You understand we are entering one of the most exciting times of the year, maybe second only to the peak of the rut. Its that glorious time when we finally start to see whether the buck of our dreams made it to live another year. Not only that, but we are able to evaluate how the bucks that we passed in previous years as immature are progressing along and showing their potential. By mid-July, most whitetails across their range are exhibiting a significant amount of antler development and key characteristics including spread, splits, drop tines and kicker points are recognizable.

Somewhere around the first to the second week of August in the Midwest, for most bucks antler growth will have peaked and the process of antler velvet drying down slowly begins, ultimately terminating and resulting in bucks beginning to strip off the dried velvet revealing fully hardened antlers by mid-September. Just about everyone who runs trail cameras will have their cameras out by early July to begin monitoring known core areas in hope of catching images of these amazing creatures.