Short ears?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Bullshooter
30-Apr-17
Is it just me, or do these deer have very small ears? Other deer on my trail cam pics here have normal ears, but dang!
(Tried searching but couldn't find how to post multiple pics cuz the button won't click.)
From: Bullshooter
30-Apr-17
So I submitted the post and went back to add the second pic.
From: Bou'bound
30-Apr-17
Could be the angle they are held at
From: Ambush
30-Apr-17
What you have on cam is a strain of whitetail that is now being commercially produced using genetic manipulation and DNA taken from the umbilical cords of newborn groundhogs. (very small ears)
They are in response to the burgeoning Whitetail TV Hunt shows. Unable to reliably grow bigger deer (at at high cost) these deer have very small ears and narrow skulls which make the racks appear very wide and tall. A buck will likely be "out past his ears" as yearlings.
The skin and bone structure are also quite thin and soft. Sometimes even Rage broadheads get several inches of penetration!
A total win for TV bowhunters!!
From: drycreek
30-Apr-17
I had some pics of a buck a couple years ago with almost no ears. Don't know if coyotes chewed them off when he was younger or what. Strange looking deer.
From: Scooby-doo
30-Apr-17
I have seen many that were frozen and they lost quite a bit of them or all of them. Shawn
From: wildwilderness
30-Apr-17
I think all whitetail have short ears when I hunt them since I'm so used to looking at mule deer!
From: Woods Walker
30-Apr-17
I've seen cattle that had the tips of their ears frozen off when they were born in the middle of a Wyoming winter, but bullshooter is from Louisiana so I don't think that's relevant! Maybe they sweated off?
From: ohiohunter
01-May-17
Very possibly lost to frost. Unusually cold winters have done similar to the oryx in nm.
It'll be interesting if you see the deer 1st hand to know if they are damaged or mutation.
From: Bullshooter
01-May-17
Haha good stuff. I expected no less from Bowsiters. It was in Tennessee and I will let you know if I kill one.
From: ohiohunter
02-May-17
If that's in Louisiana, I bet they got chewed off by one of them condor sized mosquitos.
From: APauls
02-May-17
Sometimes some deer do have short ears. I know guys that shot average bucks thinking they were gaggers and when the buck was down its comical because it had tiny ears!
From: Bullshooter
02-May-17
Maybe they are hard of hearing and I will have a chance at them!
Uh oh, would that be ethical?
From: ohiohunter
02-May-17
But at the same time its cool when deer have a characteristic you can spot them time after time. I had a regular doe that had white ears, named her Molly, saw her all the time. Well she made the mistake of busting me a few times, she was getting too smart for her own good.
From: nijimasu
02-May-17
They just got tired of being accused of having droopy ears...
From: ohiohunter
02-May-17
You mean Rompola syndrome?
