Once the fall rut is over, the minds of bucks turn from territory and females to pure winter survival. Since they're not duking it out with other bucks over a doe anymore, their antlers become a little superfluous and nothing more than extra weight to carry around in the long, hard winter months. A drop in a buck's testosterone after the rut causes the connective tissues holding the antlers to a deer's head to weaken.
Eventually, the antlers will pop off, leaving little treasures in the woods for shed hunters and hungry rodents to find.
A Brownville's Food Pantry For Deer game camera caught one buck losing an antler on video. The food pantry operates deer feeders throughout the winter to help restore and sustain the local deer population, and it often posts videos from its trail cameras to a YouTube channel.
Last Christmas, it posted a video of two bucks squaring off at one of its feeders: Lefty, a buck already down an antler, and another buck that started the night with two antlers.
The two bucks start lightly sparring when, suddenly, one of the smaller buck's antlers pops right off and falls under the feeder. The younger buck is apparently startled and slinks back, almost in shame of what just happened. He's down to one right antler now, earning him the nickname Righty. Lefty and Righty now have one full set between them, and Lefty eventually goes back to eating from the feeder.
No matter how many times we see deer-shedding videos, it always fascinates us. What's particularly interesting about this video is the way the buck walks off. It looks as if he is off balance following the antler shed, from the tilt of his head and the slouchy way he walks. The feeling must pass quickly, as the second buck at the feeder is also missing a side and shows no signs that anything is wrong.
We wish more antlers were this easy to find—and were accompanied by a video of them being lost.
