Antlers are covered in velvet as these buck sit face to face in a field.  Velvet provides nutrition and growth to deer antlers.This special tissue is a type of skin, loaded with blood vessels and nerves, that regenerates every year. Because deer shed their antlers annually, they need dense and rapid growth of their antlers to occur every year. Antlers are important in distinguishing the strongest and most viable bucks, who will end up mating and passing on their genes.