I'd definitely shoot the one in the first picture
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SOOS Bucks? One sided genetic inferior?
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Originally posted by texashunter56 View PostIME Many of the injuries are feeder related or late shedding times on one side on bucks with antlers that look like that. I managed a ranch in La Salle County that had a lot of bucks that looked like that the second year I was on that ranch and then even more the third year. None of them had that type of antler growth the previous year. They had normal looking antlers the year before. With previous years history we shot the ones that were in the bottom of the age class. With no previous history they got a pass for one more year. On a large Hill Country ranch that I managed, most of the bucks that looked like that one year were back to normal the next year or two years at most. From what I have seen over the past 28 yrs of managing ranches is that some ranches have deer more prone to fighting and causing these type of injuries. Many are result of long term pedicle injuries and other types are just velvet injuries. Some deer herds just fight more than others and they bucks start fighting at younger ages. Most short term injuries seem to happen around a single feeder that had to many bucks/deer eating at it. With more feeders at each location the amount of stress related velvet injuries lessened. Trying to keep 10 deer or less per feeder seemed to help with the velvet injuries. I also learned years ago that the old flash style 35mm TC would cause injuries when you first put them out on a feeder. The earlier in the growing season we started with TC the more antler type injuries or lopsided antlers there were. Some bucks are not worried about the cams or the IR glow while others are. With the old flash 35mm cams we could put them out on a feeder and get a roll of pics the first night. Then the next roll of pics would take 2-3 days if not more. Some bucks would change feeder locations and I would get them on the cam there. Some bucks did not care about the cams. I know the cams make noise and show a IR flash glow so some of the deer will react to that and cause the injured antlers.
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We are trending up on these bucks every year. I haven't had one not recover back to normal. As the buck to doe ratio get closer to 1:1 or more bucks than does the fighting increase and intensity is off the charts. Our feeder density has increased and it also congregates the bucks in smaller areas.
It sucks when you have one of your big deer you've been waiting to get old enough show up like this. I've watched a buck for the last 4 seasons, waiting on this year. He's scored between 155" and 175" as he's aged. This year he has a junk pile on his left and probably wont score 140... I guess it's something to look forward to next year.
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Do all the guys seeing them more and more happen to be feeding cottonseed in V mesh wire?
Seems I read somewhere it was causing that same issue. I guess damaging since the V pinches on the one end. I'm using 2x4 square wire and have only seen two bucks like that since I started feeding it and both recovered
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For a few years we had many of these bucks on our property. I thought it must be some genetic issue. Once we moved to our property and I started keeping feed out year round for the deer, I was able to watch the deer on a daily basis. Sure enough, at some point in the growing season every year, I'm able to observe an injury or two occur to some of my bucks resulting in one sided or lopsided racks. Many of these bucks would be deemed as "culls" by someone who was unaware of the injury that had occurred. It's been such a learning experience for me. Based off of my observations, I'd hold off culling out any of those lopsided deer.
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