RE: Bucks with White horns or Dark horns?
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Remember, velvet is very itchy for the bucks as it dries. The bucks rub the trees initially to sooth their antlers, and to polish up their horns. The color is according to the type of tree they rub. The color can be thought of as bone, the whiter the antlers, the more they have rubbed, and they have used harder trees. The softer the tree, the more residue from the velvet that is left on.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>
How can antlers be itchy? There are no nerves in them. Deer "rubbing" off velvet is a misconception. They don't intentionally rub off the velvet, it just happens as they prepare for the rut. The reason they rub is to practice for the fighting to come. It just so happens that their anticipation of breeding season fights occurs around the same time as the velvet begins to come off. And this would be completely natural, since practicing for fights with soft velvet horns, would cause them to lose their only weapon and means of earning a shot at a hot doe. I know people have been sayin gfor years they rub to get the velvet off, my dad told me the same thing, but it just isn't so.