Buckaroos

Right up there with raccoons whitetail deer are among the most frequently photographed animal by our network of six trail cameras. 

Within that category are girl deer; does.

Nevertheless, there are a bucks too.

And with the onset of summer they've shed their gray winter coat to show-off the ruddy red coat of summer for a few precious months.

And they're growing their 2026 set of antlers.  The velvet covering the growing antlers is a delicate membrane packed with blood vessels that deliver oxygen, nutrients and minerals such as calcium and phosphorus to the primarily bone antlers allowing them to develop at an astonishing rate.  The velvet supports one of the fastest-growing bones in the animal kingdom. 

Around here the process begins in April and continues throughout the summer.  Then, by late August or early September the adult bucks begin shedding the velvet revealing the bony antlers.  Antlers are shed the following late winter - early spring and the process begins again.