Seems perfectly fine otherwise. Have 7 bucks in that pen, three have this same look but not near as bad and they are both much farther along in growth. Other four dont have it at all. Have big pen, 3/4 wooded, good food and fresh water every day.
That is odd...I have seen that on one of my deer which got pretty sick and quit growing then just dried up kinda like that.....but he was pretty sick.....I don't know what it could be......hopefully someone here will have the answers for you......
Joined Apr 2009
1,562 Posts | 0+
cental Pennsylvania
looks like some kind of sun damage, but if they have woods and shade to go in, then i dont see why he would lay and let his antlers burn....I really don't know whats going on with him. I Hope someone can help, i am curious myself as to whats wrong.
Joined Apr 2009
1,136 Posts | 0+
Bedford, PA
That's really odd Jens. Is it possible that it could be from all of the flies biting? Looks like you have quite a few there. Hopefully someone else has seen this and can provide advice.
Looks like it had an some type of injury and blood supply was cut off. Next year it will grow normal....thats what i would think ...
Let me add to this story to make it weirder (if thats a word). As mentioned i have three bucks out of seven in this pen that have this going on. this one, and the other two are much further along and have similar, just not as bad, "drying" going on. Those two are much more grown out and only the tips of the main beams seam to have this, not on any tines. They are not rubbing any feeders or the ground to irritate them either. And all three of these bucks that have this are out of the same mother, one two year old (that didn't have this as a yearling) and the twin to the buck shown above. too weird.
Thought I would add an update to this. Last evening i noticed he had knocked off some velvet off the top back of his left G2. As hard as I tried to see if there were maggots I couldn't completely tell, but I did see a few flies so the internal debate began. There wasn't really much blood with this minor injury. Anyway decided at 1am to put him down and get a better look, it had cooled down to 65 and knew today was to get into mid 90's so figured better now than that heat. Used a light cocktail to put him down and he did no further damage when going out. That spot had no maggots or eggs so I cleaned it just to be sure, again no blood. Upon further inspect these antlers look just like the pic, just kind of dried, cracked looking velvet, but still alive. I covered the top 3 inches of both antlers with blue coat and then Alu Shield. Gave him 2 cc banamine, 2cc Draxxin, 5cc LA200, 6cc Ivomec plus (even though just wormed pen with valbazen) and then put 4ml of cylence from between his burrs down his back. Reversed him and he was on his feet within couples minutes. Total time from darting to standing was 45 minutes. Seems to be doing ok but obviously gonna keep a close eye on him. Didn't think to take camera for closer pics but it was late, I was working alone, wanted to be quick, and knew I had to be up for work at 5 so oh well.