I am planning on taking a Sika deer hunt September 9-11th. These are the only days I would be able to go and I was wondering if they would have their velvet shed yet. I would rather shoot a sika in hard horn rather than in velvet? When do they shed?

I think for the most part Sika have already shed, however I have no idea on how soon they grow back.

Yeah I they have already shed there antlers. I was trying to figure out when they rub off their velvet.

I think they are pretty much like whitetail you may have a few rubbed out in september.

Yeah you should be good in September I think. The ones I have seen are out at that time of year.

Thanks guys.

My understanding is that Sika immediately start growing new antlers right after they drop - within a few days you can see buds.

Sika drop a little later than whitetails, but they should have dropped by now.

Depends on a lot of factors - but they should regrow antlers in around 140 days - so September they should be fully grown and most should have all the velvet gone.

If they ARE in velvet, the horns should be pretty much fully devloped, so taking one in velvet would be a great opportunity for a trophy mount.

Depends a little on the subspecies, the japs are very close to a WT in schedule, the manchurian/dybowski animals are a little later in schedule. Our Manchurians just recently dropped, and actually we have one still in hard horn. They will still be in velvet into mid Sept (but done growing by then), and the japs will be out in late august.