One antlered buck question

[BrianID]

Why do you think this buck is missing his left antler? You can't tell very well from the pictures but on his left side he has about a 2" of growth that doesn't appear damaged. He appeared to be healthy(watched him run off) and I did not notice anything abnormal about the right side of his body(watched him through spotting scope at about 200 yards for about 5 minutes). His left antler looks just like a buck that is starting to grow his antlers in early May. Did he snap it off at the base and start growing it again? Will he grow a "normal" set of antlers next year?
I know there are a number of different reasons a buck could loose his antler and have my own opinion of what may have happened to his left antler. I thought it would be interesting to hear what others had to say.

 

[manny15]

I seen a young buck run into a fencse and snap one side off, man he really went crazy for a bit but saw him a few months later he had a nub so? never know

 

[MortgageMan]

You should have checked to see if it had testicles. I have seen a couple strange deer that had one antler but no testicles. It could be a doe with one antler. Who knows

 

[tmbrlinewarden]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-20-07 AT 10:52PM (MST)[p]My guess is just a broke off antler with a little regrowth. Also possible a damaged pedicle- in which case He'll never grow a proper antler.

Most likely not a "testicle" issue- but he's right- it is possible. Squirly/ indeterminate "cactus buck" growth is often associated with "stag" or nutless bucks, but thats usually a different type of issue (hormonal?) and either way should be both antlers messed up. Most stag bucks will grow a set of forkys every year, and then never bother to rub them (and get REALLY fat not wasting any energy rutting). Does do occasionally grow antlers for sure, that's why the bag limit in NM doesn't say 1 cow/doe/buck/bull it says antlerless Forked-antlered-deer etc. TO me that buck in the picture looks like a regularly homoned buck deer with a little short term antler damage -

People always assume a stag buck lost his nuts on a barbed wire fence or something, but older bucks will literally bite the balls off of a juvenile buck if he gets a chance to. (One less buck to have to fight with down the line) That's been documented in most all ungulates.

Anyway, sorry for the Mr. Wizard stuff, I've read a lot of research on it and have always thought that was pretty interesting- Imagining the chemical communication between the bone cells in one antler with the corresponding bone cell in the other antler in a coordinated effort for symetry. Yea, I'm an antler geek-Sorry, you did ask though.



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