Do castrated male deer annually shed their antlers?

Question

I have been told that castrated male deer do not shed their antlers. Does anybody know if this is for certain?

Thanks! (Any scientific references or website references would be appreciated.)

Answer 1

..thanks Cris...  i never knew all that...

.. i raised a buck once ... and cut him when he was young.  He grew antlers all rite... buy didn't shed his 'velvet' like or when other deer did... and didn't shed his 'antlers' like or when the other deer did ether.

  His antlers gave him problems all the time, it seemed to me... and they never were in conformity as he got older.  

  He really only grew two sets of antlers... the first one he shed, but the next set he just kept growing points and breaking them off and growing some more..

  Someone shot him when he was about 4 yr's old, during the hunting season, and i have always regretted that i interfered with his natural life.  

  His final rack was just a large clump of deformed antler that was as big as his head, and not recognisable as a deer;s rack of antlers at all...

  .... live and learn, i guess.  I would never do that agin to a wild animal.  I'v wished ever sence then that i had not done it to him.

Answer 2

Not necessarily annually, no.  Shedding of the antlers (and of the velvet around them) is linked to testosterone levels.  The antlers may break off, though.

Answer 3

Since the growth of antlers is linked to testosterone levels, I wouldn't think that castrated males would grow them, at least not usually. If they did, I imagine they would not develop normally, which could result in them not being shed.



I do know that if you castrate a male lion, his mane will fall out, since it's testosterone that makes it grow - if you castrate him before he grows a mane, he will never grow one. For this reason, male lions in zoos which do not wish to breed them often have vasectomies, so that their manes are unaffected.