RE: Antler Oddities
 

man that middle buck is great looking i love that rack!!! i always thought it took a hit to his " guys" or bumping them while in velvet that made deformed antlers.....guess thats only part of the ways......thats pretty neat.....i love wierd racks for some reason.....

RE: Antler Oddities
 

I couldnt Say you guys are more correct, although myself, I have witnessed " all" deformed antlers due to shot off legs are broken bones, The last Buck I shot was Webbed on 1 side of his antler and the other side was as thin as a pencil. Of course the front leg was missing on the mature buck.
By the was How do you get these pictures on your posts, I tried scanning my pics and copying em on here it didnt work.

Thanks
Brandon Wikman
Team Mossy Oak
Wildlife Research
Sims Vib. Labs
Pro-Staffer

RE: Antler Oddities
 

Old wounds definitely have a effect on antler
deformities. This is a pic of my bow buck from
Nov/' 01. While picking him up from my
taxidermist, he informed me of several old
buckshot wounds that were infected on the right
side of his neck and shoulder. As you can see,
it had a huge impact on the left side of his rack.
By the way, buckshot is illegal in Iowa....there
always seems to be some idiot who thinks they
are above game laws[:@]. FYI, he was aged at
6 1/2-7 1/2 years old.

RE: Antler Oddities
 

woodseye
The second picture...looks like the buck injuried the rack while it was growing to cause such a sharp bend. We watched a buck last summer and fall with the same deformity. We saw him up close numerous times and could not see and injury to his body. I found his sheds this winter and we will be watch for him this summer and fall to see if the rack is normal or not. I' m not 100% sure the rack got injured but am pretty sure. Time will tell. Here is a picture of his sheds.




Here is a picture of a buck I shot with a neck injury. The oppesite side' s antler was deformed.



Here is another rack from a buck I shot. Back leg was cut off more then likely from a swather when he was a fawn. Very clean cut. The oppesite side' s antler is deformed.



Tim

RE: Antler Oddities
 

I shot a buck two years ago that I noticed had a severe limp on the left side. I had passed him several times, but decided to take him as he was mature and it was the last evening of the season;). Anyway the left side was a perfect five with nice tines and decent mass, his right side had 4 with 2 deformaties one point crab clawed and protuded down towards his eye(between brow and G1), with a second coming of the main beam straight back in the G2 position and more mass & less tine length on the right than the left. I took the head and jaw to the DNR to be aged, they said it could be caused by some sort of trauma in the velvet stage...possibly why he had the bad wheel. BTW, the deer was aged at 8 1/2 years old, so I am not sure if it was age/downslide or injury, their was no evidence of rutting bruising in the rear ham to indicate he was hurt while fighting. He was definately involved in the rut as I saw him trying to run does earlier and his neck was 5 plus gallon swollen. He also had good body weight. Again I really don' t know what the real cause was, but his rack look like they came from two different deer. I figured he was just old, as his weight was good but who knows. At the time I figured he' d never make it the winter with the bad wheel, but again who knows.

RE: Antler Oddities
 

TJF,I would agree that damage in the velvet was a possibility but we watched this buck the year before and he had the same rack except the good side was a little smaller.He ran perfect and showed no injury signs as well as being a large bodied 200# plus deer.He was shot several months after my cam pic last fall and I' ll never know the story behind the odd rack other than he appeared destined to carry it every year of his life.He was a very nervous buck and never paused long when we would spot him and the camera only captured him once and as you can see he has already made the cam and is hiding and looking at it.I would have shot him with no hesitation as I thought the rack had great character and he was a mature animal.

woods

RE: Antler Oddities
 

woodseye
That is very interesting. Most bucks that have an injury to the body that I have seen or seen picures of, the deformed side main beam always goes up and the points can go in any direction. Generally there is no sharp bend in the main beam. Like I said we have a buck here that has a similar rack as your' s. It will be very interesting to see if he stays the same this year too or goes back to a normal rack. Thanks for sharing that info.

Tim

RE: Antler Oddities
 

Brandon,
You need to store your pics on one of the websites
like Image Station. Once you' ve done that you
just copy and paste the URL here between the
two img/..../img.

http://www.imagestation.com/


:)

RE: Antler Oddities
 

nice pic' s, I really enjoy looking at them!

RE: Antler Oddities
 

i agree those pics are very neat to see....i love wierd racks like that....man some of those bucks are big too! 2 beards buck looks MASSIVE if it wasnt for the injury it would score nicely...but it makes a heck of a trophy still im sure....them are neat......so now i know if i get a buck with a messed up side to look on the other for the injury that caused it.....thats something i would never known....congrats guys them are some nice bucks...