Washington County Weekend Post

T he archery deer sea- son begins Saturday. I am more pumped than usual for this opening day because I thought it might be a rare opportunity to shoot a buck with velvet antlers. The velvet covering of deer antlers is loaded with blood vessels and nerves that nourish the bone struc- ture or antler. When the antler has reached full growth, the velvet is shed. Sept. 12 is the earliest opening date under the cur- rent format. I hoped an early opener would increase the odds of bucks still hav- ing velvet covered antlers. Department of Natural Resources Big Game Ecolo- gist Kevin Wallenfang burst my bubble. "The vast majority of the bucks are going to be shed of velvet by the time bow sea- son opens," Wallenfang said. "Most of the bucks are going to start shedding by late August or very early September." He said in late August testosterone levels increase and that cuts off the blood supply to the antlers as they harden. The rise in testos- terone level is triggered by the shortened amount of daylight. The shedding of velvet only takes a couple of days. Some hunters find rubs on trees early in the season and they attribute that to bucks working to get rid of the vel- vet. Wallenfang said that is not the case. "They can shake their head and peel velvet off," he said. "I've seen them raking their antlers in the grass. I don't know that they have any concept that their vel- vet is shedding. They are just feeling an annoyance from it hanging down and maybe tickling their ears. Any kind of antler rubbing is probably more associated with that increase in testos- terone and they are starting to bulk up for the rut." I have only seen a buck in velvet once during the hunt- ing season. That was about 10 years ago near Blair. On opening morning, a six- pointer followed a trail past my tree stand an hour after sunrise. That afternoon, the same buck came out of the woods following the same trail. He offered several shot oppor- tunities but the property I was on was managed for bigger bucks and the six- pointer didn't meet the stan- dard. Wallenfang said a few bucks retain velvet longer. That could be health-relat- ed, depending on their body condition and it could even be genetic or associated with an injury. At one time, hunters need- ed a special permit to have a buck with velvet antlers in their possession. That is no longer the case. However, the 2020 deer hunting regu- lations state that it is unlaw- ful to sell velvet antlers or transfer ownership to another person. Regular deer antlers can be sold. Wallenfang said this could be an awesome deer season. The gun kill last year was down and that was attribut- ed to the late start date of the season, not to a shortage of deer. That means more deer are probably on the landscape and, since many bucks survived last season, there could be more bucks with big antlers roaming the woods this fall. License sales are up so far this year. That might be attributed to people on fur- lough or working from home as a result of the pan- demic so they have more time to hunt. The 2020 hunting regula- tion pamphlet is available online and at license outlets. One change this year will make it easier to transport crossbows. In the past, cocked crossbows had to be fully cased to be transported in a motorized vehicle. This year, a cocked crossbow can be transported without a case as long as it is not load- ed with an arrow. Warden supervisor Joe Jerich said the change was made to be more consistent with other weapon trans- portation rules. See more hunting and fishing photos and news on Facebook at Larry Polenske Outdoors. Comments or ideas for this column are also welcome. 2A • WASHINGTON COUNTY POST • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2020 GMTODAY.COM LARRY POLENSKE Huntin' for Fun Contributed photo Hartford's Kevin Rosenbaum shot this buck with velvet- covered antlers on Sept. 30, 2011. Most bucks will have shed their velvet by Saturday, when archery deer season begins. Archery deer season brings much excitement

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