Within two weeks the fuzzy velvet that covers the developing antlers of whitetail bucks will be shed.

The blood-rich skin that has fed the budding antlers since they first sprouted in April will dry, split and peel off, beginning with the most mature bucks -- usually during the first few days in September -- and ending with the younger bucks. By mid-September most bucks in Minnesota, mature and immature, will bear antlers free of velvet. Usually a buck will hasten the velvet-shedding process by rubbing his antlers on saplings and shrubs. Typically, the antlers are clean within a day.

Antlers are true bone and are shed each winter and regrown each spring and summer. Horns, on the other hand -- for example, those carried by sheep and goats -- are made of keratin and, except for the pronghorn, are not shed.

The antlers of white-tailed deer differ from those of mule deer. Whitetails have a single main beam from which the antler tines sprout. Mule deer sport main beams that fork, and then fork again.

Antler growth on whitetail bucks begins in early spring and originates from a plate on the skull called a pedicel. During growth, a soft blood-rich skin called velvet covers the antlers. The antlers continue to grow throughout the summer and are fully grown by mid-August.

As a buck ages, his antlers get larger. A typical buck will sport his largest rack when he is about 5 for 6 years old. Past that, as his health declines, his antlers get smaller.

During late August and early September the antlers solidify and the velvet peels off, exposing the hardened bone beneath. The yearly process is complete when the antlers are shed during winter. Antler shedding -- like velvet shedding -- usually begins with the older bucks. Worn down from the rigors of the November rut, mature bucks sometimes shed their antlers in December while the archery season is still open. Every year it happens: Jubilant December bow hunters prepare to drag their downed bucks from the woods by grabbing an antler. Much to their dismay the antler breaks loose, leaving a distraught archer holding a solitary antler.

Usually, though, the primary antler-shedding period is mid-January to mid-February. Healthy, well-fed bucks typically carry their antlers longer into winter.

Occasionally, whitetail bucks grow "non-typical" antlers, those with unusual or odd points. Sometimes bucks sport antlers with configurations so outlandish they defy nature.

Why such odd antlers sometimes?

Some regions of the United States seem to produce proportionately higher numbers of bucks with non-typical antlers. That would point to heredity as a possible factor. Certain research appears to substantiate this. Drop tines, or antler points growing downward off the main beams, are another antler trait that suggests genetics is sometimes involved.

An injured pedicel usually produces an antler that protrudes from the skull at a peculiar angle. Such a deformity is frequently permanent. An injury to the body of a buck can cause antler deformities, usually to the antler on the opposite side of the injury. This phenomenon is known as "contralateral effect."

Biologists believe the purpose of antlers is for social ranking, not protection, since antlers are shed during winter when predators pose the greatest threat.

The woods, one would assume, should be littered with dropped antlers, so why is that not so? Antlers are a source of minerals and are quickly consumed by forest creatures such as squirrels, mice and porcupines.

Bill Marchel, an outdoors photographer and columnist, lives near Brainerd.