I could have sworn last night I saw a buck that was already shed of velvet. It was a small one, but his antlers looked november white. It was rather odd looking too because he still had a red summer coat. He was far, but I had good binocs to view him. He was with a few other bucks and they all had normal looking velvet for this time of year. It was weird.

Younger bucks tend to shed their velvet earlier than the older bucks.

Don't know why exactly, but my guess would be that because they have less antler to grow, the velvet is ready to come off sooner than an older deer.

Perhaps...
The smallest bucks around here are still sporting velvet.

Little,Not much to shed

were in the same area....my farmer friend seen one a week ago with the velvet drying up. he gets close to them when feeding the cows and such they will let him walk right by. that buck is 3.5yrs old if its the same one i know about that lives in that area. that buck also kept its antlers clear into late march