Can a buck fawn grow antlers?
Whitetail Deer
Okay, tonight I saw something that left me scratching my head. A VERY SMALL buck came by. When I first saw him I thought it was a fawn. But as he got closer I could see the tiniest of antlers on him. One spike and one fork. Anyway, the more I looked at him, the more I began to wonder if it was a fawn despite the horns. He had that very short snout that is typical of fawns and though small, he appeared in good health. A few minutes later a 1 1/2 year old came by that is more typical for our area, and he was a good 60% bigger than that first deer.
Anyone hear of fawns actually having a small set of antlers that first fall?
I have seen a few little guys like that over the years and always assumed they were fawns due to their size, but I don't know for sure.
Yes they can, I shot one several years ago. I'll go look for a picture. It was before digital cameras so I'll have to scan it in.
Okay I found one. Not the best picture, but here it is.
How do you know that is a fawn? Did you send a tooth in for cementum annuli aging?
No but my brother shot his mother. I've hunted a long time I don't need to send a fawn teeth in for aging.
Looks like a fawn to me too Griz34.....Unless its a midget..LOL
Usually buck fawns are knot heads but if they were dropped very early and have promo prime habitat they could maybe and possibly get a 1" pedestal I guess but I have never seen one at 3 or 4 inches ever and never even heard of one with a fork on one side. However I guess anything is possible. The process for body/antler growth almost always precludes the antlers rupturing though in any meaningful way IMO
Griz,
Your bro shot the mom but did your bro see the fawn with her all summer as it was growing those antlers or was it just nearby when he shot her?
I have hunted a long time as well and have never seen a 6 month old buck with spikes that long. Not saying you are wrong but this is the 1st time I have actually seen it. I have heard people say they have seen it but I never have personally.
Just think....I am sure someone will tell you that you should have let it walk. It would have been a beast the next year and in several years would have been a monster buck. lol
Hardhorn fawns, I dunno, not buying it.
Yes we had some history with these deer as they had been on our farm all summer. In retrospect we probably would have let them both walk but this was a long time ago. I don't really care if anyone believes that this is a fawn, that's just how it is.
I saw a lone deer on Monday. It had polished nubs maybe 1.5 inches tall and pointed! It loked like it might be abutton buck, based on the small "horns", but the body was good sized. He was strafing through a field at 80 yds and I had 10x binoculars. He acted likt eht 3.5 year old 8 point and spike buck that also came through that field Monday AM.
His body looked larger than the spike that came through an hour later....
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Nope- just late born fawns the year before. But not fawns from the current year. The buck in the photo above Posted by Griz is a typical late July, August, and even Sept. born fawn. See it all the time in lower Michigan. Field dress at 70 to 90 pounds. Also, you will see the equivalent doe version that hangs around mom from last year. It is the very small doe with no fawns that is just hanging around.
Early born fawns will have polished buttons or nubbins or what ever the local term is by November, but they will be less than 1.5 inches.
I would certainly think it is possible, especially with an early born buck fawn. Would really like to hear from a biologist on this.
...and Griz, I've hunted a long time too but no matter how sure I was it was a fawn, I would have loved to had definitive proof. Would have made an interesting trophy to mount....world record buck fawn! lol
We refer to them as "Trophy Dwarf Deer"!
The one I saw Monday was likely the World Record Typical Trophy Dwarf buck!! LOL
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I see deer every day. They walk through my yard. I see them as spotted fawns and watch them grow. Those born early, absolutely grow antlers. I have seen many 6-month old buck fawns with spike antlers and one that was a four point. This spike is 18-months old. He had about 3" spikes at 6-months and was a nice 8, the next year.
Consider this: Here is an 18-month old spike, sparring with a fully mature buck. I believe the larger deer is 3.5.
Deer engage in a great deal of antler engagement that has nothing to do with the rut or fighting. It is for that reason, if you know what you are doing, sparring can be deadly in the early season when bucks are still in bachelor groups. It is possible to "spar" a mature buck in when rattling later in the year might just as well run him off.
Antler engagement in bucks begins just as soon as the velvet is shed and has little to do with antler size. I have seed buck fawns with 4" spikes, spar with large 10-pointers.
This business of just what deer antlers really mean to a deer and just when and why they emerge is fascinating and has kept me entertained for a couple decades. I am fortunate to have quite a sizable herd living basically in my yard.
No a fawn can't grow antlers
Nope but there is the rare case of dwarfism. I have examples in both mule deer and white tails! I wonder if it could not be that.
Real facts always beat out some "opinion" from a guy that hunts a lot. Just because you haven't seen it means nothing. The only way to really tell is to identify a fawn in the summer then watch it till fall.
I don't believe that fawns can grow antlers from my personal experience however to say that it is fact based just on my experience is insane. Very very narrow minded at best.
Bowriter seems to watch deer all year long and is actually able to better answer this question then us guys that are not watching the same deer on a daily basis. His information seems crazy but I think he is in a better situation than most to make those statements.
about 16 years ago I killed a 6 point in late November that weighed around 70# live weight. He was fat and had a "rutty" neck and tarsals...I don't think he was a fawn, but he was sure fawn sized
No. They do not grow their first hard antler till at least a year old.
This is not a fawn with antlers, but someone mentioned dwarf deer. The deer second from right is a piebald dwarf. Last year he was a fawn I think and I have him on film trying to breed a doe. This year he has small spikes. He is 1/2 to 2/3 the size of a normal 1-2 year old (small buck to the left). Our fawns drop late, usually early October. I still have spotted fawns showing up on the cameras. I have the piebald gene in some of my deer.
