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| You might wonder how a deer gets lopsided like this. This is a red deer that broke his antler near the base when his pedicle was just starting to grow. Look at the length of those brow tines! | |||
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| Here he is before the injury, and next is the fairly fresh injury. The velvet is starting to grow around the
wound. If the break had run into the base of the pedicle, he would never grow
a normal antler on that side again. Meningitis is common with deeper fractures like
that. But his injury is high enough that he will have two normal antlers next year. Catch the expression on his face. Talk about attitude! |
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| A view showing a little more growth as shown by the bumps starting to push out. The round scab in the middle running down the outside of the antler shows the extent of the break. I was never able to get a photo of the fresh break. | |||
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| A little pile of seven bumps is starting to grow--not much compared to the growth on the other side. | |||
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| The same day, but a front view. The soft looking club shape of the normal antler tips tells that there's a lot of growing to do yet. If you could touch them they would feel hot, hairy, kind of rubbery and waxy. | |||
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| More growth and the right antler is starting to crown with two points showing now. It's thinning out at the tip and is less club-like. | |||
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| Some days later, his triple crown on the normal side is defining itself, while the abnormal side is still a not much more than a cluster of bumps. | |||
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| The right antler is fully crowned and the front points on the deformed antler are lengthening. On the abnormal side, it's the back point right above the ear that will sprout the triple crown. | |||
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| We
never expected to see any length on the abnormal antler, much less a triple
crown. The right triple crown is lengthening, and the damaged laft antler has a stubby version. The greenery
around his neck is from raking trees. We're hoping that his abnormal horn doesn't result in an injuries. His maturity and attitude compensate for his smaller size. In every encounter that we've seen, he's dominated. |
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| Look who's leading the pack. | |||
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| Here he is fully grown before rubbing out. The injured anlter would have made a beautiful, symmetrical reflection of the other one. He doesn't know it, but he's given himself another year. | |||
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| He's in hard horn now and when you look at him in profile it's hard to see there's anything wrong. |
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MISHAPS 1 MISHAPS 2 STAMPEDE |
