Do button bucks lose their buttons?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Rut Nut
14-Jan-19
I shot a buck on Sat. that apparently had already shed it’s antlers. I don’t know why, but I was always under the impression that only spike or racked bucks lose their antlers. But my buddy thinks this was a button buck. The body was nice sized so I thought it was a big doe. But was shocked when I saw it’s head.(and genitals ;-)
What do you think?
From: zipper
14-Jan-19
Yes they do.
From: 1boonr
14-Jan-19
If the body was big it’s a antlered buck that has shed but button bucks also shed
From: PAbowhunter1064
14-Jan-19
Perry, I'd like to help here, but you didn't provide any details about the genitals... Please elaborate. ;-D
From: Matte
14-Jan-19
My daughter Kadie found one shed years ago. I told her that is the rarest antler she'd she would probably ever find.
From: Dirtman
14-Jan-19
Probably looked like this before it shed.
From: LKH
14-Jan-19
I think we need a biologist who really knows.
I've never seen a button buck with erupted antler. Passed on what I thought was a button in MN that my mother shot a couple minutes later. Turned out to be a 1.5 year old buck with antlers about 1/2" long.
From: Brotsky
14-Jan-19
I would suspect that if they are not erupted that the following years antler growth would push out whatever is stuck on top of their head.
From: Zbone
14-Jan-19
The answer is yes, they do shed their buttons, just ask a deer farmer...
From: Steve H.
14-Jan-19
Buttons are the start of the pedicle, pedicles aren't shed. I've seen a bunch of Sitka blacktails with half inch of hard antler, me thinks these are later fawns from the previous year. A pedicle has to erupt thru the skin before a buck can grow its first set of antlers. Convince me that I am wrong.
From: Rut Nut
14-Jan-19
Steve- that's what I was thinking, that if they were just bumps and the skin and hair remained, they would not shed. But I have no biological basis for that.
PAbowhunter- LOL! I didn't take any pics of the genitals, but they looked to be about right for a "racked" buck! ;-)
From: Bob H in NH
14-Jan-19
The only button bucks I've seen up close, had TINY antlers, hard antlers, sometimes they don't clear the hair. These I would assume are shed.
From: Rut Nut
14-Jan-19
Bob- we always called button bucks the ones with just bumps under the skin/hair. If they had hard horn that broke the skin we called them spikes- no matter how long or short they were.
From: 1boonr
14-Jan-19
Rut- the button bucks here in Illinois are fawns and they do grow and shed antlers like the one shown in my previous post. They also tend to hold their velvet longer, often well into December. They will shed the velvet and shed the antlers to make room for the next set. If you look at them in January up close with binoculars you can see the little “buttons “ which are actually spikes like the one I found in Fulton county
From: drycreek
14-Jan-19
Only if they're not sewed on well.....
From: Zbone
14-Jan-19
Buttons around here do protrude through the skin and are hard horned this time of year as in Dirtman's photo... They might not protrude above the hair line (some do some don't) but if they are hard horned, they will be shed...
From: Rut Nut
14-Jan-19
Well, I’ve shot a few button bucks over the years, but none of them had velvet- just hair on their “bumps”.
From: Bob H in NH
14-Jan-19
Guess it depends on your definition. I always figured they were 6 months old that you couldn't see the button til you parted the hair
From: Zbone
15-Jan-19
This little guy is showing buttons above his hairline... And he is a small Bambi too...
