April showers, bringing more than just May flowers.

The Hanson buck, the Brewster buck, the Beatty buck, the Missouri Monarch, we all like big bucks. There's no denying that. Whether they were skillfully taken by a hunter, was a strike of luck just being in the right place at the right time (for the hunter at least), or we stumble across the remains of what used to be, there's not much that gets us excited quite like a big buck. Hunters will use a never-ending list of approaches, scientifically proven or not, to track that big one down. Moon phases, barometric pressure, seasonal patterning, and a lot more. But, to hunt big deer, the deer have to get big first. That is what this article is about. 

Just like the vast number of tactics hunters will use to try and hunt down that big buck on their back 40 or that nighttime monster they've only ever seen on trail camera, there might be just as many ways hunters try to get bucks to grow bigger. “Letting them grow”, food plots, mineral blocks, local population doe/buck ratio management, and even wearing their lucky socks. Many hunters will try just about anything they can to help bucks maximize antler expression as they age. Not only is it the dream to maybe one day cross paths with that one, but it's very enjoyable just to watch. Following velvet trail camera pictures from spring through the late summer months are always incredible to me, no matter how many I have seen. 

There may be one factor regarding antler growth that most hunters kind of know, but they don't really pay attention to. Rain. 

In short antler growth is merely a representation of the available nutrients during those critical spring and early summer months. Deer need energy and nutrients to grow. The more energy and nutrients available, the closer any particular buck can get to their potential maximum. There is one caveat, the deer needs to have the genetics too, but genetics is not something that is as easily observable and studiable as rain. If a deer has the genetics to only reach 150 inches, no amount of food plots, supplements, or in the case of this article, rain, is going to change that. 

At the time of writing this article it is late August 2026, in southwestern Ohio. We are sitting at above average rainfall for the year, with continued rain in the forecast through the next week. There's not been any problems with rain this year. It’s not the rain itself, think more about what the rain does. It allows for crops, foliage, and forest growth to maximize its growth potential. Food plots and mineral sites are great and all, but there is not going to be replacement for an effectively never ending supply of nutrient dense forbs and browse for deer to fill up on. When the conditions are right for the food to maximize its growth, the deer have the opportunity to maximize their growth. 

Don't take my word for it. A short google excursion finds plenty of literature on the topic. Starting with “Is Antler Expression Predictable - Effects of Environmental Conditions on Antler Development”, written by Aaron Foley and Randy DeYoung, both academics at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville. The core of their analysis looks at harvest efficiency via hunters preconceptions regarding expectations of future antler expression amongst deer in a herd. Borrowing their simple example, a hunter allows a 130” 10 point walk with the expectation of the deer getting bigger while at the same time taking a 130” 7 pointer to “remove the genetics from the gene pool” (a different topic for another day). Their analysis of antler expression over time found that areas of annually consistent rainfall, and therefore consistent supplemental nutrition, see less variability in changes in antler size as deer age. The growth expectations as deer age in these areas is very predictable and consistent, leaving more to biology and genetics. Though they do make one important distinction, they are strictly referring to antler mass, not number of points. Their analysis found that antler point expression is much less consistent, even with consistent annual rainfall. 

Another interesting article I found takes us up to Canada where a diverse group of researchers from universities and foundations studied which environmental factors influence antler size and morphology in white-tailed deer across Ontario, Canada. In the article “Environmental and temporal factors affecting record white-tailed deer antler characteristics in Ontario, Canada”, researched and written by Brooklyn S. Cars, Joseph M. Northrup, Keith Beasley, Paul Beasley, Kevin Beasley, Aaron B.A Shafer, and published in The Journal of Wildlife Management, they concluded the following. They found that average temperature correlated with antler size in both gross and net scoring, excluding the inside spread measurement. Additionally, precipitation in the winter months the year prior to the year of harvest correlated with the described antler size measurements. Both of these environmental factors they attributed to the availability of abundant and nutrient rich food for deer to eat on while moving into and during the most critical beginning months of the antler growing cycle.

What does all this even mean? Nutrients, and therefore spring and summer rainfall, can be a bigger factor in that 140” 9 point you're staring down in November, trying to decide if he meets your personal criteria to take or not. But who is thinking of that at the time? Practically no one. You watch that button buck grow to a 130” 8 pointer at 3 years old. You think, one more year. The next year 145” 9 point. Still, a very nice buck, but he didn’t continue his increase in growth as he did the first 3 years of his life. Or the opposite, a fork that turned into a lopsided 110” 3 year old explodes at 4 years old out of nowhere. Why, how? Maybe it was what was going on back in May, June, and July. We just never really think of that, especially when we're sitting there watching a buck through our binos over a cut corn field. 

Really what it comes down to is expectations. As hunters, we all want to see those bases you can barely wrap your hand around. Drop tines, whale tails, splits, webbing, palmation, we want to see it all. But it takes the right mix of a lot of independent factors that have to come together just right. When it all comes together, it's incredible to witness. But, when we allow our wants, desires, and at times expectations, to dictate the experience we are going to have, it can ultimately bum us out or outright discourage us. Just keep in mind what it truly takes for these animals to maximize their potential, and maybe learn a rain dance for when those hot summer days come around.