ORIGINAL: Charley
Nice bucks. Have to say, we been kind of disappointed where I hunt. More rain than anyone remembers, but antler development has been so-so. Figure there was so much browse available that many bucks ate what was right around them, instead of moving and feeding on some of the higher protein scattered plants.
Did you notice how dark their antlers were? That's a good sign that they had great nutrition through the antler growing season.
I can't agree with that. We've got lights and chocolates pretty evenly scattered across the ranch. Seems to be more genetic than feed related. We've tracked the same bucks for years, and some are light, and some are dark.
I'm no expert but Dr. James Kroll states in his book, 'A Practical Guide to Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer' that the better nutrition the deer have during the antler growth season, the better blood supply to the antlers and therefore the darker stain the antlers will have. It always made sense to me but I'm no Wildlife Biologist so I will defer to your expertese. In any event, those were nice bucks. I've also noticed the same characteristics on the antlers on my place in comparisson to last year and I know that we had a spectacular year in terms of rain and the browse and forage created due to the rains. I know they've had more browse than usual because they are all healthier looking than I've seen them in several years. For sure it has had that effect on the deer herd in West Texas. Great to see!