Two Velvet Antlered Friends

So far in the last two days we have had our usual skunk visitor, a gray fox and tonight, two deer. I managed to make a couple of photos and as you can see their antlers are in the velvet stage...

WHY DO DEER NEED VELVET ON THEIR ANTLERS?
What we call the “velvet” on a deer’s antlers is made up of a bunch of tiny hairs. It feels velvety to the touch, hence why it’s referred to as “velvet.” The velvet’s purpose is to serve as a sensory alarm. It alerts the deer when its antlers brush against anything in their way. The deer need these alarm bells because a deer’s antlers are soft and vulnerable to damage from the time they begin growing in April until about mid-July. The antlers could easily be cut and because there are active blood vessels in the antlers, they could bleed to death. The fibers of the velvet help the deer know when their susceptible antlers are about to be put in danger.
WHEN DO DEER SHED THEM?
White-tailed deer grow velvet on their antlers throughout the spring and summer months and shed them generally sometime in mid-August. The velvet begins to shed off the antlers because the antlers are no longer receiving proper blood flow. The restriction of blood causes the velvet to dry out and peel off. Underneath the velvet, the deer’s antlers are beginning to calcify and harden. The hardening process takes a little less than a month, about 25 days.
A deer’s antler growth cycle is triggered by the amount of daylight, also known as photoperiod. When the days begin to get longer in the spring, blood flow begins reaching the pedicle which in turn promotes the antlers to grow. As the antlers grow, the blood flows through veins and arteries and creates a protein base which collects the minerals and promotes continued growth. Our Wild Water® Mineral Supplements can help provide the deer herd with these necessary minerals.
As the days start to become shorter a deer’s genetics will automatically trigger hormone secretions in their pineal gland that will cause their velvet to start drying up. Keep in mind that the timeline mentioned is a general guideline and the exact time the deer shed their velvet could vary within that timeframe depending on where you live.

See the extra for a closer look at the velvet

For the Record
This day came in sunny and hot. It's the beginning of a heatwave, UGH!

All hands busy, I'm busy noticing small dots of poison ivy after my afternoon of weeding...