I shot a nice buck Friday with my Encore. A very nice 4 points on one side, but the other side is a stubby mess of antler. Question is, what causes this to happen? This is the third buck I've shot like this and I'm afraid my oldest son is going to hurt himself laughing so hard at my deer! I think I know the answer, but maybe I'm just nuts. (Is that a hint?) Thanks, Jim

i have always heard that an injury to the oppisite side of the body, or illness during formation will cause those things to happen, i saw one the othe day with one side perfect the other kind of flat and palmatted[:-]

pics?????

Possible the deer was injured by vehicle,a butt kicken by a fellow buck,or some other injury;trip,fall,sprain,break,puncture wound etc... This could and will cause a deformity you speak of.

If all 3 of the bucks killed were in the same area it could be a genetic trait.

Two were from the same woods. The other was no where near here. Jim

I got one like that too, 4 nice points on one side (woud have made P&Y if he matched it on the other side) and a stubby thick 4 pointer on the other side.

Cant eat eateat antlers,congrates

I agree w/earlier replies that an injury or sicknessmay be the cause. Keep in mind that maybe somekind of mineral could be causing the abnormal growths. Either way the you still have some great steaks and burger meat. Congrats!!

Where I live in east central Miss we have allot of those. Definitely genetics. Yes, an injury can also cause an antler deformity, but when you have lots of bucks showing up this way, genetics is to blame.
We hunt on a restricted access area of about 8000 acres, document each deer killed very carefully. Of the 30 rack bucks killed last year only 8 or 10 had what could be considered "typical" racks. Probably another 8 or so that were considerably different from one side to the other and the remaining 10 or 12 were like the ones you are talking about, "crap racks".
My 7 year old killed one of the few typical racks with a nice 8. I killed 2 good size bucks, one was a 10 point, was an awesome rack on one side, thick as your wrist and great color. The other side looked like a fricken moose antler. Had it looked different-cool as opposed to different-crap, I would have had it mounted.
We are telling all our hunters to kill any buck w/a crap rack, we need to get them out of the gene pool. I was going to let the second buck walk when I saw him coming toward me, looked like a nice 2 1/2 year old symetrical basket 6, until he turned and looked my way. Yup, one side a nice basket 3 on the other, 3 points Satan would have been proud of. Darwin never thought about an encore when it came to survival of the fitest.
We know for sure of one buck that is probably 5 or 6 years old in the northern end of the property that is one of the worst deformed of them all and he is spreading the crap horn gene, he has a beautiful 5 on one side and a single horn going straight up for about two feet on the other. But, he has proven that just because his horns look like crap doesn't mean he is stupid.
Just remember, it isn't just the bucks that have the gene too, it is the does as well. Keep the turnover rate high.
R
Hank