Saturday, July 24, 2010

Making Sense of Velvet by T. Edwards Nickens

We usually have about 2 weeks during which the deer have velvet antlers. These living tissues need special care to preserve them. Kenneth can do antler mounts or shoulder mounts to preserve these unique trophies. Field and Stream magazine's April issue reports:
Antler velvet is made up of a hairlike network of blood vessels and nerves, and it gives big bucks a kind of sixth sense-kinesthesia- to help them judge the positioning of their antlers and thread them through the thickest tangles.  If the buck misjudges and damages the velvet, the antler can grow abnormally. And that's not always a bad thing for hunters.
If you take an early season buck with velvet antlers, be sure to bring it to Cordray's Taxidermy!