Its just my personal experience with deer antler, even with fresh kills, you can turn it on the lathe right away. I think it depends on the color you want. (I'm thinking about writing a tutorial about this, it's very interesting). If you want the more pinkish look, turn it fresh after a kill. If you prefer the darker tones from aging and drying out, then turn after a year or a few months in the summer sun. Antler is like wood, there is always something special underneath the outside layer! I have had people that prefer both pink and/or brown. I will also use a thin CA to soak into the antler once I have turned it down close to the bushings, and I mean SOAK IT till it wont smoke anymore. Then I use a scraper and take the top layer thats all rough and smooth it out. Then I will start my layers of med CA, MM to 12000(wet sanding each grit), and lastly white diamond buff. Hope my rambling on the subject has helped.
I will say that fresh antler is very sticky, or the shavings are when the get on ya, or maybe its the moisture in the antler dust that feels that way.