Mississippi’s early velvet whitetail season runs Sept. 13 to 15. Because most bucks are still in bachelor groups and following summer patterns, chances are high for hunters to get to put their hands on one of the big bucks they’ve been watching all summer long. They should do their best, though, not to grab it by the antlers.
The three-day season allows hunters to take one buck only, using archery gear, which does include crossbows. In addition to their regular hunting license, resident hunters must obtain a special $10 permit for the September season. Non-resident hunters pay an additional $50 each.
Taking a deer in velvet may be quite an uncommon experience for most hunters, but veteran taxidermists who have dealt with the substance many times caution hunters not to damage the antlers’ coating which, by this time of year, has become fragile indeed.
The main thing is, when you’ve shot the deer, don’t grab it by the antlers and don’t drag it. Don’t grab the antlers, don’t drag them on the ground, and get the deer skinned and the antlers in the refrigerator or freezer within an hour of shooting the buck.
The hot weather that’s quick to promote meat spoilage is quick to help velvet deteriorate as well. It doesn’t take long for the hair and the velvet to start slipping in warm weather.
Beyond knocking the velvet completely off, even handling velvet-covered antlers roughly can pop blood vessels and impede preservation. Ideal recovery sees the hunter drive a 4-wheeler or truck up next to the downed deer, then carefully lift and load it for transit, picking it up by its front and back legs.
The deer’s head, neck and fore-end hide, known as the cape, should be frozen or refrigerated immediately.
When the deer arrives at the taxidermist, they’ll thaw the buck and inject a special preservative into the velvet’s veins, then re-freeze it for two months or more. This effectively freeze-dries the velvet onto the antlers in such a way that it’ll never crack or come off.
If the successful hunter has handled the antlers roughly and damaged its blood vessels, this will impede the injection of preservative and may lead to a less successful preservation of the special hair and hide.
Hunters who’ll be recovering their deer from a spot not accessible to a four-wheeled vehicle should concoct some method to remove the deer without injuring the velvet, or the deer’s neck and shoulder cape either for that matter. Something in the fashion of a wheelbarrow comes to mind.
The purpose of shooting a buck in velvet, beyond collecting the meat, is to get it mounted, so since time will be of an essence, it’s good to have done your taxidermist shopping well in advance.
In the beginning
Unlike cattle, whitetail bucks grow antlers that are shed and regrown each year. Antler growth begins in late spring and is completed by early fall. As the antlers are growing, they’re protected and fed by a thin skin, known as velvet. This velvet supplies protection and helps blood and nutrients flow to the antlers, which are one of the fastest-growing substances found anywhere in nature.
Once the antlers are grown, the velvet dries up and causes an itching sensation bucks relieve by thrashing their antlers against bushes and trees. This removes the velvet, leaving the now-hardened antlers beneath.
Latitude, not attitude
At this latitude, most bucks have completed this process by the time the regular archery season opens Oct. 1, though a few are taken still in velvet every year. During the early season in mid-September, the vast majority of bucks should still be in velvet, though its work will be nearly complete by then.
In this, its first year, Mississippi’s special early deer season will be open on private lands only, with archery gear only. The limit is one buck per hunter, and the bucks taken must meet legal requirements for antler size in their respective zones. Bucks taken in velvet will count toward each hunter’s yearly buck limit.
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