[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/whats-up-with-bucks-shedding-early-this-year\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/whats-up-with-bucks-shedding-early-this-year\/","headline":"What’s Up with Bucks Shedding Early this Year?","name":"What’s Up with Bucks Shedding Early this Year?","description":"Is anybody else noticing more bucks shedding their antlers earlier than normal this year?\u00a0 This winter in particular, I have...","datePublished":"2017-01-06","dateModified":"2018-06-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/#Person","name":"Hector Agosto","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Legendary Whitetails","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","url":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","width":522,"height":226}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/17.jpg","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/17.jpg","height":900,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/whats-up-with-bucks-shedding-early-this-year\/","about":["Hunting"],"wordCount":1023,"keywords":["Hunting","Shed Hunting","Tips"],"articleBody":"Is anybody else noticing more bucks shedding their antlers earlier than normal this year?\u00a0 This winter in particular, I have noticed a lot more hunters posting pictures of shed antlers and shed bucks already, and we are barely into the New Year.\u00a0 In fact, a lot of states\u2019 deer hunting seasons are still going on, giving worry to potentially shooting a shed buck that you thought was a doe.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s simply an increase in social media exposure that makes it appear as though there are more bucks dropping early, or perhaps, maybe there really are more bucks shedding early this year.Every year, some bucks shed their antlers early, but it\u2019s usually not widespread amongst the herd and is often the result of an injury to that individual buck. Without going into much detail about all the possible causes of early antler shedding (like we did in this article), here\u2019s the most likely explanation for a (seemingly) greater number of bucks shedding antlers earlier than normal this year\u2026 and, for ease of reference, let\u2019s consider the month of December as the \u201cearly\u201d shed time period.What’s Different in 2016?If I was a betting man, I\u2019d put my money on the severity of winter thus far, specifically through the front half of December. \u00a0If recent memory serves me right, the past couple of Decembers have been relatively mild with little snowfall here in Wisconsin, thus, not many bucks shed noticeably early.\u00a0 This year, however, December (the front half especially) spent most it\u2019s time buried in snow, which continued to accumulate up until a warm spell the last week of the month.\u00a0 December 2015 saw just the opposite when the first major snowstorm didn\u2019t hit until the last week of December. In other words, December 2015 and 2016 were polar opposites.Here’s an early shed we found while coyote hunting\u00a0Rather than just speculating, I took a look at the average snowfall totals across the state, focusing on the differences between December 2015 and December 2016.\u00a0 Not only that, but I also looked at when that snow hit (see snow cover graphics below).\u00a0 I think it\u2019s fair to say snow storms early in the month of December have more of an impact on whether bucks will shed early during any given year, especially if the snow sticks around for a while.Temperature and snow cover were the two stats I compared for my home state of Wisconsin.\u00a0 On average, December 2016 was a whopping 8 degrees Fahrenheit colder than December 2015 across the entire month.\u00a0 With the colder temps, came more snow \u2013 December 2016 saw an average of 16.5 inches of cumulative snowfall compared to just 7.8 inches during December 2015.\u00a0 That\u2019s nearly a difference of 9-inches of snow that month!\u00a0 Not only that, but the majority of the snow that fell across the state in 2015 fell on December 28th, which wouldn\u2019t exactly cause much of a noticeable early antler drop.Check out the following GIF graphic we created to demonstrate the difference of snow cover between December 2015 and 2016 using data from NOAA, it\u2019s extremely interesting and telling.\u00a0 The following GIFS paint a pretty clear picture as to why we might be seeing more bucks shedding early in states like the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and the northern parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana in particular.December 2015 Snow Cover\u00a0Pay attention to the white regions and the date in the bottom right.December 2016 Snow CoverPay attention to the white regions and the date in the bottom right.Why is December so Important?December could quite well be the single most important month of the year for bucks in any of the areas where the rut occurs in November. It\u2019s especially critical for bucks living\u00a0in areas subject to snow and freezing temps and here\u2019s why \u2013 December is recovery month.Studies have shown that mature bucks often lose more than 20% of their body mass during the rut.\u00a0 Are you kidding me?!\u00a0 That\u2019s like our friend, Jeff Janis of the Green Bay Packers (6\u20193\u201d, 219 lbs), losing almost 44 lbs during one month! Then once the rut is over, they are expected to bulk back up and recover enough to make it through a tough winter stretch.\u00a0 Mind you, quality nutritional food options are quite low in December\u2026harvested crops, plowed fields, leafed off browse, depleted acorn crops, etc. . . sounds like fun foraging doesn\u2019t it? Now, picture 10 inches of snow and freezing temperatures on top of that.\u00a0 It\u2019s no wonder bucks are more stressed during some years than others, a la 2016.When you stop to think about it, it\u2019s actually quite amazing that more deer don\u2019t die considering the circumstances they are faced with heading into winter.\u00a0 My, they are unbelievable animals!"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Legendary Whitetail's Blog"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/whats-up-with-bucks-shedding-early-this-year\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"What’s Up with Bucks Shedding Early this Year?"}}]}]