Messages posted to thread: Osceola 20-Jan-17 Charlie Rehor 20-Jan-17 Habitat1 20-Jan-17 Genesis 20-Jan-17 bowbender77 20-Jan-17 elk yinzer 20-Jan-17 Woods Walker 20-Jan-17 milnrick 20-Jan-17 Bake 20-Jan-17 Scooby-doo 20-Jan-17 TD 21-Jan-17 Woods Walker 21-Jan-17

By: Osceola Date:20-Jan-17

I was once told that deer antlers that have a lot of small bumps/beads/BBs(about the size or a little larger than a BB) is indicative of the deer receiving good nutrition. The more "beads" the better the nutrition the deer received is the thought behind the comment.

Is heavy beading on the rack indicative of the deer receiving better nutrition? Fact or Fiction?

By: Charlie Rehor Date:20-Jan-17

I always thought it was a sign of maturity with nothing to do with good eats. Curious to any biologists thoughts.

By: Habitat1 Date:20-Jan-17

I would go with age and genetics before nutrition

By: Genesis Date:20-Jan-17

I''ll take my biology courses and Holiday Inn Invoice and push all in on genetic predisposition + age to express = bumps on bases

To paraphrase...what Charlie said.

By: bowbender77 Date:20-Jan-17

Habitat1 X2

By: elk yinzer Date:20-Jan-17

I always assumed genetic variation. Somewhere along the line, if rubs became important to passing on their genes, then the antlers that have those rougher bases have to be easier to make rubs, right? Really interested to see if there are any responses to this supported by fact though.

By: Woods Walker Date:20-Jan-17

OOPS! I thought this thread was about drone loads! ;-)

By: milnrick Date:20-Jan-17

I've asked about pearling on antlers to a few S TX wildlife biologists and was told it's a combination of all 3 reasons . Genetics, habitat/diet and maturity...

By: Bake Date:20-Jan-17

I would go with age and genetics. I've killed several older bucks with beading/bumps, and some of them with quite small antlers. And our nutrition is very poor here.

By: Scooby-doo Date:20-Jan-17

I would think genetics as I killed a ton of deer in one area that I have hunted for over 40 years. A lot of them have no brow tines and quite a bit of beading. Also a lot of them are 1.5 to 2.5 year old's so in my case age would not be a factor. Nutrition here has always been about the same. Scooby

By: TD Date:21-Jan-17

I know the older I get I'm noticing a good many more beads and bumps here and there.....

By: Woods Walker Date:21-Jan-17

This thread title sounds kinky....... ;-)

---