Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer antler color variations

I live in NE Georgia and have been hunting whitetails for 30+ years. The vast majority of the bucks that I've taken over the years have had a tan to almost white colored antlers. This past season I took a large old buck with dark brown antlers-almost looked like they were coated with brown shoe polish. I've seen a few others that were similar in color in the past but not very often. What causes this? Diet? Genetics? Our area was supposedly re-stocked with deer from Texas and Wisconsin sometime in the late fifties or early sixties or so I was told. Curious to know.

If I recall correctly the colour is largely dependent upon what tree/bush the buck rubs on. I have seen white antlered deer and dark brown antlered within a close distance

The deer that Steelhead takes have almost red antlers. From rubbing on alders, I think.

More and more I am thinking Id like to shoot me one of those red antlered deer.

Thanks GRF. Makes sense to me now.

GRF is mostly right but there are some genetic differences and pre dispositions to darker/lighter antlers. Mostly it is what they scrape on though.

Around my part of the woods bucks that scrape on Hickory sapplings will have almost black antlers. Those that scrape on cedar will be dark tan those that scrape on youpon or holly will be very light colored. Elm sapplings will give you a medium brown with a yellow cast.

Sitka Blacktails in SE Alaska love rubbing on alders









Gives them the orange horns

Not to be a smartss but.....
Scrape = pawing at ground
Rub = rubbing antlers on tree

Well just pardon me all to hell. Put it this way, scrape the damn velvet off their damn antlers on some kind of damn tree.

Scott, nice bucks and pics!

At a flea market in CA a few years ago a man had several sets of deer antlers that were a beautiful grey almost to a blue tone. I asked what he had put on them to get that color and he said they are natural to deer in one area somewhere down there, due to what they rub on. FWIW

cedar and pine sap give most bucks in my area dark colored bases. the first year they planted soybeans in one of my huting areas antler got very white on top.

Scott, I really love this pic. Isn't that a Ruger? I saved one of a similar Ruger on the 4 wheeler that you posted once....

I miss the Sitka bucks but am content with the Columbian variation.

Yep, same rifle as on the 4 wheeler. It's an 8x57

The type of tree is a factor in color to be sure.

The weather is a huge factor as well. Mule deer & elk from the sunny east side of my state will have much lighter antlers than the blacktails and elk on the wet & gray, west side of the state.

The effect of ultraviolet light from the sun "lightens" the color of the antlers.

I think it is mostly from what they rub on, all bone is white so that is how they start, then the trees that they rub turn the horns. These are all more or less from the same area. Some buck rub on hemlock which gives them a lighter color, some use fir and that gives them a dark color, like Scott said alder gives them a reddish orange color and cedar give them a darker red color.

Id love to kill one with the dark horns like ones in the bottom picture.

The one's on the bottom are the exact same color as the big bucks of south Texas. Almost the color of chocolate pudding. The real monsters w/this color of horns is very impressive and quite unique. powdr

while what they rub on will make a differnce, the scientific reason bucks have darker/ligher antlers is due to how early/fast they shed thier velvet. fast/earlier=light colored.

Source?