taking a closer look at those deer gathered in the field along the road. Not only are we checking out what we see as we drive down the road, but you can bet that those trail cameras are getting a good workout too. Hunters are scouting for the new additions to the herd and looking more closely at what’s growing between the ears; in other words — how many of those deer are bucks, and what’s the potential for developing a good-sized rack?

Like a lot of deer hunters, I am not a “trophy” hunter; sure, I’d like to nail a real monster every year, but in reality, I’ll usually take the first decent buck I can get. Like many hunters, I’ve managed to take a couple of good bucks but nothing exceptional, but I must say that from what I’m seeing and hearing from other hunters, the potential for taking a pretty good rack seems to be increasing.

I suspect that the changes made several years ago in our area requiring bucks to have three or more points on at least one side has likely contributed to the potential for more larger bucks in the herd.

So what factors are actually responsible for antler growth and development?

In an effort to learn more, I did a little reading and research and found that three factors basically decide antler size; a deer’s age, its genetics, and of course, nutrition or what it eats. I’m sure that none of these factors come as much of a surprise to serious hunters but let’s take a closer look.

From the research I’ve seen, antler growth is relatively predictable. The average male whitetail will achieve about 30 percent of its antler potential at a year and a half. The greatest increase in antler growth generally comes in the following year when they hit about 60 percent of their potential and about 80 percent at three and one-half years of age. The 100 percent antler growth doesn’t occur until around age six and one-half; I’m sure that doesn’t come as much of a surprise but keeping a buck around that long is often a surprise.

I’m sure it’s also probably not much of a surprise that the racks begin decreasing in size after that sixth year due to aging. Naturally, there are exceptions to these figures since there are cases of bucks that never get past the velvet stage. These antlers are retained all year long and even “does” with antlers due to elevated testosterone levels.

I’m not a deer shed hunter, but those who are will probably not be surprised by some other information I came across regarding deer antlers. According to some research done at the University of Nebraska, it was found that older bucks shed their antlers sooner than younger bucks and that bucks tend to lose both sides of their racks within a relatively small area. For example, the average distance between a set of shed antlers was found to be 93 yards. Yearling buck sheds were found to be at an average of 59 yards apart, while older buck sheds were found to average a distance of 107 yards apart.

So, will this increase my chances of bagging a bigger rack now that I have all this antler information? Not likely, but it is interesting to speculate on one’s potential as we look over the deer we see in our travels and on our trail cameras.