Non Typical Antlers

Non Typical Antlers by James L. Bruner
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Antlers come in all shapes and sizes. From typical main frame monsters to gnarly looking abnormal protrusions that seem to sprout and drop in every direction. One question that hangs in the balance is how some deer grow racks of perfect symmetry every year while others seem to take a different course.

There are many cases in which a buck may grow a non-typical set of headgear and I will address those here for our readers.

Trauma
Most everyone realizes full well that when a buck is injured during the antler growth stage that this can create an abnormality in its antler development. It is readily accepted that if a main skeletal structure has been altered through any means, ie: deer/car collision, that the buck will grow a visibly abnormal appendage from the opposite side of the conflict. Lets put that into something easily understood using the deer/car collision as an example.

Throughout deer country we receive many reports of vehicles hitting deer on our roadways every year. These reports escalate during peaks times of deer travel such as the rut. During the time of the rut a deers antlers have fully developed and in this case the trauma does not effect the immediate growth of antlers but, during the time of antler development, the story changes. In fact, a deer hit by a vehicle during this time of development stands a very good chance of irregular antler growth on the opposite side for that season if the collision has caused some sort of skeletal impedance. Point in case would be a deer breaks or fractures its rear left leg as a result of the accident. This deer survives and continues to grow antlers but on the opposite side of the injury, in this case the bucks right antler, would show visible signs that some sort of trauma took place during the development stage.

There is a lot of speculation as to why this occurs but nothing definitive has been documented. In several studies researches and scientists have performed their own tests in search for continuity towards these claims. In one of these studies it was revealed that amputation of a bucks leg directly correlated with abnormal growth of the opposite antler each time the amputation was performed. Sound extreme? If the amputation test would have revealed definite results it would be a major breakthrough into understand this phenomona.

Insects
During the time when antlers are in velvet they are extremly subject to injury of all kinds. Bucks take added caution to avoid conflict or contact whenever possible. Try as they may this is also a time where parasites and common woodland insects flourish in search of their next meal. Often on that menu you can find the blood-gorged antlers of the whitetail buck. Woodticks and insects that require blood to survive are commonly found on bucks that are in velvet. These are the most extreme cases where any type of malformity arises as the ticks themselves are so small in stature. Although not as visually noticeable they have been noted to disrupt the delicate nature of a bucks antlers during development and create mainly smaller abnormalities.

Age
Deer often take a couple years to develop into an animal capable of producing antlers of respectable size. Throughout their years they continue to develop in forward progression increasing in both body mass and antler size if enough nutritional intake is consumed to satisfy both requirements. In years where a buck may encounter slightly less than favorable food sources, or over-population becomes a problem, there will be a noted decrease, or possibly no gain at all in antler size from the previous year. This regression continues in subsequent years if in fact food sources are depleted and the deer do not alter their formula for survival. In any case the intake of nutrition will first feed the body before energy is routed towards antler growth. So what does this have to do with age?

Very few people will actually view a free-ranging wild buck that has grown past its prime. In fact more times than not this same person is viewing a buck that simply has an under-developed set of antlers which could be due in cause from anything listed here in this article. A buck that has aged past its prime are rarely viewed but certainly not invisible to the human eye.

As a buck ages its entire body changes to accomodate the process. Nutritional intake is used mainly to satisfy the requirement of survival and that begins with the body. As time progresses it becomes evident that antler development has declined as antlers are not actually conducive to survival. This reversal will nearly always account for a non typical pattern of antlers. Alternatively you may also notice other characteristics such as a swayed back, squinted eyes, and added white fur around the facial areas are present in deer that are declining.

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