Category: Non-typical Stuff

There are many factors to consider when it comes to management of white-tailed bucks during the deer hunting season. Some of the more popular campfire discussions usually involve talking about antlers, which bucks to shoot or not shoot, and whether or not odd antler configurations on specific deer were caused by poor genetics or by an injury during antler development. Whether you are actively managing the white-tailed deer living on your own property or considering culling some select deer off your hunting lease, it pays to know a little bit about deer antlers and their growth before you pull the trigger.

For whatever reason, this year I have seen more bucks with asymmetrical antlers than ever before. Most of these deer have been bucks with a normal antler on one side and then an unbranched antler (spike) on the other. And I’m not just talking about 1 1/2 year old (yearling) bucks. Of course, some yearling bucks will have unbranched antlers (one side or both), but only very rarely do spike bucks actually remain spikes after their first set of antlers. The bucks I’m talking about are middle-aged deer; 3 and 4 year old bucks with lots of promise on one side and nothing but disappointment on the other.

Broken Bones and Antler Development

The antlers found on the top of a buck’s head are true bone. These bones/antlers are grown every year and like other bones are comprised primarily of minerals. The minerals necessary for a buck’s antler growth are extracted from mineral reserves stored in other parts of the deer’s skeletal system. As a result, any broken bones can potentially disrupt the ability for the body to transfer those minerals from one part of the body to where they are needed, on top of the buck’s head.

Larger (long) bones are more important to antler development because of the amount (percent) of minerals they contribute to a buck’s antler growth. A deer’s leg bones are huge sources of minerals and the hind legs even more so than than the front legs. A fractured leg will often lead to deformed, non-typical antlers, and maybe even result in a buck with a spike on one side. However, a buck’s antlers will often normalize in subsequent years as the fracture heals and the minerals are more effectively mobilized.

Front leg fractures will effect antler development on the same side as the break, whereas hind leg fractures will impact antler growth on the opposite side. Again, an injury to the back legs will be more detrimental to a buck’s antlers in the near term, and depending on how well it heals, could impact antler growth for the remainder of the buck’s life.

Pedicle, Skull Injury and Spike on One Side

A pedicle is the location on top of a buck’s head from which the antlers grow. All normal bucks have two of them, one for each antler. When a buck sheds his antlers in the late winter or early spring the attachment point between the pedicle and the antler is where they detach. This is usually a clean separation, but sometimes it’s not. This “dirty” departure could be the result of either a pedicle injury or perhaps even a skull (cap) injury at some point in the past. Either injury could result from a self-inflicted mishap or from a brawl with another buck prior to or during the breeding season.

Regardless, these injuries may cause permanent antler damage (antler material remains attached to pedicle) for the duration of the buck’s life. So although not a genetic cull buck, a buck with an injured pedicle or injured skull cap may be sentenced to a future of disappointing antler growth, at least on one side if a shed does not drop cleanly.

Recent Antler Research and Deer Management

The social, economic and recreational importance of white-tailed deer hunting over the past few decades has substantially increased deer management programs across the US, particularly with regards to the harvest and management of bucks. The selective harvest of bucks comes in many different flavors with age-based restrictions and/or antler-based restrictions being the most common. Before removing a buck from the herd that has a deformed antler or that is a spike on one side, keep the points listed above in mind and check out what a recent antler research study concluded:

Source: Besides the underlying principle that spike on one side (SOOS) antlers are caused by physical injuries and not genetics, the take home messages of this research are three-fold.

• First, the underlying cause (skeletal versus pedicle/skull injury) of SOOS antlers determines whether or not a buck has a decent chance of developing normal antlers in the future.
• Second, yearling SOOS bucks stand a chance of developing normal antlers in the future and should be protected from harvest like normal yearlings.
• Lastly, adult bucks will probably continue to carry SOOS antler characteristics throughout their lifetime, making them a candidate for harvest if they meet the normal age-based harvest criteria, like any other buck.

Let’s be clear about one thing: Harvesting SOOS bucks does nothing to improve the genetic quality of a deer population. Hopefully, this research will hammer another nail in the coffin of the mythical “genetic cull buck.”

To the third point, I would not necessarily agree with letting a 2 or 3 year old buck that is a spike on one side remain on a property until he is 5 or 6 years old unless the buck has tremendous antler growth on his one good side. Awesome mass, super long main beams or 5+ points on one side would be indicative of a buck with good genetic potential for antler growth, especially since antler characteristics are highly heritable. You would want to leave this guy hanging around if there were a shortage of these types of animals on a property.

