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Post by jims on Nov 4, 2015 21:40:04 GMT -5
I have found broken antler tines over the years and have observed broken tines on live and harvested deer. Today I found a nearly complete 4 point antler broken off, almost as complete as a shed. It amazes me the strength of the deer fighting and the power to break an antler like that.
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Post by Dave W on Nov 5, 2015 8:04:04 GMT -5
Lot of muscle and strength involved to snap a main beam off. Great fight video here. Thought one of them was dead and they were locked when they go over the bank at the beginning. |
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Post by jims on Nov 5, 2015 18:42:11 GMT -5
Good video.
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Post by jims on Apr 7, 2016 20:28:25 GMT -5
Update: About 3 weeks ago while looking for sheds I found a dead buck with a broken antler. The broken antler I found exactly matched the dead deer. They were separated by 3/8ths mile or so and several months.
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Post by rossman40 on Apr 10, 2016 8:46:04 GMT -5
Could he have been hit by a car resulting in a broken antler then knocking it off in the woods, then dropping dead farther down the path from internal injuries? It's a mystery we may never know the facts of. Usually the fights between bucks occur around the rut. It seems by late December and January the bucks are BFFs again.
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Post by jims on Apr 10, 2016 15:40:27 GMT -5
Just another not along antler lines. A friend of mine was near Lake Erie on Sat, Apr 2, 2016 and saw a small 6 point buck with both antlers on yet. Usually long off by now. A neighbor there said he feeds the deer apples over the winter and Spring. They are not penned or anything, perhaps the extra nutrition helps. I have seen huge bucks with antlers at Deer Expos held in March but that is a captive thing and would think that is quite different.
He got a photo of the deer to verify it, was with a non antlered deer, buck or doe unsure.
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Post by jims on Apr 10, 2016 15:49:43 GMT -5
Ken, I at first considered it could have been hit by a car but I think it was in a fight and death came a fair amount later. The broken antler still had darkness on it like a rub on a walnut tree. The other antler on the dead deer was much cleaner/whiter. Now that could have been a couple months of sun/weather bleaching but I was thinking it lived longer and got bow shot or gun shot and then died. Really just a WAG, always interesting.
As you may recall, in 2015 I found a dead buck skeleton. Close enough to the road I felt it got hit by a car and died in the field. The interesting thing on that one was both antlers were detached, not broken off. Looked just like sheds and fit perfectly into the skull. They had to be on the deer before it died, now close to coming off or perhaps the accident sped up the process. Would not have believed it if I had not seen it.
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Post by rossman40 on Apr 20, 2016 12:27:06 GMT -5
Something about the thin layer of tissue that connects the antler to the skull is keyed to disintegrate when the buck's testosterone level drops below a certain point (it's supposed to be the fastest disintegrating tissue known). The winter solstice tells the buck's brain to tell his body to stop producing testosterone but it can also be stored in his fat. A big buck will be out running around with more interest in propagating the species then eating. Then you add stress from fighting off other bucks and being chased around by hunters. By the time solstice comes around a big buck has little fat reserves and plum wore out. In his weakened state he could even get sick or an infection and lose them before others. When you see a buck with antlers into march and april it's usually not a big brusier and had a stress free fall/winter with a good food supply.
The sister of our ex-pastor is a chemist and was doing cancer research years ago. At that time they were looking at the layer of tissue to see how it worked and if they could come up with something to inject into tumors to quickly disintegrate them.
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