Last Year's Sheds

I find antlers incredibly beautiful and endlessly fascinating. Beyond the elegant curves of ivory and mahogany colored bone, these uniquely cervid protruberances are incredibly diverse in form but remarkably simple in function. Most classically, antlers are essential for combat and conquest during a very short period during the breeding season. The amount of energy and nutrients that contribute to the growth of this deciduous bone is astounding, with some moose antlers exceeding 70 pounds in weight requiring immense investment from their wearer. After the violence of the rut (at least in most temperate cervids), these bones have mostly served their purpose and room must be made for the next year’s headgear. Eventually, the bone is severed by the ebb in sex hormones, and these adornments are unceremoniously shed into quiet snowbanks to be eroded by time or a fortunate porcupine. After the thaw and as the spring flowers begin to blossom, the cycle begins again, and the velvety bone regenerates, oftentimes bigger and more robust than the previous year. A cleverer man might find a powerful metaphor in that process.