Do does give birth all year round? or just after january? Also, why does velvet cover their antlers in spring? Like I kind of kn

[bowhunter352]

Do does give birth all year round? or just after january? Also, why does velvet cover their antlers in spring? Like I kind of know it has to do with protein or something...

[streack]

Does give birth to fawns mostly in late May to mid June but also as late as early July. The velvet supplies the antler with oxygen and nutrients to help grow the bone.

[wallofsam]

No... usually they will go through 3 cycles, or until they become inpregnated. Usually they give birth from May to July (depending where you are at). Now as for antlers, I know that blood runs through the velvet, to help the antlers develop, but that's the extent of my knowledge. Hopefully, someone finishes this because I would also like to know.

[Jim in Mo]

Everybody gave you a great answer. Here in Mo. the does give birth from April thru June, of course some a tad earlier some a tad later. What I've noticed is the birth rate seems to be greater according to the foliage to hide the babies.

[Alex Williams]

The velvet is the antlers maturing and growing. As they core hardens, the velvet basically dies (like a callous or dead skin) so the bucks rub it off and actually eat it to gain more nutrients and protein.

[steve182]

Alex, You are right. That is the only momement in a deers life when it is not a vegitarian, so to speak, actually I think they're herbivores. But they eat that velvet when they rub it off and actually the blood that comes with it. Nature is strange. The velvet is actually the skin of the antlers, which are soft while growing, loaded with blood vessels. A hormonal change usually in September causes the bloodflow to cease. The Antlers calcify, turning to bone, and the velvet 'skin', no longer getting any blood, begins to deteriorate. This is when he rubs it off and eats it.

[Christian Emter]

No just when a buck mates with her. Usually she will carry her baby through the winter and have it in the spring.

[Beekeeper]

Does will fawn approximately 200 to 205 days from breeding. In the southeast they will breed as late as January and February.

The velvet is the outer covering of the maturing antlers. It supplies blood (and nutrients) to the developing tissue, once mature and hardened it then dries and falls or is rubbed away.

[Alex Williams]

Where i used to deer hunt in the Black Belt Region (southern Alabama) the peak of the rut was usually right at January 15-31. The season ends on the 31 and some breeding even happens in February. Not many people know that and that is what i would like to happen in this magazine: them to give rut times and strategies for places like down here in alabama when the rut occcurs after 3-4 months of hunting pressure.

[bowhunter352]

I knew like, what the velvet did for the bones... But I didn't know like exactly what they did as far as in a scientific/explination way...lol, If any of you guys got that. Like I understood what the velvet did as far as the process but I didn't know what it did... Thanks guys! You all helped!

[rudyglove27]

Agreed with streack answer above and A + 1 for you!!!