First velvet-free buck of the year in NY!
 

They're startin' to rub off the velvet here in western New York. I took a short ride befor dark last night and only saw 8 or 9 bucks. The good new is that one of them was polished up and he was a really big bodied 3 yr. old 8 or 9-pt. I'd say that within a week probably 80-90% of our bucks with be out of velvet. I'll have to take the spotlight out tonight and see if I can get some footage of bucks in hard-horn. Only a month and a half to go here in NY!!!

RE: First velvet-free buck of the year in NY!
 

I saw a 6 point yesterday morning feeding at the side of the road in N Tonawanda that was still in velvet.

RE: First velvet-free buck of the year in NY!
 

Last night I saw about 10 bucks. From what I could tell, 3 were in definately in hardhorn and several others were just a little too far away to tell for sure. The ones out of velvet were a really nice yearling 8-pt., a 2-3 year old 8-pt. and a 3 yr. old 8-pt. I was hoping to see more bucks, but the deer just ween't moving at all last night [:@].

RE: First velvet-free buck of the year in NY!
 

Sunday evening down here in Dutchess county I saw a spike that was in velvet but he had his winter coat. He was completely gray and stood out from the rest of the does that still had thier summer brown coats.

RE: First velvet-free buck of the year in NY!
 

I haven't seen any in hard horn yet, but the bucks I've seen have been 100% gray. The velvet on the bucks I saw Sunday evening was 'shrinking' and looking tight on the antlers, so it won't be long at all. The does are changing around here, but at most I've seen about 50% gray.