New antlers in velvet

[roymunson]

Dang, Big Bend... for being in florida, you're cranking out a lot of antler on a southern deer.

That long tine on the left side is incredible. I'd love to see him come working thru the woods.

Seems like they're pretty visible as well.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Dang, Big Bend... for being in florida, you're cranking out a lot of antler on a southern deer.

That long tine on the left side is incredible. I'd love to see him come working thru the woods.

Seems like they're pretty visible as well.

Roymunson, know I'm preaching to the choir as almost all the forum members go... but these two bucks definitely speak to the power of time. So here's they are in 2020 again...



But let's back up the clock a bit and look at how they looked when I FIRST recognized them / named them!

Here's "Lucky", the one in the left of the above picture (with the super long tine on his left side) all the way back in 2017. Now granted, I appreciate that he is STILL quite wonky today (missing brow tine on his left / uneven rack side to side)... BUT... quite the change from 2017.



In 2018 he still sure wasn't qualifying as a trophy in any way... his left side (right side looking at the pic) showed he was sporting a really weird (and broken just past the first tine) left beam.



Finally started shaping up a bit in 2019, though still wonky enough I let him walk each time I saw him (and as much as any buck I've had he has been a bit of a home body).



I wouldn't bet my bank account on my being 100% right on his identity, unlike Spit Ear with his more recognizable split-ear feature and consistent growth pattern, but would maybe bet a Benjamin on it as the narrow face, elevated forehead ridges on the inside edge of his pedicles, and relatively gentle demeanor witnessed from the stand (more of a sneaky lover than a fighter) lead me to believe the pics are of the same buck.

Now for Split Ear... if I'd have been a big believer in culling he'd have bitten the dust in 2017, as though his rack shape was ok for a young buck it was quite BUSTED UP. At the time I wondered if he had some weak-bone issue, whereas now I'd lean towards it being that he IS A FIGHTER. Actually will start with the very first game cam capture I got of him.



And here's a capture from the fall of 2017 while he was raiding my hog trap showing his busted up rack.



In 2018 I was glad I didn't harvest him, though I could tell he'd still benefit with a few years time. Will say this about him, even as a young buck he consistently had a bit more "testosteronal" muscular look to him more so than his same-age peers during rutting season.



Now fast forward to 2019, and that small young buck with a rack of broken tines has turned into a dadgum Mack Truck body wise! And already sporting one bare spot on his back as well as a broken G4. Thankfully the broken G4 made passing on him an easy decision and I ended up harvesting a new-to-the-area 10 point.



Still appearing to be on the lookout for any hot gals in early February, 3 months after our first major mid-Nov peak rut.



And finally speaking to the fighting spirit, quite the scarred back when the horns finally dropped off in early March.



Not exactly being in the most "soil rich" area of the country, and with the promise the deer are 100% free-range / not receiving any supplemental feeding to my knowledge, just share the pics as a testimony to what a few years of age can do for small, not-so-promising jr bucks.

 

[Baker]

Eating pears. Pretty neat

 

[pnulty66]

Cool, thanks for sharing the historical pics. Interesting that Lucky's missing brow tine switches sides, would make me think its a different deer, but much of the other stuff seems to make the case that it is the same guy.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Cool, thanks for sharing the historical pics. Interesting that Lucky's missing brow tine switches sides, would make me think its a different deer, but much of the other stuff seems to make the case that it is the same guy.

If the pics of "Lucky" are the same deer I'm guessing he had some injury pretty early on that led to the oddball growth and / or suspect his pedicles were partially damaged at some point. Can't really tell it in the 2019 picture but he had a brow tine on his right side that showed in some game cam captures -- but it was so low and close to the pedicle that it almost sat flush with the pedicle / really had to be captured at the right angle to see it. Definitely more the outer rack, few body characteristics, and behavior that make me lean to it being the same deer... but, again, can't swear it.

 

[Bassattackr]

Interesting that Lucky's missing brow tine switches sides, would make me think its a different deer

This is not uncommon for an odd antler trait to switch sides from year to year.

 

[weekender21]

A few NC mountain bucks. Both pics from late July.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[roymunson]

Saturday evening, got a random new guy on camera at one of the permission/leases that we can't really do any habitat work on. Its a big dairy farm. Corn and edges. Woods needs to be thickned up in the worst kind of way, but kinda cool to see a giant like this show up.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Thats a keeper !!

 

[Bassattackr]

Awesome Roym - Hope he sticks around!

 

[Tamarack]

Here's a couple of moving velvet ones:

 

[Baker]

Thats a terrific buck Roy

 

[Apple Junkie]

This is probably the last time I see this guy in velvet (Sept. 1). He's filled out pretty good, now I hope to he sticks around and wanders by one of us during the season.

 

[Mortenson]

The first decent bucks are starting to show up. I'll need better looks at this guy, but I think it's a deer that's always been a clean 4x4 and now he has 11 scoreable points. Still in velvet on 9/5.