With all types of deer hunting season done for the year, these three white-tailed deer seem to have escaped the harvest and will offer what they have to the gene pool of the state’s deer herd.
This video footage that Outdoors Contributor Allie Ladd provided shows that we still have some nice bucks in our Maine woods.
Bucks are at the end of their rut, when they seek out does for reproduction purposes.
Maine’s bucks average from 200 to 300 pounds live weight, but can reach weights of nearly 400 pounds, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Does average from 120 to 175 pounds live weight.
Bucks generally shed their antlers starting in late December. Antlers are actually made of bone that begin regrowing in April and stay velvet-covered until late August through September, MDIF&W says. The base for antlers begins to grow when the male fawn is about a month old.
Does occasionally grow antlers too, but MDIF&W says it’s rare.
