Well, now I can honestly say I’ve seen it all!
I’ve had this lone deer coming into my property the past week or so..my wife first saw it around noon one day…she said it came to our feeder but was very skittish…it fed there cautiously for a few minutes and then left. The deer was very large, and after putting binocular on it.. determined it was a ‘spike’ buck..
Well, this past weekend I got a chance to see our new ‘spike’ buck..he was way out in the field when I first caught a glimpse of him.
“That’s got to be granddaddy” I thought..another giant buck we have living in the back..but as he approached, I could see no antlers.
Finally when he made it to my property line, I saw what appeared to be a spike on one side of his head…but what a big deer it was, much larger than any yearling buck I’ve ever seen.
After putting the binocs on him myself this time..I could see that, what was thought to be a ‘spike’ was actually 4-5 inches of broken-off main beam sticking out…and just a small chunk of antler on the other side.
This poor beast – believe it or not – had both antlers broken right off!!
I couldn’t believe it. He had a good solid base on him too..prob 4″ or more circumference, with only a small piece protruding out on the other side; at the pedicel.
I did some reading and apparently it happens that a buck will break one or both sides of its rack completely off in a fight..but I’ve personally never seen it.
I felt sad for this poor boy..even when he headed back to the field that day, he stopped to tear up a sapling with what little main-beam he had left..in a futile effort – as if to say, don’t laugh man, it’s all have to work with…hehe
I don’t think this poor guy had a very fulfilling rut, if you get my drift..and I can only imagine the battle which would cause this much damage!
Has anyone else ever seen this in the wild?
Outdoorsguy
One of the few bucks I saw this past fall was a “four pointer”. The only reason he only had four points was because his entire left beam was gone. He was out at about 250 yrds. and I wasn’t able to see any stub of a broken left beam, even with the binoculars…
Hey Herman, great to hear from you.
Tough year on the bucks by the sound of things. Either that or the buck-doe ratios have changed over the past couple of years, creating more competitiion among males.
Regards
Outdoorsguy