Two years ago I had a 1 1/2 year old buck with a messed up left side. Last year I had pictures of a couple of bucks where the left side was messed up and smaller then the right side. This year I have several bucks where the left side is bad. A 3 year old with 5 points on right and left with 3 points and half the size. If the 1 1/2 yr. olds get run out of their birth area are these bucks getting pushed into my area or do we need to start killing every buck with the messed up racks to remove the genetics? Could it be food since we're located just off the farm country by 2-3 miles so it's more big woods food sources, but I keep mineral sites active year round. Is it in the mineral I'm using? Any solid ideas on this issue?
It's generally believed that age & nutrition > genetics when it comes to deer antler structure and that antler deformities are usually caused by injuries. Is it possible for rack trends, due to a buck's injury, to be passed on during breeding? I don't know. My Dad has killed two different bucks with similar same-side rack deformities. They have to be related. I'm sure it's possible that some antler deformities are due to genetics even if most are caused by injuries. I'm also not sure if you can "cull" out all of the bucks with antler deformities to improve the herd. Especially since does are included in the breeding equation--and I suppose you can have does carry bad-antler genetics and just have them not be expressed until another male animal shows up in the family line--similar to how diseases and deformities skip generations in human family-lines and might not be expressed for generations. I say all of that, to say I don't know what to tell you. Age and nutrition are the best things for your deer herd. 2-3 miles from food isn't much of a distance for deer to cover so it sounds like the food source is there. You can "cull" if you want to but I don't think it will do much more than burn your tags. Best of luck with resolving you issue!
Antler deformities occur because of injuries. It's possible for an injured buck to grow a normal rack in subsequent years. Chances are that buck was hurt badly enough that it affected him his antler growth long term. As for a lack of nutrition it would just limit overall growth of the antlers. You shouldn't have to worry about that buck passing on any deformities.
I'm quite sure the 3 1/2 is from 2 years ago because of the 2 from last year 1 was a 2 1/2. What are the odds that they all are getting inured on the same side. We don't have any bucks on camera this year that are 3 1/2 or older that are normal. Getting enough people to kill all the messed up bucks is not likely going to happen but I wonder where we'll be in 3 years if let them all walk. It's a question that can't be answered but thanks for your thoughts.
Welcome. I was just taking a guess. I've never seen that many bucks messed up in one year. Good Luck!! Keep us posted if you see any that are normal.
