08/18/2023
Sharing one final shot from my encounter with this big guy shedding his velvet early Sunday morning. He had been laying down and finally decided to get up once the number of spectators increased. I’ve received a lot of questions about whether it’s painful for the elk to shed their velvet. According to a fellow photographer friend who has been teaching the antler growing and shedding process for over 2 decades now in whitetail deer, here's some great information about antlers....As the antlers grow in velvet, they are sensitive and this is how a buck/bull learns a good idea of the size of its rack for the upcoming fall to be able to duck and weave while running through a forest.
As the blood flow transitions from a growing state (antler growth is the fastest growing tissue beside some cancers), the sensitivity also begins to slow, as the blood is not being supplied to the antlers to make the sensitivity “feel”.
Velvet is “annoying” because it gets in their eyes, and at the same time, is often ate for the nutrients of it.
Bucks/bulls come out of velvet often quickly, because the velvet to hard antler transition is a sign of the individual’s testosterone changes, so its kind of a double up of.....losing velvet, AND a start to want to rub on trees etc. to start spreading their scent for the fall.
While the process generally happens in the same time frame every year (when a “herd” is generally in velvet or out of velvet or when they shed), what is extra-wild is (pending good health) an individual usually sheds velvet on the same super tight time frame, by a day or two, every single year. (Not that they have a calendar, but they kind of do.....by the length of days.....headed towards fall).
