Like red deer stags, roe deer males (bucks) grow new antlers every year. Deer antler is the fastest growing animal tissue in the world taking just 5 months to grow. The fastest is the moose which has antlers recorded at growing an inch a day!
While it is growing it is ‘alive’ with a blood supply and sensitive velvet skin to protect it from incidental damage. If they were to break it during this time it would be just as painful as breaking an arm or a leg. Once it has finished growing the blood supply is cut off to the velvet which is then stripped from the solid bone antlers beneath. Without the skin, the antler has no feeling, leaving perfect fighting tools on top.
The roe bucks’ ‘antler calendar’ is very different to red deer. Red deer start to grow their antlers in the spring, around March-April, then continue to grow them throughout the summer at a fast rate so that by the end of August they are ready to strip the velvet skin and their hard, bony antlers are ready for fighting in the breeding season (rut). Roe deer, however, are different. In spring time, their new antlers are beginning to harden off in time for their rut in the summer. You will hear them in the woodland, barking like dogs to stake out their territory. As autumn turns into winter, their old antlers are cast so that their new growth can begin again.
These roe bucks can be seen in their lovely velvet antlers sheltering on our trails at the moment, while up on the moorland the red stags can be seen with their hard antlers.
(Roe deer buck in February. Picture taken by Michal Sur who was assistant warden at Loch Gruinart - more of Michal's pictures can be seen at www.michalsur.sk)