Had a guy I know (he buys a license but I wouldnt call him a hunter) tell me he had three bucks under his apple tree and two had already shed their velvet. I'm having a tough time buying his story. Of course, another "expert heard the conversation and said that'll happen when the summers are hot" Yeah, right!!

Anyone else seen even one buck with hard antlers yet? I could maybe believe one freak but two?

I saw 6 last night and all still had velvet. At work the bucks in the local herd are still in velvet as well. No signs of shedding yet.

I highly doubt his story too. I'd say that the bucks still have at least 3 weeks to go before the first ones will start polishing their antlers up. There's a whole lot of those so-called "experts" out there...the only thing that you can believe from most of them is that the have a whole lot of BSand are more than willing to spread it around to anyone who willlisten[:'(].

Last weeks pictures still showed them in velvet.

We just got back our pictures from the stealthcam. Most of the pictures were of bucks and all still in velvet. Even looks like they have about another month of growth yet to go. I wouldn't doubt there are a few deer already shedding the velvet, hell anything is possible, but I wouldn't put money on it. If a buck dropped their last years antlers early I guess it's possible they are ready to shed the velvet about now.

A little early I think. I dont know though.Have not seen a buck yet this year. I did see a doe last week.Only deer i seen in months.

end of august beginning of september they shed the velvet. they are shedding their summer coats now!

most likely they had moss on there racks

I saw one last night who was in the process of shedding. He had some torn velvet hanging from his main beams. All of his tips were cleaned and still bloody-brown.
His points were short and stubby, probably rounded off from rubbing while the antlers were still spongy.

I saw over 30 other bucks who had not began to shed.

He may have been in an accident, or had an infection causing him to rub it off early. I've read that sometimes external factors (injuries, diseases, malnutrition, etc.) cause bucks to shed velvet early and does to go into estrus early.

My father told me that he saw some rubs last week in Bradford County PA. I will be going down in 2 weeks to finish a last minute food plot and will check out there *rubs*.