All in a Season
Under another grey sky of winter, Jack is out at the A-frame, a little cabin in the woods. The cold air is inviting, and, as he is properly bundled up, the plan is not to sit in the cabin today. Today, there are plans for other adventures. Time for a little background. Bucks, or male deer, shed their antlers every year. In the late fall and early winter, the antlers will fall off the bucks, and the new ones immediately begin growing. Throughout the spring and summer, they will grow antlers covered in “velvet”, which is a blood-rich skin that nourishes the growing bone. Each year that they age, another point grows into the rack, all in a season. This is why bucks with a large rack, or more points, are more desirable for hunters. They’ve been around a while and know the ways of the world.
Table Of Contents
Today, Jack is heading out on his own hunt. He’s not bringing any weapons, though. Rather, he’s out with his trusted companion, Ellie the Dog, hunting for shed antlers. There are numerous deer all roaming together in herds on the little cabin’s property. Some bucks have small antlers already growing, which is a good sign that there are going to be antlers to claim. It’s cold, it’s beautiful. Let’s see what Jack and Ellie can find.
Taking to the Path
Tracking deer in this area isn’t difficult, particularly in the snow. The deer tracks are abundant, but so are the trails. Deer travel in herds, so where you see one, you know there are many. Because of this, the herd usually carves its own path to food and water sources, to protection from predators or storms, or just to migrate. These paths they lead are called deer trails. Hikers know them well as ways to get lost and confused when they are on a specific trail. Particularly in areas with large deer populations, these trails can almost look like they are manmade, hence how hikers can get lost so easily.
Today, they serve as a nice, winding path through the snowy forest where thin trees rise high above the forest floor. On the snow, deer leave a specific print that is easy to spot. Jack finds a perfect deer print and points out the two depressions on either side of the hoof. It’s clear he’s on the trail. While deer will roam through these woods, not all of their life is spent walking. There are specific spots under the trees where the deer will bed down. Jack can find one, and Ellie is keen to the scent.
Spotting more tracks and more places where the deer have bedded down, Jack is tracking the deer when he comes across another set of tracks. As the saying goes, where there’s deer, there’s turkeys. Jack has stumbled upon a set of three-pronged turkey tracks. They look ancient, like small dinosaurs, and Jack ruminates on the theory that dinosaurs have evolved into birds. Jack may not be a paleontologist, but he’s sure having fun hunting turkey and deer.
Graceful, and On Guard
After passing over one valley, Jack takes a snowed in one-lane road to another valley, hoping to find what he’s looking for. Suddenly, through the trees, Jack sees them. He lowers his voice so he doesn’t spook the herd, but it’s too late. Their keen senses have seen Jack and Ellie from far away. The deer take note. Some of them keep a watchful eye, while others in the back begin gracefully leaping through the deep snow. They don’t move with fear, but trepidation. Every day they are alive is an opportunity to become another animal’s meal. A long history of evolution keeps them on guard, even when they frequently see humans.
Jack spots four, then six, then over ten, all in the herd, immediately getting out of the possibility of harm. It feels like Jack has been walking for some time. The time of day is difficult to discern with the gray skies and the trees, some fallen, some crooked, but all without a leaf in sight, all look the same in every direction. It’s a labyrinth of deer trails, scat, and scrub oak. It’s a beautiful scene and all at once it becomes apparent that if Jack doesn’t find any shed antlers on this hike, the day will not be lost. While the day meanders on, Jack notes that he’s not far from the little cabin in the woods. A quick shot reveals the A-frame cabin is only a short distance away, noting how close this special place is to the turkeys, the deer, and the wild.
Where There’s Scat, There’s Fur
Being that this area is extremely well populated with deer, Jack continues to come across numerous tracks. Stark against the white snow, Jack kneels down and sees a fresh pile of scat from the herd of deer he briefly startled. Not far away, and this is a very good sign, Jack sees deer hair resting gently on the top of the snow. This could bode well in the hopes of finding some deer antlers.
It’s true that deer grow antlers specifically for the mating season to fight off other would-be suitors. These antlers are strong, sharp, and highly dangerous when they are attached to a full-grown buck. But unlike horns, they are not permanent. Provided their stout attributes, the antlers don’t exactly come off that easily. It’s not plucking out a hair, but more like pulling a tooth…out of their skull. So, for the bucks to get the antlers to come off their heads, oftentimes they will thrash and bang their shedding antlers against a tree. When Jack looks down and sees the deer hair, there’s a possibility that one of the bucks was trying to strip their antlers. Their activity will cause the hair to shed, and leave behind a hopeful sign for Jack and Ellie.
Exceeding Expectations
After trekking through the forest valley and navigating all the fallen trees and branches, Jack thinks this is a great place to find some shed antlers. On a side note, Jack should have really brought a log carrier with him. If there is the possibility of a fire after this walk at the little cabin in the woods, it would have been a good idea to bring a canvas log carrier. Not to mention, as deer travel together, it is highly likely that Jack could have walked past a whole herd of shed deer antlers. Given their size and shape, a log carrier would have been ideal. But I digress.
Jack is looking at the base of the trees, scoping for areas where bucks might have knocked off their antlers. A few yards away, Ellie is rooting around at the base of a tree. It should be noted that Jack previously mentioned that some dogs can be trained to sniff out deer antlers. Once they get on the scent, finding the antlers is a cinch for dogs. Jack notes that Ellie is an amateur, but all throughout the hike, she has been stoked to be out and excited to find some wildlife.
While Jack rifles through the snowy ground, searching for an antler, for a moment, he takes stock of Ellie. She’s onto something. She has her nose pressed into the base of a tree. In an instant, she emerges with half an antler! The untrained pup has done it! She found some antlers. She’s immediately proud and takes the antlers in the opposite direction from Jack. It’s clear she is enjoying her find and wants to keep it from Jack.
Jack finally gets a hold of the antler, and it’s beautiful. It’s wild and pointed in parts, but somehow also looks symmetrical. It’s going to look incredible above the door inside the little cabin in the woods.
A Note on Antlers
The half antlers that Ellie found had four points, which means this is a four-year-old buck. There are, however, two ways to classify these points of the antlers. In the United States and Canada, hunters typically count all the points on the buck. Jack here mentions that this half antler is from an eight-point buck, because there are four points on the half. For European hunters, they align the points of the antlers with the age of the deer. So, these antlers that Ellie found would be considered a four-point.
No matter how they’re classified, these are some great antlers. Furthermore, no matter how it shakes out, Ellie is the star of the show today. While these simple walks through the woods are always a good time for humans to reconnect with wild spaces, we can’t forget that our four-legged friends are also out here longing to reconnect to their primitive selves. Jack and Ellie’s joy is unmistakable. For those that enjoy a good winter walk but also like having a goal or destination in mind, antler hunting is a great hobby to take up. When Jack runs out of space for the cabin wall, Ellie can always find more for the neighbors.
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