Deer Antlers Part 3

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart
December 23, 2005

In part II of my Nature Smart column on Deer Antlers, we looked at where all the calcium comes from to produce a antlers and the consequences of such massive calcium shift. We also looked at the different colors of antlers. I also discussed what happens to antler sheds each winter. And we learned that nothing goes to waste in nature.

But more importantly, I asked the question; why do male deer have antlers in the first place and I promised that I would write about my time spent with a Canadian moose researcher. So here we go with part III of deer antlers.

Most believe that antlers are used to defend against predators. But if that was true, why don’t female white-tails have antlers as well? Female deer are preyed upon even more than the bucks. Also, why don’t the bucks retain their antlers (more horn-like) throughout the winter when the predation is the worst? Besides isn’t a white-tails best defense its ability to quickly run away.

Well, a more intriguing theory suggests that antlers are for attracting mates—to impress the girls. Kind of like a fancy car and nice clothing for people. It is widely accepted that a male cardinal’s bright colors is a signal to potential mates that he is a healthy male with a good territory that he has a good food supply available to him. Food sole component for brightly colored feathers. Female birds choose their mates based on how the male looks and how well he sings. Since deer don’t sing, it would appear that does look for bucks with the largest antlers for a mate. Therefore large antlers are indicting his good health, food supply and genetics.

In part one of this series we talked about how a buck’s diet is a major factor in the growth of the antlers. The more nutritious the diet the larger and thicker the antlers will grow. That, along with good genetics, will produce bucks with an impressive rack.

Not only do large antlers impress the girls, the size of a buck’s antlers establishes a place or ranking in white-tail hierarchy. Early in the season, bucks with the most massive antlers and swollen necks will spare with bucks that are approximately their own size to determine dominancy. Rarely are the large bucks challenged by smaller less dominant bucks. Once the strongest and most skilled of these bucks establishes their ranking they usually don’t have to fight again and all of their attention is focused on breeding. So really a White-tailed Deer’s antlers are a visible way to say, "Hey, I am a strong and healthy male that will produce strong and healthy offspring", "consider me for breeding."

This brings me to a photography trip where I spent several days with a moose researcher in Canada’s Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. Researcher Vince Crichton, whom you may have seen on an Animal Planet channel special, uses a stuffed moose head with interchangeable antlers to interact with bull moose and observe their behavior. He would strap the moose head to his chest, kind of like a reverse backpack and using a moose call walk up to bull moose during the rut. The goal was to observe the reaction the bull moose would have to Vince’s antlers. My reaction was that he was nuts, but that is a different story.

Vince has established that when he approached a moose with smaller antlers, presumably a less dominant moose, that moose would not challenge Vince and his large antlers. Bulls with equal or larger antlers would stand their ground and become agitated indicating their willingness to fight by rocking their heads back and forth to show off their antlers.

For several days I followed Vince around the north woods of Riding Mountain National Park and observed the behavior of the moose and was amazed at how these bull moose didn’t see a man with a moose head strapped to his chest but rather they seemed to only see the antlers further indicating how important antlers are to the members of the deer family. Until next time…

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