Apparently the answer below is from a deer biologist: Can Buck Fawns Grow Spikes?
We wondered if it was possible for a 6-month-old to grow horns.
QUESTION: Bob, is it possible for a 6-month-old buck fawn to grow spikes? We have a healthy food supply and good genetics, and believe we've seen a buck fawn with 2- to 3-inch spikes. - Rick W.
ANSWER: Antler growth begins early in a buck's life. Just a few months into its first spring, a young buck's antlers begin growing from a permanent protrusion of bone on the forehead called a pedicel.
We typically don't see them on buck fawns because they're hidden beneath the skin.
By their first autumn, young stag's foreheads are usually adorned with leathery buttons for which they get the name button bucks.
On rare occasions, a buck fawn might sport tiny spikes or bony protuberances scarcely more than an inch or two long.
It is not until their second fall, as yearlings, that bucks typically grow what we would consider a true set of antlers.
Many factors determine the size of a yearling buck's antlers. Late-born fawns, poor nutrition or drought could result in them growing spike antlers as yearlings.
And those spikes could be anywhere from two or three inches to perhaps six or eight inches.
Sometimes older deer with poor antler genetics or poor diet might continue to grow spikes.
Having said all that, anything is possible. While it would be extremely rare, I would never say fawns never grow spikes.
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I think any spike antler whether its 8" or an inch is a 1.5 year old. Just some born later, some have better genes, some have better nutrion etc. This is just my honest opinion. I can't see how the peticle is developed enough for a fawn to grow anything other then a button.
Bigwoods is essentially correct. However, in cases where a fawn is born in April (it happens more than you might think), he may well have 3" spikes by Oct. As long as he is producing testosterone, it is directed toward antler growth until velvet is shed. When you factor in nutrition, you have all sorts of variables.
What must be taken into account is the age of the fawn, not the fact it is a fawn. The term fawn only denotes that it was born that year.
Different growing periods occur in different geographical locations. In the South, where fawn survival is good almost year around, you may easily have born what would normally be considered early as well as late. As long as doe is not bred, she may cycle as many as five times. That accounts for a wide spread of fawning dates.
It's a mutant dwarf at least 3 1/2 years old...a true pygmy amongst Whitetails! Seriously, it sure looks like a small 'yearling' born late last year. And previous to this date I have never heard of or seen a fawn whitetail with a set of horns. But like the biologist said, anything is possible, and like the rest of you, I did not see the deer in person myself to take a close look at it and then give my very own (un)professional opinion.
This is a Sept. picture of a doe and her fawn. Look close at the fawn. He was born in early April or perhaps late March. I am not positive on the exact date. This is in my backyard, approximately 75-yards from my patio. My yard joins 113-acres of mixed hardwood/cedar thicket. And no, I don't hunt the "yard deer" except with a Nikon.
bowriter, "yard deer" are tasty with "yard potatoes" and "yard onions" ;-)
Just one of the "lesser" deer species
I think I saw one this year;about 70lbs.live weight and two inch spikes.The smallest deer I have ever seen with horns. I had two other spikes in the field at the same time as this one and they were a lot larger. I saw this little fellow three different times at about 35 yards. My guess he was a very late drop from last year.
I also live where Deer frequent my yard.. I have seen buck fawns with just enough to see horn come fall (barley an inch showing). I'm "GUESSING" that due to when born & genetics would have something to do with this.. We see lots of fawns from when they come out & about through fall & "rarely" see one with horn showing but it does happen. As said, barley visible & so far we've never seen anything over 2" that we know of.
Can a buck fawn grow antlers?
Generally not until after 10 months old.
But as we know anything is possible in wild animal populations, on occasion, but not the norm.
Doe deer can have antlers. Hen turkeys can have beards. I am sure, a "few" older fawn bucks can grow "antlers" but again, not the norm.
My best, Paul
I too checked with the white tail biologist for the Iowa DNR. His response was no, at best 1 to 1 1/2 inches the first year, though he did think that might be increased if you were taking about "deer ranching".
Maybe this could be answered by someone who raises whitetail.
Nature is gonna do whatever the heck she wants to do.
Went to grammar school with a kid that had to shave and grew sideburns in like the 4th or 5th grade. Among other things. We were all the same age.
Wasn't a dwarf I know, he was pretty much the same size as the rest of us. He was kind of a freak though.... had nothing to do with his hair.....
TD, you can't bet he's bald as a cue ball now!
TD, I follow you. Did we go to Grade school together ? ;)
buck fawns don't grow antlers
best I've seen is a 1/4 hard "cap" on top of the buttons. Best I've hear of is the same. I know a lot of deer farmers and they say the same thing.
forked antlers?? Horsepucky, never happened on a six month old fawn.
"buck fawns don't grow antlers".
You are wrong...100% wrong but not like you are thinking. Alabama fawns are born in August, about the time antlers stop growing. The following spring those fawns are by definition still fawns and start growing antlers in late spring and throughout summer. By their first birthday their antlers are almost fully grown and can be six points but normnally spikes. They are aged as yearlings that fall, but we're fawns when their antlers stopped growing.
I once got a button buck that had "antlers". The deer dressed at 56 lbs and was about 6 months old. When I was looking at the head, there were antlers growing off the pedicles. They were only about 1/4" tall, but one of them actually fell off the pedicle like bucks do when they shed there antlers.
