I know there are hard antlered deer year round but half or more are on a spring rut cycle so when will the majority have hard antlers? By June most are in hard antler so how long before this will they have shed the velvet?

They rub velvet off in late September, early October.

He's talking Axis deer not whitetail

Seen the early ones drop around fall if I'm not mistaken. Friend has them on his property and got desensitized to seeing them grow antlers at different times of the year. Though I saw a few during the regular rifle season that were just starting to grow out this past year.

they rut at different times all through the year, fawns can be born any time through the year, they drop their antlers/ regrow according to their birthdays. a January born bucks horn development will differ from that of one born in june. that's why some are hard horned and some are still in velvet when you see them.

OP is referring to stripping of velvet, not shedding antlers. We saw by far more hard horned axis bucks in July than we did in April.

yea and if you can comprehend what I wrote you would understand that it varies from when they were born. what rut cycle the doe's got bred in. I have been hunting in texas different times of the year...February, june, September, November and have seen fawns that have just dropped, bucks chasing doe, velvet and hard horned bucks, and bucks that have already shed. there is no set date for an axis to shed velvet like there is for a whitetail. they shed when they are ready

I worded the last sentence badly. Used shed when I should have used scraped the velvet. One source said approximately 70% of the stags are on the spring early summer rut cycle and the rest could be anytime with a secondary rut mid winter. Looks like May or June might be the earliest for the June/July rut bucks. With some of the up to 30% having hard antlers anytime I guess I should get after them.

When axis buck grows antlers, shed velvet and sheds antlers is determined by when they are born...

At least that's what I've been told.

You encounter a herd of axis, and you will see some with hard antlers, some in velvet, and some that have shed.


They are nothing like whitetails or mulies, and have constant cycles year around for antler growth, breeding and such.

LMAO

This thread is interesting, I never knew this.

I was wondering why this guy was still in velvet last March.

I found a bit more on what I briefly hit on about antlers above...




http://www.nadefa.org/articles/axis-deer

Thanks for the information. There is an Axis deer farm near me and I am going to start keeping track of those to see if the 70% spring velvet scrape is true. The only problem is that this herd may have a more limited gene pool skewing the timing. I will also use this herd to practice my calling on. This and get out hunting now instead of waiting till June.

Most of the Hill Country Axis shed antlers in December. I have seen many get shot in hard antlers & be bald before they hit the ground. Typically they shed velvet about two months prior to July.

Gee...I think I herd that somewhere before, but maybe I herd wrong about how axis run in heards.....


I just can't pass this schitt up....

And that really is internet gold....

Me either. But, there are plenty of titty-babies here that really get their panties in a wad when you point it out to them.

I’ve spent a lot of of time with Axis deer over the past few years, and have learned a whole lot more by practically living with them than from any other source. There’s just not much real life information to be found on them anywhere else. I’m actually scouting & camped on one of the most heavily populated Axis properties in Texas as I type this. I easily saw a couple hundred in a 2 mile stretch of river bottom today. I’m in some highly populated whitetail country, but the Axis deer have taken over here. There’s truly too many of them here, but most of the landowners in the immediate vicinity don’t hunt.
I don’t pretend to be a expert, only a student, but here’s some things I’ve learned first hand by observing a few different places that are Axis strongholds:
During the spring & summer months, roughly 70% of bucks will be hard horned, with the remaining 30% having hard antlers during the typical fall hunting season.
Although often very hot weather, June & July is the time when you’ll find the most productive hunting, with many bucks rutting.
Hard horned bucks will travel from herd to herd, roaring and seeking receptive does.
Axis bucks roar to announce their state of rut. Mature bucks typically make 3 consecutive vocalizations in sequence. Younger bucks may often make less than 3, as they sound somewhat less confident.
Axis are grazing herd animals and travel much like cattle as they feed.
Does emit elk like sounds, that appear to be mainly contact vocalizations. When alarmed they make a very sharp & loud “bark”.
I have very often observed multiple hard antlered bucks in the midst of a herd of does that would all be roaring but never fighting, although I’ve seen videos of them having serious battles.
Bucks seem to take a very long time to grow their antlers to maturity, compared to our native antlered species. I can’t really put exact figures on it, but I’m guessing 2-3 times as long as a whitetail, for instance, maybe even longer.
Well, that’s just a few things that I have personally observed. Your mileage may vary.

I here that spelchek kan sumtimes switch a wurd to anuther wurd whin yu arnt payen atenshun.

Thanks for the info. Here the whitetails shed around Valentines day and usually have hard horns by October. The Axis shed around December/January and are in hard horn by late May or June, some say April too. So pretty close to 7-8 months for each. This from the comments here and what I have read and also from local guides. If this is true then Whitetails take slightly longer to develop antlers. But I am sure it varies by herd and also where the original stock came from since they range from the Himalayan foot hills to Ceylon. Also the antlers look similar so you can easily mistake the same age class bucks.

Allot of good information here. I can definitely confirm that starting end of May through July is when you will have Axis bucks start showing up that you have never seen before. This is when a good 60 to 70 percent are hard horned and when the most active rutting activity takes place. Can be a miserable time to hunt due to the heat but in my opinion the best time to hunt a big one. June is normally the best month on the ranches I have been on.

I shot a hard horned Axis in December and saw a few other smaller ones brought in on the same hunt.