Rebel Hog

Exactly what I was thinking!

Freezersfull

Oh you got reindeer too...Sounds like these deer..Ive been doing the same as the other fellas killem out took one last year with 17" tine and small tine and other side was same height with a 3" drop tine, no brown tine..Bad Genetics is the cause because these woods are full of them..Not to mention all the hen turkeys over here have beards longer than the males..

Marko B

Spoken like someone who hunts in Texas.

You don't need to have a High Fence to have a management plan.

What's the worst that can happen where you live? Someone else shoots it?

lol

tlutterba

i would simply blast them all, get those bad genes out of your gene pool

jedge1979

I would shoot them before I would take the chance that they would infect my herds genes. If you let him walk this year no telling how many times he will breed and then in a few years your whole herd could look like these guys. IMO

Marko B

Infect?

He is a PRODUCT of your herd's genes.

There is no way that letting him live an extra year is going to amount to more than a drop in the ocean of a gene pool.

What seems like the greater benefit?

You let him live an extra year and give him a chance to grow the horn out and be a nice trophy for you (shoot him either way)

Or, you kill him right thenbefore he MIGHT breed 3 does (if he is mature) who will each probably have 60% chance of their fawn living to sexual maturity. (Don't forget she contributes half of the genetics too.)

I'm not saying this can't be a GENETIC trait. I'm just saying in my experience a lot of deer with damaged antlers are getting killed for one year damage to their horns because of fears like the above poster has.

rattlemup

i have been getting pictures of the bigger buck the 4 points on one side then the 10 or 12" tine on the other side. He's been comming right past my stand that i have set up every morning between 5:55 and the latest was 6:30 am and also in the evening about half hour before sunset.

although i have been getting pics of other bucks that are hangin out with him and they are fine. theres 3 that are messed up like that otherwise the other 3 bucks look like decent racks but still small. probably only 1 yr old or so

Marko B

Here is an example of what I was talking about in this post.

Exhibit A:



A truly amazing buck in every sense of the word, but a 6 year old... and in my part of the world we can afford to let them live until they reach 7+ years of age.

Exhibit B:




The very same deer the next year at 7 years old... After the worst drought in 50 years and perhaps some kind of illness. Do you want to shoot that deer before he "infects" your herd's genetics?

Exhibit C:



The same deer the next year at 8 after a good rainfall year. Does shooting him the year before seem smart now?



This is just an example of what can happen when you let deer walk. It's never a mistake to NOT shoot a buck. NOT shooting one has a chance of being remedied. Shooting one... doesn't.

timbercruiser

If he isn't in a pen, how can you be sure that is the same deer?

Marko B

well... couple ways...

for me... I can just distinguish his face from other deer.

I've been watching him grow since he was a 4 year old and his antlers made him stand out from other deer.

For someone who doesn't have a knack for recognizing deer.. you might look at the combination of the weight of his antlers with the distinct black tips of his ears...

Maybe you might notice the 30 inch wide buck missing that always frequents a certain spot one year...but notice a deer with the same mass antler and black tips on his ears with a huge spike on one side...

And then the next year you dont see the deer with the huge spike on one side but the 30 inch wide heavy buck is back with black eartips?

Pretty elementary...

I can just look at the deer and know it is him though... I could tell without antlers...

I guess it comes with a familiarity of watching him and watching video over and over...

Know how you can't tell identical twins apart... unless you are friends with them and spend a lot of time with them?

Same thing...