Antler characteristics

This past few seasons has raised a few questions about antler growth. I have read some studies, have studied and continue to be a student. There is one particular deer that has brought this question to mind. He is now at least 4.5 and has carried the same antlers year after year. He almost died last year but someone took the hair off of his neck. He was and has been a regular for 5 years. Nobody in our camp has laid eyes on this buck except for trail cam pictures. He shows up every year, and every year he looks exactly as he did the year before.

With all of the known factors that contribute to antler growth taken into consideration i am wandering what and why he remains constant. Never increasing in mass or tine length, and always missing a browtine.

This year has really got me thinking from a management standpoint. So far we have 3 bucks, all sporting 5 scoreable tines, and all missing the same browtine. I am wandering if a downward trend is occurring in the overall genetics of the deer on our ridge? And it is not a small area (total of just under 1000 acres). Last gun season I killed a deer on opening day that we nicknamed Butter Bean, unintentionally killed him in the sense that he showed up at first light and the spikes were not noticed. Now, when I get down to him and age him, I aged him at 3.5 years! This year, guess what we have?? 2 that are almost exact matches to Bean....

So what's next, I want to watch and see what happens with the 3 5pts. Just to see if the follow the same growth as the 7 pt. What thoughts do you guys have on this?

I am 95.7% (just dickin off with that %)certain that Bean was 3.5 years old. I have a little bit of background in wildlife management and I had to check this buck twice to make sure, I aged him by teeth.

We had 2 previous seasons I fun encounters with him, countless pictures, and he literally though he was king of the jungle on one section of our property. He did fly bys at my buddies blind constantly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLdpBT94InQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This video is from 2009, the genetics are there, some may remember it from OS.

We get out fair share of big deer but I am noticing a trend and am not really sure where to start. Is that the answer? Take the spikes and missing brow bucks out? Nutrition is there as far as food, soil composition on the other hand am not sure about.

I will put together a few of this years pics to give you an idea of what we have.

I know that as much as 60% I the genetics can come from the doe, so how can that be determined? We have a 6.5 yr old doe that threw triplets this year, another mature doe with twins and a single. Studies also show triplets can also have 3 different fathers. That is what is kind of got us thinking, since we know most of the breeding is done by the younger bucks, are we just wasting time by not taking the spikes out??? Does anyone have any thoughts in the missing brow bucks? I can't seem to find anything on brow tine growth, like can they have both one year and only one the next? I wouldn't think so but....

At 3.5 last year


First pics we got of him

Bean...


dunno bout this one....


this year...

I cant find the other pics from 2009, but it may just be that angle on the 3.5 year old.

And yeah, old Butter! We are gonna miss that sum bitch! He really was fun to watch, he could be seen all hours of the day within the same 300 yard section. I killed him on opening day of gun season 1 minute after legal shooting time in that nasty ass rain.

At any rate, I see what you are saying about the management aspect. It just seems that the more the years pass the more of these single brow bucks we see. I don't get too caught up in worrying about taking bucks that are "inferior" I just wanted to see what some of you all thought about it.

My property is only 52 acres so my approach is a little different. I hunt the 1000 acres and see my share of good deer, I am interested in seeing what happens though. I can assure you come Nov. at least a couple of the 5 pts will be gone, hopefully make a young one a nice first deer.

Thanks for the input guys, nice to have some other opinions on things. It keeps a good balance and outlook on things!

FS, that pic was on a field by my house. I dont hunt that property I just took the picture with my phone for the hell of it. Our Buck to doe ratio is out of whack but it is opposite of what you would think. We had almost 5 to 1 bucks to does last year, now that is just on our cams, but 11 does were killed off of the big hollow during bow season last year......

That the part that gets me, some people enjoy hunting on different levels. Just because I hunt doesn't mean I have to kill every animal that walks in. I passed on doe after doe during my bow vacation.

I realize that that ratio was just at our camera locations but it's the only real indicator I have to use. I am just worried that the high kill numbers in our valley are contributing in some way to the trend we are seein......