Velvet...when it sheds, does it itch?

[Land_Owner]

I have a theory that antler velvet itches when it is about to be shed, which accounts for the start and a portion of the thrashing and rubbing of antlers on trees, branches, posts, and one another.  This is not to be misconstrued as the ONLY reason rubs and fighting is initiated.

The velvet is filled with blood vessels and nerves as it becomes the sheath for the newly forming antler.  The vessels bring the nutrients that form the growing antlers.  If the velvet is damaged, the antler grows irregularly (there are other means for irregular antler growth too).

When the antler approaches maturity, the velvet begins to harden.  Blood vessels close and nerves die.  There is a cross over between antler hardening and velvet shedding that is initiated when the velvet begins to itch.  The antlers are sufficiently hard, and the itch, when it becomes intolerable, is the beginning of the shedding process and signals both chemically and physically the need to start the rubbing process.  After that, it is probably just testosterone.

A human analogy to this concept is not unlike deeply sunburned skin.  When it is peeling it itches and you want to rip off your dead skin to make the itch go away.  

Just testing my theory against your responses.

[charles p]

I can't argue with your theory except for your comparison to sunburned skin.  When our outer skin is burned and peals away, the itch we experience is transmitted by living tissue and nerves in our dermis.  A buck's antler appears to me to harden from the inside out, thus there may not be any living tissue or nerves remaining in his antler to transmit the itch to his brain by the time the velvet begins to shed.  That's my assumption, and may not be biologically sound.

I don't think deer and humans have similar pains thresholds.  They may rub their velvet away because they are programed to do so.

[Land_Owner]

They may rub their velvet away because they are programed to do so.

Kind of like us belching, farting and rubbing our bellies drinking beer and watching a football game programmed to do so? :-)  :-)

[alleyyooper]

Hard to see good but the rear tine on the right of the picture is bloody with some velvet gone. The bone is hard though. 3 days latter the velvet was all gone but I couldn't get a decent picture as he was wearing out a verbeum bush. I saw him again the third day of rifle season but being a 7 point he walked into a corn field never to be seen again that season.
I think the bone hardens then the velvet starts to wear and the blood vessels start to dry up.

This fellow spent the whole summer in the high grass behind my pole barn till the corn got about 6 foot high.

   Al

[Graybeard]

I can't say for sure about whether it itches when deer are shedding velvet I tend to think not. BUT the last time I was shedding velvet off my antlers it itched like crazy. 

I'm glad I'm now such an old buck I don't have to worry about growing antlers and shedding any longer. 

I can't imagine bone itching and they have hardened to bone prior to shedding the velvet.

[RWK]

Well the last buck i ask, he refused to give me a answer, oh he was dead!

[Dee]

GB, you don't have antlers, you have horns. I think antler is mostly calcium, and has no feeling as the antlers shed. The constant scraping is most likely instinctual, and territorial, scrapes. Kinda like a cat sharpens his claws, the buck is honing his horns for the coming rut competition. Much of the brushing thrashing has a lot to do with the musk glands on the head. But I have been wrong a couple of times. Thus the two ex wives.


OOPS! Just read an article from a guy that has raised deer for years. He says they do itch, and will even bleed at times if the velvet is not entirely dried out and died. He also say that shedding antlers is much like a kid losin a tooth.

[jhm]

     I would kinda go along with Dee last paragraph, I have seen them bleeding B-4 myself and have seen flies buzzing them also, the deer are vary cautious during the growing time frame of their antlers also so it might be a little painful to hit them during the growing season, thats all I can say now as I need to scratch my back it is itching.   Jim