ORIGINAL: kry226
I think I am going to break ranks (as usual) and say that this deer may simply be beginning the transition from the summer coat to the winter coat. While he may be a couple of weeks early, we should start seeing more of this in the coming weeks and months.
My guess also...
Some of the spotting can be a bad, bad tick problem?? Maybe a few battle wounds from many years of rutt??
I shot a 6 pointer a few years back with an overabundance of ticks and his thick winter coat barely covered some of the blotchy spots.