I shot a big buck this past weekend in MD and already making plans to get it shoulder mounted. I asked the taxerdermist to have the deer turn to his right so it will display the large hole the left antler has in it. The hole is at a 25% angle and my pinky finger could fit in it, if it was all cleared out.

What causes this in the antler? I thought I read some place and time that during the velvet stage the antler has a bug/parasite/ worm get attached and it borrows in or the antler grows around it. What have you folks heard of this???

It sounds more like a case of " lead poisoning" . Somebody may have tried to shoot it while it was still in velvet .

No disrespect, but I have a hard time considering that as a possibilty or anything close to the top 3 reasons why the whole exist. I' m pretty sure I know the reason why it developed like that, I just need confirmation that' s how I read it some time ago. I' d post a picture but can' t get it fit in the requirments of the forum.

I' ve heard something about a bug or something like that too. It also could have been injured during the growing stage of the rack.

Here' s cropped down version of the hole. I had to cut more out to get it to fit but I' m not sure if it will be big enough to see.

It' s pretty common to see a hole like that, I' ve found a few sheds like that along with a few deer that have been shot with a hole in their antler almost exactly like that.

That defintly looks like a parisite/worm while still in velvet.

Absoutly correct.

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ya i' ve seen antlers like that here in saskatchewan too but i never give much thought as to why that occured. i have seen hunters shoot antlers off of deer before but if this was a bullet that hit, it would have had an entry and an exit instead it only looks like one hole in the picture. bullet probably would have shatttered the antler too even though the hanson buck didn' t. never knew that was a parasite that caused the hole good to know.