How And When Elk Shed Antlers
January 27, 2011 by Guest Author
Filed under General Food Plot Topics, Hunting, Hunting Whitetails, deer hunting
FOOD PLOTS- Elk Sheds
The deer family species elk is not as known as it once was in the past. Elks live in mountain meadows, forested areas, lake shores, and valleys for the spring, summer, and autumn. The winter season is spent in grassland edges. Elk shed antlers when the mating period is over.
In the summer elk cows and calves graze together in groups. The bulls form their own herd. In the autumn the bulls will make loud resonant bulging to announce the mating season. They will then fight, sometimes to the death, using their spikes as weapons for the possession of the females. When it is winter the males and females forage together until spring then they separate again for the birth of the young.
Elk are also called wapiti, which is an Indian word for white which was given because of the pale colored rump. The rest of their fur is red and brown. They are one of the large species in the deer family. Other traits include the short tail and the large racks that the males have.
The males are characterized by their racks. They are composed of pure bone, which are normally concealed by the skin of the head. The growing process takes up to five months and resembles that of typical bone formation.
The process of antler growing is started with swelling and bud pushing from the skull. Size increase happens quickly as they branch while growing. Fine hairs called velvet cover the racks causing them to grow deformed or bent. Until full growth is reached blood vessels nourish the spikes.
The stag will start to rub their rack against trees, or rocks, when the velvet dries up. This happens when the blood supply is cut off. A small amount of blood may show when the velvet starts to peel.
When each rack falls from the skull a little amount of blood will appear. It heals and dries fast. Racks are shed when the breeding season is done. New buds will appear after several months and the new set of racks will start to grow. Each year they increase in size and go through this process.
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