McMullen County ranch, low fenced, under pretty bad drought conditions.

We've seen several good bucks walking around with velvet on their antlers. Necks are not blown up - which makes sense as they are not raking trees and stuff. Anyone else seen this? Don't recall ever seeing it at all in prior years.

Just wondering if it is a factor of the drought - or possibly - these bucks just happen to be older than they appear and are not rutting anymore.

had one younger 6pt this year in frio county that kept most of his velvet for well over a month after everyone else shed theirs

asked our TPWD biologist and he had no clue

44mAG said:

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INIGO MONTOYA said:

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asked our TPWD biologist and he had no clue

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Do you have history with these bucks? I would state the obvious that they are stags, but it seems strange that you are seeing multiple of them, and in an area where you have never seen this before.

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Most likely this. Sounds like they didn't have quite enough testosterone to shed.

I heard of an area around Menard, another friend told me this story, where multiple Bucks were killed that had either had one or no testicles. No idea of the cause.

Is it possible those bucks are quite a bit older than they seem? I had a buck on my ranch that we shot in October (MLD season) that was in velvet and looked sickly/poorly. Turned out when I checked his jaw he was very old, my best guess was 12ish, certainly >10. Drought and age were definitely a factor.

Hypogonadism? My FIL shot a buck with this. Still in velvet.

We've seen it in both young and older bucks. Have never noticed it before. Do not have history on this one buck in particular

They can get that way from eating lichens I think.

Might be that situation: multiple deer, drought conditions…

We have a lot of them in pontotoc in mason county