This evening I took out my neighbor hunting. He plays football for Joppatowne High school and they went the semi finals for the state championship so he hasnt had many chances to get out hunting. He hasnt had time to sight in his bow so he used his cousins crossbow. I told him to meet me at my house at 3:00 this afternoon. We got to my hunting spot at 3:15. As we were getting our bows out of the truck I saw a buck about 75 yards away in the weeds laying down. I told the kid to walk over along the tree line to the bottom of the hill and I would chase the deer to him. As he walked over he jumped a big 8 pointer that ran right in front of him at about 20 yards. I think it scared him and he never got a shot. I was at the top of the hill and didnt see any of that. I then started sneaking up on the deer I got within 35 yards of it until he started to run. I yelled to the kid here he comes. As I walked around the corner I found the arrow from the crossbow in the ground and it had blood on it. We both watched the deer try to run about 80 yards and then go down. I asked him how far was the shot he told my 15 feet. The deer was charging right at him and ran within 5 feet of him.

So now it is 3:25 and he has seen a nice big 8 pointer and shot a 9 pointer. Not a bad day so far.
We then went over to get the deer As I picked up his antler to drag it the entire antler broke off and then the deers head fell and the other antler popped off. Also the foot of the deer looked like he had a club on it. There was no huff and the other foot was white instead of black.

So now we set up to hunt. About 3:50 the cops show up. The one neighbor told the other neighbor that we were on thier land the cops came I talked to them and the were cool and told the lady we were legit. The land I hunt is so close to the state park that people think it is part of the state park.

Then just before sunset kid had 3 does and a 3 pointer walk just behind him and as we were driving out the field 4 more does were standing in it.

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We guted the deer and he was a old one. He had black fur on his chest and no top front teeth. I wish I could tell how old the deer was.


We were back home by 6:45.

But why do you think his antlers just popped off like that?

Nick, Maybe disease related to old age?? Aren't antlers living tissue (like bone marrow)? Like human osteoporosis (weakening of bone density), do deer get the same?? You mentioned one hoof missing and white instead of black. Also the club (think you meaning an outgrowth on it???)? Calcium deposits - can be common in weak bone/osteoporosis or in osteoperiostitis. The bone calcium leaks out of bone and forms and collects in skin/tissue. Common on human feet - lowest
point of gravity - so might be common on deer's hoofs. Just a thought??
The antlers would also be affected this way too (if I remember correctly, they are calcium based). Charlie

It is getting that time of year when they naturally shed their antlers, some do it earlier than others. I would suspect that the antlers were going through their changes and getting ready to shed. The added pressure of being pulled and dropped just accelerated the process, but that is just my guess. Sounds like a good time anyway.

Jeff

Nick,

I am assuming that is a whitetail, judging by where you live.

It doesn't look that old by looking at it's nose. The older bucks get tthe bigger the hump on their nose gets.

The fact that the antlers fell off could be time of year. The normally shed them in a month or so. Or lack of mineral intake.

Whitetail deer are aged by wear on their molars. If you remove the bottom jaw bone and take a picture of the inside...I can try to guess at the age for you.

They are also ruminants, none of which have top teeth.

Phil

Ive shoot a few deer(6 bucks this season so far) none with antlers that looked like this or fell off when pulled? We hang them by them in a tree to gut them. We will hang them by the antlers all the way thru Jan. Did the carcuss smell, tissue look dicoloured? I would ask the game warden could be a genetic misfit. My uncles a warden in western NE once and a while they get a deer from a mulie and a white tail offspring in at check stations. I know in TX where my folks live the deer are tiny might just be the area u live in. I asked about smelly meat cause I shot one this year that had alredy been shot or hit by a car we gutted it and about passed out probably put that one out of its misery. Warden would be your best bet for information. Post it if you find out. Glad u had a good hunt, bet if you go back the other one is in his spot layin down waitin for you, cretures of habit when the rut is over.

I spoke to a couple people this year that had antlers fall off. Old tales by my grandfather used to say that if the antlers fell off in December, you'll have a hard winter in January and February.

The antler coming off in December happens more than you probably realize. Interesting that you described the club foot and other being white. Sounds like this could be an old injury, can't see this deer going this long with a birth defect. This looked like a younger deer as Phil said, I'd say 2.5 at the most.

Nice rack but it doesn't look like it has much mass/weight. Whitetails or Mulies usually don't start shedding their racks here in CO or KS until Feburary. Did it break at the base or further up?

Thats definitely an old deer. Antlers don't palmate on a 2.5 year old deer. Older deer shed theyre antlers sooner. Same thing happened to one of my buddies. look at his forehead its dark, means he has been dominant. Looks like he has an abcess in his mouth, but could just be the pic if he does than thats a good sign he's old. Really old deer can be mistaken for young deer cuz they slim up alot and theyre horns shrink.

The only real way to get an idea of the buck's age is to look at the teeth.. Deer can shed their antlers starting in December, but most lose them in January and February around here. I've seen a few that still had their antlers well into March (usually smaller bucks). A buck that is run down and in poor condition can lose its antlers earlier than normal.

By the way, ya got the horns on the deer backwards in the photo.

I also understand that palmation can also come genetically from crosses with fallow deer or sika with the whitetail. I believe that there are sika deer down in Nick's area.

The sika are mostly on the eatern shore around Cambridge. This deer was kiilled 10 min outside Baltimore City.

In my travels I noticed on a old barn a set of muley horns nailed above the door they were very old and bleached white they branched out from the skull just like a set of moose horns they ran aprox 18 to 20'' then palmed up with about 4 to 5 points per palm you could tell they been there a while I took a backroad past the homestead aprox 20 miles from the barn and out in a crp field there were 3 bucks lying down that had the same horns. I have killed a lot of deer in my life never had seen anything like it before and when you live in mt you see thousands of deer in your travels.