Opening day buck...no antlers?
 

Shot what appeared to be a big doe opening morning only to discover that it was a buck who had dropped or broke both his antlers clean off at base. This was a mature deer, I figure at least 3 years old. Have you ever seen or heard of this both sides gone?? What tag makes it legal? Buck tag or DMP?

I would think the tag that fits the deffinition, if a buck is required to meet certain antler requirements then it sounds as if the antlerless tag would fit.

I have seen buck with their antlers broken off close to the head, could have well happened fighting during the rut. I PA what makes a buck is having visible antlers of at least 3 inches in length, our seasons are called antlerless and antlered so a buck like this would be a legal antlerless deer. To be a legal buck it must have at least one antler with 3 points in some parts of the state and 4 in the rest of the state. For hunters with Jr licenses, mentored youth, handicapped hunters with a permit to use a vehicle to hunt and active duty servicemen may take an antlered deer with at least one visible antler of at least 3 inches in length.

There's actually no such thing as a "buck tag" in most places, it's antler or antlerless for this very reason, plus occasionally a doe will have antlers

Do you have a picture of the head? The head looks different when they fall off vs when they break. The antlers actually do slightly into the head, so if it broke, it should be easy to tell.

Yep, if there are bloody holes the antlers fell off, it is early for that though, at least here.

Heard and seen pictures of the with one horn missing, but not two.

Here in Kansas, the regs specify a visible, polished antler as the criteria for antlered/antlerless.

There might be something in your state game regulations on this.

I once shot a bull elk in CO that had no antlers in the muzzleloading season. The top of it's head was kind of soft and there was no pedicle for antlers to grow out of. I thought it was a big cow until I rolled it over to begin the knife work and found the danglin's. But in CO the tag says antlered or antlerless so I was still legal.

Late season ML here in Vt early December I have heard of a fellow shooting his buck and when he dragged it out one antler came off in his hand.

I drag by the rear hoof. That's why.

How does that work? I normally hook the rope on a shoulder harness deer drag around the antler bases then a half hitch around the nose which keeps the antlers up not dragging. If alone which is often, I run the front hooves over the antlers and secure with a cord to keep the legs from grabbing the brush. I would think trying to pull by a rear leg would be really hard to pull unless you are using a wheeler. Pulling against the grain of the hide, against the legs and the antlers would dig in. I am not too old to learn though if you have the magic way to get them out. Luckily this years buck was within radio range of 2 of my younger brothers. They like to help the old guy out especially since I kill most of the deer.