How deceiving is velvet???

[Buckmeister]

What I'm getting at here is tine length. Saw a Muley buck tonight with eye guards that were 3-4 inches in length already. I suspect he still has plenty of growing to do of course, but lets just pretend for a moment that it is September and that the velvet is ready to come off, how long could you expect the bone for these brow tines to actually be? 3 to 4 inches, or shorter?

Overall, this one deer is looking not bad, currently a 3x4, but his rack has pushed out about 2 1/2 to 3 inches past his ears and is around 7 to 8 inches in height. If he stays in the neighborhood I will be keeping a close eye on him to see what he turns into. Boy, do I love livin in the country.

[Buckmeister]

What? No one wants to weigh in on this one?

I've seen pics of a buck in velvet and then the same buck after the velvet comes off and it appears that it has shrunk. Just wondering by how much. The velvet always looks nice and fat and bigger than the actual bone, but I've always wondered about the length of tine.

[Wild Images]

Its kinda like going swimmin in cold water :)

[Rodd]

I have taken trail cam pictures of a Whitetail buck in my backyard, from May through November, and it seems in my area that the majority of growth occurs in May and June. By July 15th he pretty much was done growing. In September with the velvet off, he was about the same size as he was at the beginning of July. This holds true with the area I hunt in Sask as well. Gotta love those trail cameras! They hunt 24/7 for me, and it pays off.

[Moose Guide]

the velvet on my moose was only about 1/4 in. to 1/2 in. thick, I don't think you will lose much length but you lose a lot of mass.

[kennyj]

Velvet makes the antlers look a lot thicker and maybe makes the tines look shorter if anything. The browtines finish growing first.
kenny

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_081.jpg
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_050.jpg

[Buckmeister]

I'll have to keep a eye on this buck then and take note when the growing slows up. If he only has about 2 weeks more of growth left then he probably won't have a very tall rack. I am impressed with the width though. I found a 4 point shed this year in our area that has really nice mass but not a lot of length. Maybe the genetics in this area are like that.

[ianwuzhere]

awesome pix kennyj!!!

[dana]

Velvet does make a rack appear bigger than it actually is. Mainly in mass though. But mass doesn't make up for a large portion of the score when it comes to B&C. Tine length isn't really much different. Not a lot of velvet covering the tips once they are finished growing. All bucks grow at different rates though. Some don't change much from mid July till Sept. But other bucks might put on significant amount of growth in that same timeframe. I took these pics in the 3rd week of July in 04. I estimated him to be damn close to 190" typical at that time. Never seen him again. Picked up his sheds in 07. They would score right at 200" typical. He put on about 10 inches of tine length from the 3rd week of July till he rubbed that Sept.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/Wildlife%20Pics/IMG_0191.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/Wildlife%20Pics/IMG_0647.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/Wildlife%20Pics/Mar25008a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/Wildlife%20Pics/MatchedSet001a.jpg