RE: Antler Growth
A number of years ago, North American Whitetail had a series of articles about antler growth. Their research indicated pretty clearly that that vast majority of antler growth has taken place by the end of July. There's still a small amount (less than 5%) of growth left, but most of the month of August is consumerd with the antler hardening. The velvet usually comes off during the first week or two of September.