Bill Head took this awesome picture of a fairly young buck who looks like he’s been packing on the pounds for winter. This guy better watch out or he stands a pretty good chance of ending up mounted on a wall somewhere. Deer season is just around the corner and he’s got a pretty nice rack.
The things hanging down from his antlers are the “velvet” coating the antlers have when they first appear. Bucks clash with each other as well as rub their antlers on manzanita bushes, trees, car roofs, pickup mirrors or anything else that might help them remove the velvety coating. Eventually the strips will just deteriorate and fall off.
Bucks used to come up and rub their antlers along the eaves of my aunt’s roof in West Point. It always scared the crap out of me because they did it right outside the window where I was sleeping.
Great shot, Bill.
Photo by Bill Head.