Look what dh found in the park!

I found a small one about 12" long in the garden, the deer unfortunately jump hedges and decimate the plants and kill off the fruit trees. Not a welcome sight here!

?

Ooh, they give me the heebie jeebies.

Well I've learnt something new today!

Thanks for the info @greenlady. Fascinating reading.

grannysyb

I live bear Bushy Park, someone told me that you weren't supposed to take the antlers home, why not? I know if I was lucky enough to find one it would certainly come home with me!

the deer actually eat the shed antlers to get enough minerals to grow the next lot. Its one of those "what if everbody did it" things. One person taking the odd one probably doesn't hurt but they have no more right to do it than anyone else! Additionally of course deer who are owned by somebody are owned entirely and that includes shed antlers!
www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/deer-overview-antler-development-summary

I live bear Bushy Park, someone told me that you weren't supposed to take the antlers home, why not? I know if I was lucky enough to find one it would certainly come home with me!

I fell over one some years ago crossing a moor in the Peak District where there is a resident herd of wild reds. The top part had been chewed by something, but the rest of it was in good fettle. DS makes walking sticks so he got two good stick tops out of it!

FannyCornforth

tanith

Did you take it home? ?

Did you?

He left it at first, but went back later.
We have a very handy son in law who could probably turn it into a nice coat rack! Not for us, though - nowhere suitable to put it.

I often wonder how they keep their heads up with them heavy antlers on them. Magnificent animals.

tanith

Did you take it home? ?

Did you?

That’s interesting Witzend and informative Elegran, thanks both.
A nice thread.

Doodledog

Do they just have them in the mating season to fight off other males? I think I assumed they grew them at maturity and kept them for life.

Antelopes keep their horns for life, but male deer shed their antlers once a year and grow new ones. Antlers are usually only present for a few months before being shed and, apart from reindeer, only occur in males (but female reindeer have antlers, too. Rudolph may be a girl )
"Antlers are paired, branched structures that are made entirely from bone and are shed annually.
Horns are unbranched, two-part structures with a bony core and covered by a keratin sheath (the same material found in human hair and nails), which grows from specialised hair follicles.
Antlers and horns also have different functions. While antlers are mainly used for mate selection during the breeding season (either to attract females directly or to deter rival males through display or combat), horns are generally used for social dominance, territoriality and anti-predator interactions."
www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/whats-the-difference-between-horns-and-antlers/

Amazing - what a great find. We have deer munching on bushes in the residential home behind our back wall but they don't usually have antlers.

I have one too! My late husband was a keen birdwatcher, and spent many a Sunday morning in Richmond Park. One morning he came home with this Fallow deer’s antler he had found, pleased as Punch!

As it has dropped off naturally it has no connection with hunting - and you could take the opportunity of telling anyone so who tries to criticise you for killing a deer for it.

Great find!

I'd love that as a home decorative item if it wasn't associated with hunting/killing (something I'm vehemently against). It would make a very interesting coat hanger.

How lovely to live so near to a Park where deer roam around. Lucky you !

Thank you for such a spirit raising post. You sound as if you live in a lovely part of the country.

I’ve seen Fallow and Roe but I’ve never seen a Red deer.

Looks like half of a 12 pointer?

I pay a fortune for dog chews from antler. You can sell this easily. Though I live in the Highlands never find antlers lying around as the ghillies pick them up.

We have lots of deer where i live but iv`e never been lucky enough to findi antlers.
Some people actualy pay good money for them.

Wow

The young males have tiny ones - they evident get bigger with each season. We’ve often noticed that we hardly ever see the really big stags until the autumn rutting season, when they’re very busy chasing off other stags from their ‘harem’, bellowing and often clashing antlers with rivals.

More than once we’ve seen a big stag with a lot of dead bracken festooned in his antlers - apparently it’s supposed to make them look bigger and more scary, but to us they look more like someone the morning after a really wild party!