On the other hand, if the buck’s “good side” had only 3 to 4 points at 4+ years old then I would not recommend sitting around to take pictures of him, regardless of whether the spike on one side was the result of a dirty pedicle, skull cap injury or a fractured leg (even though he would recover from this in a couple of years). That said, every manager/landowner has different objectives and must consider the harvest of deer accordingly.

Deformed Antlers: Nutrition, Pathogens & Speculation

The number of 3 and 4 year old whitetail bucks that I observed this year with a deformed antler on one side could have just been by chance. Maybe I was just fortunate enough to bump into a number of deer that had a run of bad luck. The majority of these deer where seen from farm to market and county roads spanning hundreds of square miles during the antler growing season and were not concentrated in any particular area. However, I was also contacted by several hunters and managers, most with a single, similarly deformed-antlered buck on their property, so maybe there is something to it.

Nutrition is critically important with regards to antler growth in bucks, but I’m not sure the density of deer in a given area or food availability would be to blame for malformed antlers. Sure, maybe the drought of 2010-2011 caused bucks to grow thinner, weaker antlers and the effect was bucks with below average racks, but I would not expect that to lead to an increase in the incidence of the number of bucks with a spike antler on one side. Nutrition will impact antler size, but frailty, probably not.

A more probable theory would be an impact to antlers from parasites, maybe even from those transmitting a virus. Deer with inadequate nutrition often experience a buildup of parasite levels and tend to show significant signs of poor antler development. This would be likely during a drought, but dry, hot weather also cranks up the potential for EHD in whitetail deer (including bluetongue). EHD can kill off a number of whitetail, but typically less than 20% of a population in a given area. Some deer are completely resistant and others are believed to suffer some consequences, but manage to survive through it. The latter may be bucks that end up with deformed or spike on one side antlers.

EHD causes a whitetail’s head to swell. Deer that contract EHD will often stumble, fall, and will often run into things. This could definitely cause physical injury to the pedicle or skull cap. In addition, older bucks are more susceptible to EHD, which is spread by midges (also referred to as gnats or no-see-ums), because of the quantity of blood-rich velvet. These vascular structures may sustain bites from midges either while growing normally or from a wound during antler development. Could virus-induced trauma lead to enough physical injury to cause subsequent antler growth or could that type of injury only be sustained from running into something or fighting other bucks?

It would seem plausible that the EHD virus could be directly injected into the antler by an insect while it is growing and this, possibly, may impact the pedicle. This could contribute to a dirty shed by directly or indirectly weakening the pedicle. The only way hunters can link EHD to harvested bucks of this type would be to identify other symptoms of the virus, namely badly cracked or peeling hooves.

Deer Management Using Antlers

In closing, an odd-antlered buck should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis considering both the objectives and goals of the deer management program for a property. A buck that is 2 1/2+ years of age that develops a seriously malformed or spike antler on just one side has most likely suffered physical injury to the pedicle and/or skull cap and is unlikely to recover. Bucks that have fractured bones can also develop an odd antler or spike on one side as well, but will typically “grow out of it” within a couple of years.

I also suspect that drought-related pathogens may contribute to the prevalence of bucks that are spikes on one side, but this has yet to be determined. In all cases of abnormal antlers, careful monitoring of bucks is necessary to diagnose the cause and determine the proper course of management. Please send photos if you shoot an odd-antlered buck and have evidence that suggest it survived a bout with EHD.

There is a gradient of acceptance when it comes to white-tailed deer hunting and the commercial deer breeding business. In many states across the US — where maintaining penned deer is legal — the whitetail hunting tradition has hybridized with deer farming to deliver a product that some hunters seem willing to buy. But it’s not for everyone. Literally on the other side of fence are hunters that do not want to accept farm-raised “wildlife.” They just do not agree with the raising or hunting of pen-raised deer.

I can see both sides. For one, the laws are law. It is completely legal to hold, breed and sell deer. In Texas alone there are approximately 1,200 permitted facilities that can help provide ranches with bucks, does and fawns that have the genetics to produce gargantuan antlers. But is deer hunting all about shooting bucks with big antlers? Traditional hunters say no, hell no. They will tell you that hunting is less about the kill and more about the experience, more about spending time with family and friends while hunting free-ranging deer.

There is no doubt that every hunter has an opinion on the issue. And since opinions are rooted in personal beliefs they are not often swayed by facts. Each camp can come up with supporting facts to debate their side of the issue, but where you stand on the issue of hunting line-bred, pen-raised deer likely depends on which side of the fence you sit. Either way, the topic remains in the news.

