'TIS THE SEASON

'tis the season.  If you walk in the woods this time of year, you know it.  The bucks are chasing the does.  They've got the scent.  Their antlers have hardened.  They're ready to fight other males with them for the right to the local females.  In southwest Ohio, the season begins about November 1st and lasts through the middle of December. 

Those antlers are amazing.  All males of the deer family, which includes elk and moose, and female reindeer have antlers and shed them each year after rutting season.  They re-grow them soft and blood filled each year.  They are covered with a velvet-like (rub) coating which the deer rub off on trees with the shortening of sunlight hours.  These then calcify and harden for the mating season. 

Ladies, watch out for your male friends.  'tis the season!
:-)