I gave up on trying to figure out WHY some shed early and some shed late
I had a nice property I managed for 15+ yrs
over that time frame I seen the same buck, with prime food and steady doe numbers and deer in general numbers
one yr he would shed in early dec, following yr in late MARCH, next yr, in early Feb, and last yr I seen him, he dropped them end of Nov, UP as early as I ever seen them, found them walking into a deer stand dec 1 in the dark in the am!
I have seen countless others like this, one yr hold them long, one yr shed the soon, and all things basically the same, food, stress, pressure, winters being about the same, , same as with summers and weather in general
I have seen half the bucks(same ages, too, as well as older and younger ) hold them till march, and half loose them in Jan, and some before jan and some after in same yrs on same property with same does, food and weather,
so go figure?
I used to read and hear about genetic's
about IF all doe are bred or NOT, temps, food stress, , you name it I read about how THIS was supposed to be WHY??
and I found every one WRONG at more than a few times, I gave up!
I personally think they fall off when ever they darn well feel like it!, NO rhyme or reason to ti I can find any consistent belief in that worked often here and many other places I have been at!
MAYBE some others have had more consistent luck.
but NOT me, and not on any land I had exclusive control over for 15+ yrs at a time
SO to me, they come off when ever! gets MY vote, but do say that by April, 99% have lost them LOL that's my best advice here
but I have seen them on in MID April already too, and seen some with branching points in Mid April too on same farm!
they start growing IMO when the old one's fall off, one's that shed sooner, grow them sooner,
is what it is IMO!