Watched the antler break off!
Kansas
The youngest watched this antler break off this morning. He was in the driveway going nuts. Said he acted like he was hung up in something but nothing was there. This antler flew up and he bolted. There were other bucks there so I figure he broke his skull and freaked out during a fight. Cool that the kid got to watch it!
Damn I wonder if that antler will grow normal next year if he is still alive. What are the odds of seeing that occur that's nuts
Looks like a chunk of skull left on, or is that the pedicle...hard to see. If it is skull, I'm betting it was scraping/rubbing on his brain and that's why he was acting nuts?
It's deep, but not smooth like the inside of skull cap is. I'm wondering if the whole pedicle broke out? I'd hate for him to loose an antler permanently. He's a pretty cool deer to me.
Looks like it was a skull abcess
That looks like it's beyond the normal shed location to me. He will be neat to monitor hopefully he lives.
Yeah, I don’t know man. They can survive that, but I don’t think the odds are in his favor.
That’s pretty deep.
Yea, that's part of his skull...I'm with Ray on his future.
Very cool experience for your kid, cat! It wouldn’t surprise me too much if the buck survives. They are crazy tuff critters, for sure.
I talked to a gun hunter towards the end of last week up there and he had seen one acting weird. Said it kept going up and down the fence like he wanted to jump but never would and noted there was just something off about the deer. He said one side of his rack was pushed way in towards the inside. Didn’t know if it grew like that or just had got in a fight and got a brain like injury.
In 2018 I called a wildlife official about a buck that was skin and bones in the picture and I was afraid of CWD. Sent him the pic and he said it definitely could be CWD but it also could be from a brain injury from a fight.
Said if you ever come upon a dead deer and if green junk is oozing from the base of the horns most likely it died from a fight with a brain injury.
Crazy stuff Cat! Hope that buck will make it. Looks like a good one.
Thats a deep break. The buck I found dead with the green oozing crud, it was alot of it, was in mid December but both antlers were solidly attached. I have found more than one shed over the years with the green crud, so some level of infection must not be to uncommon.
Sean that’s good to know. I had never heard or seen of the green stuff before he told me that. With you finding some sheds with it makes a person believe that they can keep on living with some of it. Did you ever happen to see one of those deer later in the year with their new horns for that year?
Back on some reads years ago I used to see these so called people that supposed to know things thought the buck to doe ratio should be 1:1. I might have said it on here once before but I’ll say it again…I never have agreed with that and don’t like it.
2 of the biggest reasons. I don’t like it cause your flirting with getting to low on deer numbers and another it’s making the bucks fight too hard to get some loving. They said it gets the bucks more visible on your property and it’s easier to kill. Who gives a rats tail…I would love to have them healthier and harder to kill than the other way around.
I know it’s natural for them to fight some and some years they fight harder than other years for some reason but I hate for people to start doing things to make it worse….just to benefit the people.
That break is below, and took out the entire pedicle. I don't see how he could ever grow antler on that side again. Tough deal Cat
He'll make it or he won't. It is what it is.
A few yrs ago I found several dead mature bucks in the creek bottom in the late summer/fall. The game warden came out and said it was Brain Abscess and that he had already worked quite a few calls on it that year. Said it's way more common than most know. Deer spread a bacteria to each other, it gets in under the skin through wounds from fighting or rubbing, then eats through the bone and gets into the brain. Goners at that point. They get skinny, wonder around aimlessly, end up fevered and in water to die.
Not uncommon for me to find sheds with large-ish chunks of skull attached on our place. Don't know that I can say if any of them make it or not. Or if any of them end up with weird racks the next year. We don't get a lot of lopsided deer with either a half rack or a really small side, but it does happen from time to time.
I'm a little bit of a habitat nerd. Plant food plots, watch for disease, do browse surveys, etc. Always curious how the deer/quail/chickens/bluebirds/etc are doing.
Here's something I look at to help piece together herd health if anyone is interested. It's looking at the pedicles of sheds. I usually find a lot of convex seals. Wonder what next spring will bring with the drought we had this year?
https://deerassociation.com/how-to-read-shed-antlers-for-health-and-habitat-clues/
And finally a pic of this deer from this summer. Velvet adds a lot but he's still got a lot of stuff I like.
Yep Cat…he was going to be a good one.
I've skinned out a lot of deer through the years with infection around the skull cap. Some have had hedge and or locus thorns as the cause and some I believe is from fighting. I've had several euros through the years that have had old injuries to the pedicle. Usually that antler will be "lop sided" or deformed. My guess is that deer will live. They are unbelievably tough.
Buddy of mine was chasing a huge buck for a couple of years. Found his shed the first year and it was busted deep. He did survive, but his rack was a lot weaker on that side the following year. After he killed him that buck had green ooze coming out of its base on that side… we don’t think he would have survived another year.
He CAN make it, but will he and stay reasonably healthy? I’d say no
That one looks to me that there is too much skull gone, maybe not.
I watched a 2 year old several years back that had one side broke off and he had big patch of skull exposed. The following year the damaged side grew crooked and looked like it was a year or two behind the other side in growth. I decided to harvest him. There was a lump where the bone grew back over the damaged skull. Bonus on the deal was he had upper canine teeth.
Hopefully I can follow this deer around enough to know how it turns out. The kid watched him for a little bit before school this morning and said he acted completely fine.
Be still
Never saw one I could verify as the same deer.
Be still
Never saw one I could verify as the same deer.
I had a well known to me deer shed his left side in December two years in a row. The first year (as a 3 yr old) it looked much like yours. The second year there was even more skull plate attached but he had grown a normal impressive antler both years. The second year (deer 4 yrs old), bleeding was excessive after he shed and he died shortly after. Cranial abscess as I understand it... some can live longer than others.
This is the second deer I've taken with upper canines. If I remember right less than .01% of deer still have uppers.
I have seen those upper canines on whitetail once before (not mine).
Interesting that red deer have them. I still have mine from the red stag I shot.
Pretty cool Aaron, thanks for posting
Definitely a conversation piece in my living room. The deer were shot in back to back years on the last day of December, from the same tree. Fast forward ten years and my wife shot one a few miles away that had one upper canine.
Those upper canines are great! I don't know that I've ever checked for them, would be a shame to throw something like that away just cause you didn't look.
I got to watch him for a few minutes this morning. Seems to be doing ok at the moment.
https://youtu.be/c9Anw7rJmVU
He will be just fine. Update us next year!
That's so cool with the teeth. They are alot longer that I had pictured in my head. Maybe it has ancestors from china
When they have a porus spot in their skull usually that causes a brain abscess. I have seen them where they would walk funny,like take a step forward and then walk backwards.
BWHNT, I read a lot about it when I discovered the uppers. What I read was they are ancestors from china. If I remember right it was a china water buck. They were brought here and in time they evolved from the fangs used to fight into antlers. This is from memory from about 15 years ago so don't hang me if its not 100% spot on.
I believe it. A deer with fangs is just crazy.
Just saw him. Been around 3 weeks. Seems to be doing fine.
