The recipe for a buck to reach his maximum antler growth potential seems pretty straight forward, since it really consists of only two major ingredients. All a buck really needs is some age, and the right nutrition. Simple, right?
Age is pretty straight forward, but the nutrition ingredient is a bit more complex. In this article we will discuss what nutritional aspects affect antler growth and what a buck really needs to maximize his antler growth. We’ll also take a look at what we as hunters can do to help, as well as some things that really don’t produce the return on our investments.
To understand how we can impact antler growth on bucks, first we must understand where bucks antlers sit on the natural priority list. A buck’s antlers are several notches down on the priority list, and aren’t really a necessity for survival.
Antler growth can be stunted for a variety of reasons, but oftentimes it’s because the buck is not in optimal health, or his body needs to focus on development. Mother Nature won’t normally allow a buck to waste resources and energy growing antlers if his body and overall health are going to suffer.
Simplified, a bucks body has to be in optimal health and fully developed before he is able to produce his largest antlers. This is why most bucks wont produce their largest set of antlers until their bodies are fully developed and have reached the maintenance phase. This normally occurs around the 5-6 year mark, but can vary by individual deer, region, etc.
Minerals for Deer
Since antlers are comprised of mainly calcium and phosphorous, it makes perfect sense that adequate amounts of these two minerals are required in a buck’s diet to reach his antler growth potential. Bucks have a very interesting ability to draw calcium and phosphorous from their skeletal system during the antler growth process.
This isn’t a voluntary process, and bucks can’t do it on command. It just happens naturally. This is also another reason why optimal body health plays such a huge role in antler development.
If a buck has low amounts of calcium or phosphorus in its skeletal system, or he is young and still growing, there aren’t the necessary reserves to pull from in order to maximize antler growth.
Other minerals play a role in antler development also, just on a lesser scale. Magnesium, Sodium, Manganese, as well as other trace mineral and vitamins are extremely important. If a buck is lacking in any one of the vitamins and minerals required for antler growth, it’s likely he won’t ever reach his maximum potential.
Protein
What about protein? On just about any deer feed or food plot seed packaging, you will find protein levels, and for good reason. Just like high performing athletes, protein is crucial for bucks to not only grow antlers, but also to develop and maintain the body.
Many studies have found that a buck requires an average diet consisting of 12%-20% protein in order to reach his maximum antler growth potential. As bucks get older, into the maintenance phase for their bodies, the protein requirements may go down.
The opposite is true for younger bucks that are using large amounts of resources to develop and grow their bodies. Bottom line, don’t underestimate a deer’s need for protein.
Food Sources
Now that we know what a buck needs in order to reach his antler growth potential, how does he get all the vitamins, minerals and protein required to do so? The old saying, “We are what we eat,” could not be any truer than it is with deer.
Deer are browsing animals and will eat a wide variety of plants, but if those plants are lacking in certain vitamins, minerals or protein, so will the deer. This is why areas that have highly fertile soils tend to historically produce larger antlered bucks than areas with lesser soils.
Not only is the soil more fertile than some other places, those areas usually have lots of production agriculture and nearly unlimited high quality food available. This doesn’t mean a buck can’t grow big antlers in places with limited agriculture production though.
There are plenty of natural browse species that are highly nutritious and contain high levels of protein. Natural forbs such as wild lettuce, goldenrod, and common ragweed all offer protein levels that can exceed 13%. Woody or semi-woody species such as green briar, poison ivy, blackberry, and trumpet creeper can produce browse with protein levels of 12% or higher.
Food Plots/Mineral/Supplemental Feeding
Food plots, mineral sites and supplemental feeding can all be great ways to help ensure the deer on your property are as healthy as possible and can produce the biggest antlers possible. However, you need to be realistic when implementing programs.
In most cases, using these programs do help, but not to the extent many may think. And in some cases, they could do more harm than good. Although there are many ways to implement programs on a budget, all three can get expensive, especially if you are doing them on a large scale.
Food plots can provide a highly nutritious and attractive food source for deer, but unless it’s on a large enough scale to ensure deer never run out of food, it can have limited impact on antler growth.
That’s not to say food plots are bad, I plant several every year, but with only having about 2% of my property in food plots, they are pretty well wiped out before winter is over. There are many other advantages to food plots other than trying to produce larger antlered bucks. They can provide attraction, more defined deer movement and offer great hunting opportunities.
The downside to food plots is weather. We are dependent on Mother Nature to grow a successful food plot, and if she doesn’t cooperate, our options are pretty limited.
Mineral sites and supplemental feeding are great options if legal in your area, but they can also be expensive. Just like with food plots, these programs will likely have little impact on antler growth if you are not implementing them on a larger scale. A single mineral site or protein block isn’t likely to produce measurable results.
What Can You Do?
So what can we do to help ensure bucks produce the largest antlers possible? The first and arguably the easiest thing we can do as hunters and land managers is to pass on younger bucks.
Sure, the neighbor might shoot him if we don’t, but he also might not. One thing is guaranteed, if you don’t pass him, he has zero chance of getting another year older and producing a larger set of antlers. If you pass him, he has a chance!
The second and oftentimes the most enjoyable way to help ensure bucks can grow their largest antler is ensuring you have a healthy and appropriate deer population on your property.
Having too many deer can deplete needed resources, create social stress and have an overall negative impact on the quality of bucks that you can produce. Reducing deer numbers can be a great way to get friends and family involved, and what’s more fun than filling the freezer?
Thirdly, you can work on improving the habitat on your property. Increasing the quantity and quality of natural browse species by using different habitat improvement techniques can be a great cost effective way to help ensure bucks can reach their antler growth potential.
Techniques such as TSI (Timber Stand Improvement), prescribed fire, planting mast producing trees, are all great options. If you’re on a budget, something as simple as felling some lower quality trees and allowing more sunlight to reach the forest floor can produce a lot more high quality browse.
Fourthly, if you have the ability to create a co-op, or at least get some of your neighbors on the same page, it can greatly increase your impact on the local deer herd. As a relatively small landowner, I know all too well the challenges I have trying to manage my property for larger antlered deer.
Getting neighbors with similar goals can turn what might have only been 50 acres of managed property into several hundred or more acres, depending on how many neighbors are on board.
Lastly, food plots, supplemental feeding and mineral sites. Again, these are likely the most expensive options and can potentially have a lower impact on antler growth (unless done on a large enough scale) than other options, but they are still worthwhile if legal in your state.
If you are limited on your ability to implement these programs, try to focus on them during the high stress periods in your area. Winter can be a time of limited resources for deer, and if we are able to help keep them healthy during those periods, we have a higher chance of seeing the results.
Like I mentioned previously, there can be many benefits other than helping to increase antler size.
What about you? What have you found to benefit deer antler size the most on the property you hunt? Comment below, and let us know what you think.
