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Q:
How easily can a buck's antlers get knocked off it's head at the base? I have a "large buck only" rule on my farm and I suspect a person shot a basket rack deer and whacked off it's antlers with a rock or something, claiming he thought it was a doe and the antlers must have come off in a fight. I know antlers fall off in early Spring but this was Nov. 15.
Question by rossmallatt. Uploaded on November 18, 2009
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Answers (12)
no way its antlers have fallen off yet.
I've seen a buck with already cast antlers in early December, and seen a few more whose broke off easily while dragging in that same time frame. But November is really early.
Only reason he would have dropped them in Nov is if he has some sort of injury. When they are under a lot of stress from an injury, the bucks sometimes will drop them much earlier then normal.
I hit a deer with a slug a couple years ago in early Dec., and as he ran, I shot again to try and finish the job. He tumbled and went down, and when I got to him, one antler was sheered off about half way up. I found it a few paces back with lead fowling on it at the break point. So, if the guess is right, I shot the antler off with a 12 gauge slug, and it was still solid at the base.
I HAVE shot a deer in the middle of November and thought it was a doe, only to discover that one of the antlers was completely broken off and the other main beam was broken off at the brow tine. I assumed that the deer had broken them off fighting due to the diameter of the antlers being small - I had no way of confirming that though
Fallin off on its own prob not yet. They can break off in a fight or a fall or an in jury. So yeah they can come off early.
I've shot one where I thought it was a big doe. Turns out one antler was gone at the base and the other was split bout 2 inches up. That was mid November. I'll have to put a pic on here of it.
I've had one deer knock an antler off while running after it was shot. It came off cleanly at the base just like a shed. I've had a couple run into trees and break off tines.
Small bucks do break off antlers fighting, so it's possible, it's more common to lose one than both.
I would check to see how fresh the break was, if its fresh then most likely was the hunter. The deer could have broken them off in any number of ways. For example fighting, or a car accident.
i hit a deers antlers with my mirror on my car a few weeks a ago i have a 7 of his 8 points the... (kind of ironic) the buck spun around and just ran off i found the antlers about 30yrds from where i hit the deer... his horns cost me $80 i was a little angry about that.
Broken off yes, fell or knocked off (clean base) no. If they broke you'll see a jagged stump not a clean base.
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no way its antlers have fallen off yet.
I've seen a buck with already cast antlers in early December, and seen a few more whose broke off easily while dragging in that same time frame. But November is really early.
Only reason he would have dropped them in Nov is if he has some sort of injury. When they are under a lot of stress from an injury, the bucks sometimes will drop them much earlier then normal.
I hit a deer with a slug a couple years ago in early Dec., and as he ran, I shot again to try and finish the job. He tumbled and went down, and when I got to him, one antler was sheered off about half way up. I found it a few paces back with lead fowling on it at the break point. So, if the guess is right, I shot the antler off with a 12 gauge slug, and it was still solid at the base.
I HAVE shot a deer in the middle of November and thought it was a doe, only to discover that one of the antlers was completely broken off and the other main beam was broken off at the brow tine. I assumed that the deer had broken them off fighting due to the diameter of the antlers being small - I had no way of confirming that though
Fallin off on its own prob not yet. They can break off in a fight or a fall or an in jury. So yeah they can come off early.
I've shot one where I thought it was a big doe. Turns out one antler was gone at the base and the other was split bout 2 inches up. That was mid November. I'll have to put a pic on here of it.
I've had one deer knock an antler off while running after it was shot. It came off cleanly at the base just like a shed. I've had a couple run into trees and break off tines.
Small bucks do break off antlers fighting, so it's possible, it's more common to lose one than both.
I would check to see how fresh the break was, if its fresh then most likely was the hunter. The deer could have broken them off in any number of ways. For example fighting, or a car accident.
i hit a deers antlers with my mirror on my car a few weeks a ago i have a 7 of his 8 points the... (kind of ironic) the buck spun around and just ran off i found the antlers about 30yrds from where i hit the deer... his horns cost me $80 i was a little angry about that.
Broken off yes, fell or knocked off (clean base) no. If they broke you'll see a jagged stump not a clean base.
Post an Answer