When the adult Caribou return from the north in August, the antlers of all are still in the velvet. However, completely hornless does are not particularly uncommon at this season; in Charles Schweder’s opinion, some remain permanently in that condition. Hornless does are reported in various forms of Caribou or Reindeer in both hemispheres (Jacobi, 1931: 48). I saw also a few one-horned does on the autumn migration. In a single group of three adult does photographed at close range on August 28, one was hornless and another one-horned ([fig. 11]). A considerable proportion of my other photographs of Caribou groups at this season show one or more animals with a single antler or none. The hornless condition appears to be astonishingly more common in Keewatin than in regions farther west. Stefánsson, whose field operations were chiefly in northern Mackenzie and southwestern Franklin, remarks (1913b: 151) on having found, at any season when Caribou are normally horned, just three hornless animals among a thousand at whose killing he had been present. Murie (1935: 20) speaks of having observed only one hornless doe in Alaska, in September.
By late August the bucks’ antlers have attained nearly their full growth, though still in the velvet. The largest head of the season was obtained on August 22. Its measurements were: right antler, in straight line from base to tip of longest prong, 995; left antler, 980; distance between main tips of the two antlers, 620; brow tine, from base to upper tip, 335; to lower tip, 290. For the older bucks, the principal period for shedding the velvet is September 10 to 20, although Charles Schweder once observed a buck that had completed the process by September 1, and Fred secured one in that condition on September 6, 1947. In Alaska old bucks shed the velvet more or less regularly in September (Murie, 1935: 26). Sick or wounded animals are said to retain the velvet for an indefinite period. For example, a buck secured on September 29 had some velvet hanging in shreds from the tips of its antlers, and it was found to have been shot in the mouth sometime previously. The younger bucks and the does lose their velvet somewhat later than the older bucks (say toward the end of September). In a doe of September 21 ([fig. 21]) the antlers were covered with velvet and still had soft tips. A young buck of October 2 was just shedding the velvet.
Charles Schweder spoke of noting as many as 30-33 points on the antlers of old bucks. (He probably included the brow and the bez tines in this count.) He also referred to an exceptional set of antlers at Simons’ Lake with about 40 points; he had first noted it about 10 years previously, and it had doubtless been there for years before that. He had never been able to secure its equal. When I saw and photographed it in October (fig. 25), some of the points were broken off, so that an accurate count was impossible; but there must have been close to 40 originally, even without the brow tines, which were missing. The palmation was much broader than I have seen in any other Caribou.
Fig. 25. Enormous set of old antlers of a Barren Ground Caribou, with exceptional palmation. (A 10.5-inch length of a steel rule visible.) Simons’ Lake, October 15, 1947.
The prong projecting backward at the angle of the main beam is by no means so uncommon in the animals of this region as a Chipewyan hunter seemed to indicate to Downes (1943: 227-228).
Charles Schweder found a pair of locked antlers about 1940 near Josie’s Bay. This was the only case of which he had any knowledge. An instance of locked antlers in Rangifer pearyi is mentioned by Peary (1907: 84).
There is marked variation in the dates of shedding the antlers, according to sex, age, and physiological condition of the individual. This has resulted in various conflicting statements in the literature. In the present region, the old bucks with 25 or more points are said to shed their antlers about the end of October or in November, at the close of the rutting season. (Fred Schweder, Jr., encountered a hornless buck as early as November 7, 1947.) The younger bucks, with 15 to 20 points, and the does retain their antlers till late May or June of the following year. A doe of June 3 and another of June 16 were still horned. In Alaska “the young bucks may carry their old antlers until late in April, while does carry theirs until the middle of May, some of them until June” (Murie, 1935: 26).