GUELPH, Ont. – Large sets of cervid antlers have been prized for
centuries.
Cervid researcher George Bubenik of the University of Guelph says
German royal families owned some of the largest deer antlers in the
18th and 19th centuries.
Recently, researchers X-rayed some of those antlers in an attempt to
find out why they were so big.
“They found shot,” he said.
“Like buck shot – no pun there – in the antler.”
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Damaged antlers often will grow back the following year larger and more
complex than in previous seasons. Damaged antlers may also heal and
grow larger in a current year, apparently compensating for the damage.
It turns out the royals were shooting the antlers of their captive deer
herds, which caused improved growth.
“I don’t suggest that producers damage the antlers of their deer,” he
said.
“That is illegal, not acceptable. It is just something interesting
about the memory of the antler. It will split where it was damaged the
previous year. But it will split on both sides, not just the side it
was damaged on. We have no idea why.
“This shows us we don’t understand antler growth. We can make them
bigger through breeding and handling, but there are still secrets that
need much more research.”
Cross breeding in the 1920s and 1930s produced dramatic increases in
antler size when a German scientist crossed Czechoslovakian and
Yugoslavian deer.
“Unfortunately, the herd was slaughtered during the war and no one has
been able to repeat the research,” Bubenik said.
“I don’t think the hunting market wants a crossbred deer yet. But maybe
someday. It would produce more (antler) for producers in the Asian
medicine market.”
Bubenik has experimented with melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone
in mammals, to bring white-tailed bucks into rut several months early.
This increased the amount of testosterone in the animals and subsequent
larger antler growth.
“This has potential and is used in New Zealand right now. You wouldn’t
want to bring them in too early though. I had a little deer that was
vicious. I call him my Mike Tyson of deer. You don’t want them in the
rut all season. Too hard to handle.”
It is also suspected that adding melatonin to feed may relax does and
their fawns, improving weight gain and horn potential in young males.
New Zealand producers bring their animals into rut early to advance
breeding and improve market and production timing for venison. It is
not an approved practice in Canada.
“This too, we need to do more research. We know it works, but it would
need to get approvals to use it.”
Bubenik studies cervids in collaboration with scientists in Europe,
Asia and South America.
