Answer: Full moons have fascinated mankind throughout history and appear every 29 ½ days. Even a young child learns and knows the moon as a regular sky feature. Civilizations worldwide have given their own unique names to full moons for thousands of years. The common full moon names Hoosiers know today come from either Native Americans or early settlers. In the Midwest, two of the most well known moons are the ‘Harvest moon’ and the ‘Hunter’s moon’. They are easily remembered. The Harvest moon is that full moon closest to the fall equinox, and usually appears in September, but occasionally early October (such as in 2009). It gets its name from the bright moon that extends early morning and late evening harvesting of crops.

The Hunter’s moon is the full moon immediately following the Harvest moon. Its name comes from early settlers who, after the crops were harvested, could more easily hunt fattened wild game in the open fields and forests free of tree leaves.

The Hunter’s moon was named ‘Beaver Moon’ by early Americans noting that beavers were actively preparing for winter before freeze-up of lakes, rivers and streams. It was also time to hunt or trap beavers for thick winter furs before winter freeze of their ponds.

Answer: In Indiana, white-tailed deer antlers (not horns) are usually shed in late January to early February. However, spike bucks (a single small pointed antler on each side) shed their antlers a bit sooner than larger bucks. New antlers begin growing shortly after shedding of old, and are fully grown by early September. They grow quick and are among the fastest growing tissues known to man. Depending on genetics and nutrition antlers may grow as much as a ½ inch per day during peak development. Many believe that you can tell deer age by the size of its rack.  This is not true.

A buck fawn has no antlers and is often referred to as a button buck. A young, yearling buck’s first set of antlers begins to grow when it’s about 10 months old. Spikes are more common in these young deer than older ones. Studies have demonstrated the average buck achieves about 25-35 percent of his potential antler development by age 2.5 years, and peaks at around5 to 7 years of age. Genetics and nutrition of the deer are the bigger factors for antler size. As a deer matures it will typically grow larger antlers and eventually max out and then become smaller year after year as the deer ages. An older buck with poor nutrition may have a small rack - sometimes only spikes. The only reliable way to age a deer is the teeth.

Indiana deer, especially in areas with intermingled farm fields have terrific food sources and good nutrition. Given the fact that most Indiana bucks only reach 3 to 4 years of age due to hunting pressure- your observed big antlered deer were most likely in the 3-4 year range.

Now – here’s a question for you. Do female deer have antlers? Believe it or not, on rare occasion a female white-tailed deer (1 in several 1,000) will grow antlers because of a hormone imbalance. Female reindeer, on the other hand, typically do grow antlers.