I usually see 1 or 2 hard antlered by the last week of August. Earliest I've seen was August 8th. Was an old 6 point that had a broken front left leg since the first time I saw him in 2018, probably from getting hit by a car. He shed his antlers by mid January every year which is early for around here. I ended up putting him out of his misery in January 2021 after a couple guys doing a 2-man drive with crossbows emptied their quivers on him, hitting everywhere but the vitals. By then, his bad leg was just skin and bone. His antlers popped off while we were dragging him out. His hooves were cracked and missing chunks, suggesting that he survived EHD the previous summer too.