This buck left a nice present for the homeowner!
One of the rarest sights for any hunter to see is to witness the exact moment a deer, elk, or moose sheds their antlers in the late winter months. It's an event that happens to all antlered animals every year, but your odds of being in the same place at the same time are extremely low.
However, we have noticed an uptick in instances of this moment being caught on camera in recent years.
In most cases, it's either a trail camera, or in this case, a security camera that happens to capture that magical moment when that chunk of bone finally loosens and falls off the animal's body.
This footage does not have a lot of details other than being filmed in Calgary, Alberta. This is clearly an urban deer that has wandered into a yard. You'll notice he's acting rather strangely before his left antler suddenly falls from his head in the yard right next to the driveway!
https://youtu.be/_LskvDZmtSA
It's always fascinating for us to witness this moment on video. We've noticed that deer seem to react in two ways to shedding their antlers. Either they can feel it loosening and they cock their head around like this until it falls off, or they are caught by complete surprise when the antler pops off while they are walking or shaking their head.
We're no scientists, but it seems like the bucks who shed both sides at the same time are usually surprised by it, as demonstrated in several videos. Deer that drop one side and leave seem to know it's coming before it happens. As far as we know, the act of shedding does not hurt the animal, even if the pedicle bleeds some after the fact.
However, we do imagine it brings some relief when the antler does finally fall off. Especially with those larger bucks that have been carrying some especially heavy headgear all season. We just wish this would happen in our yard!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
