I typically start to see bucks shedding velvet around Labor day in my area but when do they actually stop growing and start to harden up? I've got some really good bucks I've been seeing and wondering how much more growth to expect on them between now and when they start to shed?
They stop growing when the velvet is rubbed off. They harden up within days of rubbing off the velvet. They will have blood on their antlers for a day or so when they rub the velvet and everything hardens up once that velvet is gone.
The process of hardening starts prior to the velvet coming off...but doesn't fully complete until after it is gone, hence the blood seen when they rub it off. Each buck is different but I would say by mid-August most bucks around me are done growing or at around the 95% mark....
This answer was taken from the buckmasters website "Deer antlers will stop growing 21 days before the autumnal equinox, which this year occurs at 09:04 AM Coordinated Universal Time on September 23, 2011. Just kidding, sort of. The cessation of antler growth, like so many other patterns in a deer’s life is influenced by photoperiodism - the change in the amount of daylight. As summer ends and fall begins, the rate of change accelerates (to about three minutes a day), stimulating an increase in testosterone. This, in turn, causes cessation of blood flow to the antlers, which then harden as the velvet dies and peels off. Precisely when this occurs can vary with latitude, health and even age. In northern latitudes the mean is probably around the first week of September (again, this is an estimated average) with older bucks often shedding earlier than younger bucks. And as soon as they shed, they start rubbing."
