springgobbler

Saw quite a few deer today three of which were small racked bucks. Two were smallish spikes but the third one has me scratching my head. This was a large bodied deer..noticeable "belly" and a bit of a hump in its back, but its rack was quite small. It had 5 noticeable points and looked like a few kickers...but it had very little mass and literally had a spread of about 4 inches. The antlers were much darker than some of the other bucks I have seen lately.

My question is...is this a year and half old buck? Or is it an older deer with some bad genes?

For some background: I hunt in West Virginia and there have been some very respectable bucks (I know one was about 130) taken from this property.

Edited by - springgobbler on 10/27/2002 00:10:55

Deerhugger11

Probably an older deer that lost his nuts early in the process of growing antles...that's my guess from what I've heard.

jred

The deer sounds like he has been around for a while by your description of his size. As far as his antlers it could be genetic, or a nutrition thing.

The nutrition to deer will effect deer antlers in may ways, the color, diamitor, shapes etc. and though other deer may look fine at a close look you can see some signs of poor nutrition.

Hope this help out some.

KEEP HUNTING THE GREAT OUTDOORS & GOD ALIVE, PASS IT ON!

timbercruiser

Large body and very small rack, I would guess he is just a cull. May have something internal wrong, but no telling what. If he had lost his testicles he wouldn't have shed his velvet.

skeeter 7MM

Sounds like an old deer, past his prime or maybe never even had a good rack prime. Here we see lots of bucks get the smaller racks and go nontypie past their primes. Of course the body size stays up, but if his belly is drooping, that is usually an indication he is mature. If you need to harvest one and don't find the wallhanger...this would be a good one to eliminate or have a friend that just wants a buck take him. He will still breed and most likely will given his body size. I have done this on occasion when my season dwindles down to the last day, take them out and let those spike, forks, basket racks...get to their potential. It is much more productive to the herd to ween out the used to be's, then take out the maybe's.

huntinfool14

I would say a older deer. Maybe you can find a youngster in your area that is looking into getting started into hunting. He would be a real trophy for a first buck and you have culled that old buck out!

springgobbler

Got in the stand this morning...after a few of the replies to the orginal post and some reading of an article on culling bucks....I decided to take the shot if there...it was.

The rack is quite interesting...it is very small, but the body was quite big. I did cut the jaw to look at the molars and they were worn down...as you look at the pics you will notice that several of the points (there weren't many :-) were worn down and had a hollow appearance. There was also a hole in one side, which you will notice a finger pointing to in the pic.

Fool...I had asked my 11 yr. old stepson if he wanted a crack at it....after me explaining to him in the months preceeding the season, the importance of taking does and that antlers are not the only reason to hunt..he replied, "Gotta take a doe to get a buck...and I haven't taken a doe". Gotta love that from a kid...

Take a look at the pics and let me know what you all think....




Edited by - springgobbler on 10/27/2002 00:03:48

Deerhugger11

WAY TO GO! That is the weirdest rack I
ve ever seen. They do look hollow and what's up with that hole! Bullet? I dunno! Congrats on the buck!

strut

That is weird, I bet there is more than one problem with the rack, I think it is mainly in the genes, also I bet it had some damage done to it when he was in velvet someway or another. Looks like he has had them stuck in someones camp-fire.

James Vee

From your earlier description, I would have guessed that to be a pretty old deer. But after looking at the pics, I dont' know if he would be more than 1.5 . You should bring the lower portion of the jaw to your taxidermist or DNR, they can age it for you....or even put a picture of it on here. Body wise, I don't think too huge. It's for sure an interesting deer though. The color of thoes antlers totally throws me off. I've seen that color on drop-tines of larger deer, and I "think" it may be caused by not shedding velvet for a long period of time, and it might rot the ends of the antlers. Just a guess. Interesting though. Congratulations and great pics!!!