For years, killing a whitetail or mule deer buck that still had velvet on its antlers typically meant a bowhunter had to travel to another state with an archery-deer season that opened in late August or very early September. However, that all changed this past June when the state Game, Fish and Parks Department changed the archery-deer season’s opening date from the fourth Saturday in September — a traditional starting point that had been in place for decades — to Sept. 1.
The change puts South Dakota’s archery-deer season on a similar timeline with neighboring states such as North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska that have archery openers at the end of August or the first weekend in September, said Chad Switzer, GFP wildlife program administrator.
“We were one of the later openers, and for some archery hunters, both resident and nonresident, it’s an attractive thing to hunt as soon as they can after Sept. 1,” he said. “We had this request to start the season earlier, and providing as much recreational opportunity is a priority for the Department.”
Switzer said it’s now established in rule that the state’s archery-deer season runs from Sept. 1 to Jan. 1.
“The opener doesn’t fall on any specific Saturday anymore — it’ll just be Sept. 1,” he said. “Some years, that could potentially be adding another four weeks to the earlier part of the season.”
Velvet antlers
Elk, caribou, moose, whitetail deer and mule deer are species native to North America that grow and shed antlers every year. Adult males in all these species have antlers, while most female caribou have antlers, too.
Antlers are indeed made of bone, but antlered animals go through a phase each year when their immature antlers are covered with fine hair, or “velvet.” This phase facilitates the growth of the antlers by providing a blood supply to the growing bone tissue, and, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, some antlers can grow up to an inch per day, making it among the fastest-growing animal tissue on the planet. This typically applies to elk antlers, but deer antlers grow nearly as fast.
Before each species’ breeding season arrives the velvet dries up, the bone tissue mineralizes and the velvet is typically rubbed off on vegetation. Deer in the Dakotas typically start rubbing off their velvet in late August, and nearly every buck is velvet-free by mid-September.
Whitetails typically lose their velvet before mule deer, Switzer said.
“I would say by Sept. 1 most whitetails will be poished off and look like they’ll look in October and November,” he said. “Anecdotally, driving in Pierre from work to home it’s common to see mule deer bucks with velvet on them through early September.”
As of Wednesday, Jacquie Ermer, GFP northeast regional wildlife manager, said she believed most whitetail bucks in the region were still in velvet.
“I haven’t heard of any whitetails not in velvet yet, but we’ll see this year what gets harvested,” she said. “There’s definitely an opportunity there for hunters if they get out there early.”
Watch the velvet
Sam Cahoy, owner of Showpiece Taxidermy in Aberdeen, said bowhunters who tag a buck with carpet-covered antlers need to take some extra precautions if they want to mount or otherwise preserve the look and feel of the buck’s velvet rack.
“Basically, that velvet tissue has blood vessels in it,” he said. “Generally, by the first part of September velvet antlers are usually drying up, but they will still have that tissue which can rot and fall off if you don’t take care of it.”
Cahoy used to live and work as a taxidermist in Colorado where archery-deer seasons opened in late August. He said he’d get several sets of velvet antlers to work on every year, but in the four years since he moved back to his hometown of Aberdeen he hasn’t received any, largely due to the fact the state’s archery season opened so late in September.
In order to preserve a velvet rack in the best shape possible, Cahoy had a few simple suggestions.
“With velvet antlers, try to minimize how much you touch them and treat them like meat — you’ve got to cool them down and freeze them right away,” he said. “Then, get them to your taxidermist who can get the blood out.”
A velvet antler almost feels like a hard, dry sponge that can be dented if you press too firmly against it. With that in mind, Cahoy said it’s easy for hunters to smash the velvet down or even accidentally rub some of it off if they handle the rack too much.
“Like meat, try to keep it cold and freeze it,” he said. “Also, a garage doesn’t stay cool enough this time of year for velvet antlers or the cape. A garage might be cooler than outside, but it’s not cool enough. You’ve got to freeze them or get them to your taxidermist as soon as possible.”
If freezer space is at a premium, Cahoy said hunters could cut the deer’s skull plate in half so the rack takes up less room. However, he cautioned that if if a hunter wants to have the rack officially measured by a certified state, Pope and Young Club, or Boone and Crockett Club scorer, its skull plate must be kept completely intact.
Cahoy also advised hunters to avoid holding a buck with velvet antlers by its rack while taking photos in the field.
“Picking the head up by the ears is a better choice,” he said. “”I know it’s cool, but try not to touch the rack too much, because the more you handle the velvet, the worse it’s going to look.”
