I'd bet this deer will have a perfectly normal rack next year. Funky stuff on 1.5 year olds is very very common IMO. He'll probably be a nice basket 8 pointer next year.

As far as baiting goes. If it's legal what's the problem. If you don't like to bait don't bait. If you like to bait then do so. How many here drive 55 on the highway....that's what I thought. You could kill a person by speeding on the highway. Probably not going to kill a person by baiting.