Bucks starting to shed antlers
 

I shot an antlerless deer today in Arkansas, thinking it was a big doe, and when I walked up to it, it was a 140lb. buck who had recently shed his antlers.

He didn't have any fat on him, and I figure he's lost 30-40 pounds the past two three months chasing does.

I heard a deer a few minutes before I saw him, and heard a couple of crashes. I wonder if he shed his antlers just a few minutes before i saw him. Hopefully, I'll be able to go back to look for sheds next week.

Wow, thats really early! Isn't the rut in Arkansas just getting underway/ in the middle?

Our rut is usually in October, with the second phase in November. By mid December, the rut is over in Arkansas.

All the same, I thought it was early for bucks to be shedding antlers.

The peak of the rut in Arkansas is the middle of Nov, then about the middle of dec if any does didnt get bred they do a little chasing. Sometimes the second can be really good at times if your in the right place and the right time. What I'm saying here is about the north half of Arkansas, down south I'm not so sure about..

i had a pic of one with both sides shed on the 14th in S.Illinois

Gregrn43,
Where in Arkansas are you? I hunt in Howard County, and the scrapes were hot in October, and then again the middle of November. They are all unvisited now. This is what I based my observation on when the rut occurred.

At any rate, I didn't expect that the bucks might be starting to shed until I shot that one yesterday.

I've shot them here in So. Il during the late gun season, what used to be called the "Pistol Season", now called the late season and they had shed antlers already. Took my first 2 deer with a pistol then and both were shed bucks.