Source: “The quest for better deer — specifically bucks with antlers as freakishly big as possible — has created a rift among deer hunters.

Prize bucks are measured on a complicated scale that involves measurements between antlers, but suffice to say the more and bigger the antlers, the more valued the animal in deer hunting circles. But hunters who stalk deer through the woods and take them down the old-fashioned way are seeing their records obliterated by bucks created by deer breeders and set free in enclosed areas for weekend warriors to bring down – and mount in mancaves back home.

“They’ve now created deer that are beyond human belief in terms of their antler size,” said Brian Murphy, CEO of the Quality Deer Management Association. “[The deer] staggers around under the weight of those antlers.” Murphy said some some breeder deer are released into 10,000 acres of land, while others, in the most egregious cases, are released into three to five acres before they are shot down. “Most hunters find great disdain in a known outcome,” he told FoxNews.com. “That is not hunting. There has to be a high degree of not being successful. The deer has to have a fair chance to escape.”

People who kill deer in that fashion follow “a code of ethics that is beyond reproach,” he said.

The race for bigger deer has prompted some to fear that cloning methods, first pioneered at Texas A&M laboratories in order to protect the species, could soon be used to accelerate the race for bigger antlers. In an investigative article written for Outdoor Life magazine, Chris Dougherty describes what he called “Frankenstein Bucks.”

“One look at this pen-reared buck tells you there is something wrong, something terribly wrong. His obscenely disfigured antlers look more like something you would find growing on a coral reef or in a post nuclear war sci-fi thriller,” Dougherty wrote. “They twist and turn and droop and bulge and fork and then fork again.”

But other deer breeding groups, like Michigan-based Whitehouse Whitetails, said there’s no difference between killing deer in the wild and killing them in an enclosed space.

“They have the right to do that because it isn’t to hunt. They just want the head to mount on their wall,” said Laura Caroll, who, along with her husband, owns the deer breeding company. “They [critics] are saying that one way of killing them is different from another way of killing them,” she said. “But the end result is that they kill them. It’s no different than raising cattle that’s going to go on people’s tables,” Caroll said.

It’s true, a dead deer is dead deer. The race to grow bigger and bigger bucks is no different than anything else humans try to take to the next level: the fastest car, the highest building, the meatiest cow, the biggest ear of corn. I’m not even sure how many hunters and non-hunters are really against deer in pens, but it seems like a good percentage of people take issue with calling the shooting of released deer a “hunt.” To me, that decision is best left up to the person who decides to pull or not pull the trigger.

In today’s world it seems that successful white-tailed deer management programs are just like everything else; they never sleep. There are always  things for managers to do out on the land, be it checking feeders, developing food plots or “sculpting” brush or forest openings. It never really stops.

There are also opportunities available to hunters and land managers to gain additional, helpful information about deer, their habitat and the methods to improve the overall deer hunting and herd quality on a piece of property. There is always something new to be learned about whitetail, whether it be from university research or a salty ole ranch hand. Learning should never sleep.

For those looking to spend a day or two off the ranch (or out of the office), The Texas Deer Study Group is slated to meet in mid-April. The presenters at these annual forums are typically well-versed in wildlife management and offer the latest details on what’s happening in the world of whitetail.

Attendees this year can expect to hear about genetics, nutrition, and diseases, as well as talks on the social and economic factors impacting deer hunting in Texas. There is also a ranch tour on the second day that allows folks to see on-the-ground deer habitat management.

Source: “This year’s theme is Navigating the Deer Management Continuum, which reflects the spectrum of deer management intensity and technologies,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo and steering committee member. “A growing trend towards more intensive deer management, including deer breeding, illustrates some managers’ goals, while others believe such intensive management diminishes the overall value of deer in the eyes of the hunter and the public.

“The slate of speakers assembled for this year’s meeting is a who’s who among deer biologists. Topics will range from biology to ethics. Several veterinarians will lead the group in a hands-on deer dissection which will help set the stage for the other presentations. The hands-on teaching method will continue during the second day’s tour of the Quail Ridge Ranch where participants will be trained on proper habitat management.”

If you’ve not attended a Texas Deer Study Group meeting in the past, let me just say that they can be quite interesting. In fact, anytime you get a group of experts together, regardless of the subject, you are going to have the opportunity learn a lot, and from many different takes.

Spoiler alert: You will also find that the experts do not always agree. You should, however, leave with more information about the management of the deer and the habitat found on your property. You can get more information and register at the Texas Wildlife Association web site for the 2013 Texas Deer Study Group meeting.