Color of antlers on deer?

[Gadestroyer74]

1.It has NOTHING to do with rubbing. This is what causes Deer to have colored Antlers. Color is determined by the amount of HEMOGLOBIN supplied to the antlers during growth.

2.Oxidized blood/local plants - antler color depends partly on the amount of oxidized blood left over from velvet shedding and partly on a chemical reaction between the blood and sap from plants on which the antlers are rubbed.

this one

Folks ,Gadestroyer is correct. Bucks get their first color of staining during the sheding of velvet. There is no blood in antlers??? Dont know what show ketera watches. Blood flows through out the velvet layers of of the antler from pedicile all the way to the tip of each main beam and back through the center or core of the antler. This is called the vein of sinus.Antlers are an extension of the frontal bone at the base of the skull.What flows through out the antler are minerals and proteins. Forming a protein matrix.That first staining that occurs can dry fairly easy. More staining can come from his enviorment. What he rubs or touched while in the woods. Dust in the air.pitch from pine needles etc...yes antlers on bucks in large open areas or plains can get pretty white from direct sunlight.But yea bud you are correct on the staining of a buck antlers after velvet peel.

and this

 

[GT-40 GUY]

1.It has NOTHING to do with rubbing. This is what causes Deer to have colored Antlers. Color is determined by the amount of HEMOGLOBIN supplied to the antlers during growth.

2.Oxidized blood/local plants - antler color depends partly on the amount of oxidized blood left over from velvet shedding and partly on a chemical reaction between the blood and sap from plants on which the antlers are rubbed.

If this is true would you tell me why if you get a LITTLE BLOOD on the antlers while field dressing them and then it dries and you try to wash the blood off with plain water the antlers turn white. I have done this many times and have to rub wood stain on them to get them dark again.

gt40

 

[Rick Carter]

Think naturally guys, it's simple weathering and texture. The factors that determine antler color are numerous. Heredity, location of tines and low surface areas, texture and porosity of the antler surface, blood from the shed velvet, trees and plant stains, diet, rain, and amount of time spent in sunlight. What if you wore and never changed a buff colored T shirt around for 6 months. What color would it be? I've repaired dozens if not a hundred antlers with broken tines, missing beams, missing tines and chips. They all stain up a little differently. Reproduction antlers even stain up differently depending on how porous the tines are. You can see the various pores in the RTV rubber mold.

 

[kmaxwell3]

seems like the older bucks ive killed anyway have a darker colored horns than the younger bucks.

I got to looking at my deer antlers and that seems to be about right. Most of the bigger racks are darker.

 

[robertyb]

Correct answer:

Though antler coloration is not always noticable between deer, there are definite differences that can be seen between various locations. In the Mid-West, for example, most bucks have very white or light-colored antlers. In the plains of South Texas, on the other hand, bucks have very dark and often chocolately colored antlers. And many hunters can see differences in bucks they’ve harvested over the years from the very same deer stand. So what determines antler color in whitetail bucks?

This variation is usually the result of the amount of oxidized blood left over from velvet shedding and the type of plant the buck uses to help shed the velvet. The chemical reaction between the blood and sap present in the tree or bush used to rub the antlers can sometimes lead to interesting color variations. In short, this explains much of the color difference between bucks from different regions of the United States, but also from deer harvested on the same ranch. If bucks use different tree or brush species for rubbing off their velvet in late summer or early fall follwing antler growth, then antlers will look different.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Great thread, very informative. Thanks!

 

[Quickdraw]

Don't know, but I have heard old timers say a buck with light colored anlters beds in the clearcut and gets his antlers bleached out and a buck with dark antlers beds in the pines.

 

[flgahunter114]

I have always heard the dark horn bucks being called swamp bucks. Any truth in that?

 

[Buckshot]

IMO From many years hunting

You know , from what I can remember, some of my best bucks I have taken with dark antlers and some that I have not taken but wish I would have came from areas with little or no buck sign at all. Meaning rubs mainly. I really think that there are multiple factors that lead to the color of a deer's antlers. However I look at each deer as individuals like you and I. I have read on here somewhere that every buck rubs up to this certain amount of trees each year. I can't remember the amount they said but I thought to myself when I read this, "now if every buck where I hunt rubbed this many trees each year then I don't think that there will be a tree in the woods that wasn't rubbed"! Plain and simple, I think some bucks rub more trees than other bucks and some bucks may not rub any trees at all. The bucks that don't rub many or none , plus the other factors that could contribute to the coloring of the antlers will be much darker than those that polish their antlers all day long on whatever they can get to make contact with their head gear. How many of these he/she bucks/does have you seen on here or anywhere that have light colored or white antlers? Or swollen necks? They don't rub trees either. I am probably total wrong but to me it makes sense and this is just my opinion.

 

[rvick]

Not sure if this is true but the darker they are means their is blood plentiful in them.. When they are very white it means they are close to shedding..? Just what I have heard

found a roadkill that was in velvet. the velvet was torn off & the antlers were pearl white. made a nice 10 pt. skull mt.