Jackson-Hole, Wyoming Elk Antlers

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In most species of antlered deer, the antlers that grew rapidly in the spring and summer will die and drop off the animal’s head sometime shortly after the mating season. These shed antlers quickly bleach bony-white in the sun and rain and begin to break down, and/or are gnawed upon by woodland creatures for the calcium and other micronutrients they contain. Or otherwise, continue to break down and return to the soil.

Bowie Knife

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There are antler products that are quintessentially in need of deer or elk antlers, like the hilt of classic weapons and tools like this Bowie frontiersman knife. Deer antler has been used as digging tools and weapons, and the large elk antlers can be used as structures which can be covered with hides and bark, to provide shelter for nomadic peoples and hunters.

Heart-Attack Deer

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Deer hunters would call this a ‘heart-attack deer’ for the size and shape of its rack they might nearly have heart failure to have a chance to ‘bag’ such a highly coveted trophy. Deer hunting and specifically the purchase of hunting permits issued by the Department of Conservation or other regulatory agency, funds itself and programs to protect the deer in the off-season, maintaining habitat and favorable conditions for the animals. This may sound contradictory, but enforcement of game rules and regulations and still have a managed hunting season benefits both the animals in question and the Right to Hunt advocates, whom view it as a national heritage. The seasonal culling of the statistical surplus of whitetail deer does another service to humans and this includes even the ones that don’t hunt at all! That is, keeping the numbers manageable reduces the number of deer/automobile collisions. If the annual Big Game hunt were to be suspended for a season or two, the numbers of deer and automobile collisions in an otherwise managed region would skyrocket. Property damage is one of the reasons ‘Deer Season’ still has advocates even among those whom do not actually partake in the hunt. And crop protection is also an issue, -deer herds can ravage a farmer’s field crops of corn, oats, wheat, and even family gardens can suffer greatly from deer forgings. Maintaining healthy managed numbers of deer benefits everyone.

Predator Deer

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This photo is kind of scary. It reminds me of that Arnold Swartzenaggar movie “Predator.” I remember that scene where the alien predator with the invisibility cloak was hunting the commando team in the rainforest. The predator  was a ‘collector’ himself, a collector of skulls! It’s trophy of choice was the skull of the prey, this time it would be humans it hunted. The same way deer hunter would take a trophy deer for the antlers it possesses, the alien Predator would tear the skull and spine from its quarry and render the coveted trophy, -the skull itself, into what it deems to be a clean and shiny artistic display piece. Eww..

 I have found whole deer skeletons like this in the woods before myself. Generally, such a carcass is ‘removed’ by carrion eaters in the winter months and by mid-late spring, there is virtually nothing left but a black spot.

 Either the animal died of old age, injury (survived an initial automobile impact but later died from the injuries) or even, from an inept hunter wounding the deer in the fall hunting season and not being able to locate and claim the take. I come from a small community in the country and we enjoy the deer hunt, but if a claim cannot be taken quickly and effectively, I would not ‘take the shot.’ Following a wounded deer for hours in the woods might be how our forefathers obtained food for the family, but I won’t do it. It’s either a clean, one-shot kill or I won’t even attempt it.

Longleet Deer in Velvet

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The growing antler is covered with a thick skin called “velvet” which supplies blood, oxygen and nutrients to the fast-growing bone. Once the antler has reached the proper size for the age of the animal and the conditions of its environment (availability and quality of its food and possibly stress factors play a role too perhaps?), the velvet dies and is shed as flaky, itchy skin. This accounts for why deer rub their antlers on branches and tree limbs. Not to ‘sharpen them’ but to scratch the itch, revealing the majesty of antler beneath!

Deer antler is one of nature’s fastest-growing living fauna. The antler of a deer which is receiving adequate food and nutrition can grow a half-inch per day or more! If this amazing ability were to be replicated for, say, growing a human arm back after a catastrophic accident of dismemberment or amputation, one could ‘grow a new arm, leg or finger’ in months or even just weeks! Why it grows and why it stops growing would be the major difficulty in harnessing this amazing growth. What turns it on and then, turns it off, and getting the appendage to come out right to meet the needs of the patient.

Close-up of Antler Velvet

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This is an Elk in velvet. The antlers appear thick and bulbous as the velvet is quite thick and rich with blood and tissue. Originally, ‘velvet’ referred to the minute hairy surface of the structure.

Oriental Medicines.  Deer Penis and Antler

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Deer antler is a very common ingredient in Chinese health medicines and tonics and has one of the longest histories of deer antler use for such preparations and prescriptions. Said to aid joint, bone and sexual function, deer antler is, surprisingly, an exported product of New Zealand, Australian and Canada. Korea is probably the world’s biggest user of deer antler products, using the antlers of all species with no particular specificity for specie of antlered deer although the Red Deer is often the source of farm raised deer for meat, antler and visceral products.

Typically, it is the velvet on the developing antlers that are most sought after for antler tonics, traditional medicines and preparations. If the velvet has died and the antler ossifies (‘calcifies,’ and becomes hard) and even falls off, it can still be used for other antler products such as boiling it to obtain deer antler gelatin, used in certain preparations to treat swelling and sprains.

Fallowdeer Buck

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I love the spotted patterns on this deer. Whitetail deer fawns of North America have this spotted pattern too but they slowly lose it to the all-brown of their parents as they mature. Only the white undersides and tail remain white. The white spots and speckles are alleged to aid the fawn in hiding in plain site under the forest canopy. The dappling of sunlight is represented in this patterning, and the fawn has only to lie very still, causing predators to walk by and completely miss seeing the silent, still and mostly odorless fawn.

Farm Elk

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Out in the western states of the U.S., elk often roam freely through small towns, strolling leisurely across people’s lawns. I have seen herds of elk doing this, standing in people’s driveways, grazing and slowly walking away. One would be foolish to approach or try to interfere with their movements, for they are large and will defend themselves and their herd. It would be best to just stay away from them and let them migrate on past. The elk in this image are being raised on a farm, also common. I am told that there is virtually no difference between ‘reindeer’ and ‘elk’ except the former are considered ‘domesticated’ draft animals. Having seen here what appears to be ‘domesticated elk’ (note the ear tags) I might wonder how exacting this claim to be. Although ‘tagged,’ they may in fact not be very ‘domesticated’ at all. Merely marked for identifying purposes (age, etc.)

Beer?

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This unlikely cross-breeding of a bear and a deer could only be called what, -“BEER?” I wouldn’t want a case of those in the back of my truck!