August 23 - August 29 Discover nature this week as young male white-tailed deer rub the velvet off their antlers. The white-tailed deer is aptly named because the white undersurface of its flag-like tail is all that’s seen as it bounds across an opening in the woods. Antlers occur only in males and are formed and shed each year. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, growth of the antler starts in April or May when the base of the antler, located on the skull, begins to enlarge.