Well I dont know why unless its just extreme stress or a lopsided buck/doe ratio but the county I hunt in Northern WV the bucks start losing them the first week in December. I killed a nice 8 pointer on Dec 4, 2004 and pulled a horn off dragging it. By the end of the 2nd week in December 90% of the horns are gone and you better be darn careful what ya shoot at. Im thinking that may be the earliest any whitetail bucks int he country lose their horns.