# DEER SHRINKAGE (velvet)



## bighunter (Oct 25, 2005)

Just wondering if anyone out there knows how many inches deer shrink after you kill them and the velvet drys..Do they shrink in width,height,or mass.thanks for any info 
Bighunter :sniper:


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## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

bighunter said:


> Just wondering if anyone out there knows how many inches deer shrink after you kill them and the velvet drys..Do they shrink in width,height,or mass.thanks for any info
> Bighunter :sniper:


All of the above but MAINLY mass is where you will lose most of your inches. Kind of like when you go limp 

You wont lose much in tine height as there will be little loss to the tip of the antler when the velvet sheds and little in width


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## bighunter (Oct 25, 2005)

lol ok thanks...


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## nealg54 (Mar 11, 2007)

I shot a 145 1/4" ten point on the second day of the season last year so it was just out of velvet the antlers were still covered in blood. when we scored it that night it taped out at 145" when we re-scored it over christmas time we got like 137 1/2" or something. not sure if we just screwed up one of the times or if it actually shrunk that much but it'd make sense to me because usually a rack is gonna shrink 1-2 inches after you kill the deer. well most deer are killed in oct/nov when their antlers have already been drying out on the animal for 1-2 months. so maybe it did shrink that much, or maybe we had too many celebration beverages in us when we scored it the first time :beer: anyone else experience anything like this?


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## stickem14 (Sep 26, 2006)

Shot a beautiful 5x5 on the first weekend that was in full velvet. He scored 157" the night we shot him, I thought it'd go even higher. Just the other day I brought him to the taxidermist and he scored him at just over 150. This is after maybe 2 weeks of being in a freezer. That's 7" of shrinkage! Maybe that just how it is :huh:


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