Small Racks

[BigE]

I have hunted for 10 years in far western Kentucky. My grandfather for almost 30 years. Almost all the Bucks we see have very small mass and spindly racks. Many of them have broken tines. We have killed some older bucks but they still have spindly racks and are usually broken off. My grandfather killed a real nice buck weighed over 215 lbs. Had long thin tines but no mass. We scouted this deer for over 3 years.
Is this a mineral problem? Or just bad genetics?
One other question. I shot buck and a doe this year and both had large raise round moles or something like that on there skin. I cut one off and it looked like it was just fat or something. Any ideas what this is. The meat around it looked fine. Just curious to what might be causing these.

[Multidigits]

Big E--I believe these deer just need more age. Take the lower jaw bones and have them aged. You'll probably see that they are only 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 years old. With a one buck limit, there's no such thing as culling anyway, so if he ain't big enough to shoot, let him go on.

The places on the skin are probably wolls(sp?). They don't affect the meat. Squirrels sometimes have them too.

[Wildcat]

Has your Grandfather been seeing small racks all those years or just recently? If it's just been a few years then I agree with Mult, check the age of the deer. But if it's been that way for a long time then it could be any number of things, age, not the right kind of foods, stress, low minterals in the soil, etc. I've hunter Western Ky for 33 years and always got a buck with good size racks so it can't be the soil but start asking the farms around your place if they are seeing the same thing. One thing though, no study has ever proven that mineral licks help to grow larrger racks. It's far better to have food plots with the right kinds of food, the deer will get all they need for their bodies first then what's left over will go into the growing of the racks. I have food plots but I still put out mineral licks, if nothing else it will give them something to have and stay around.

I can't remember the name of what you saw on the deer but like Mult said it won't hurt the meat.

[Boss Gobbler]

I agree with multi the most deciding factor in antler size is age. I dont care what it eats or its genetics are, if it is 4 1/2 it will have a good rack. Just remember, a 3 or 4 year old buck is a lot hard to get so it wont be easy.

[shogan]

Funny thing is I was going to post on here that in Western KY everything seems small ecspecially the racks.

But this year more than ever nothing but yearlings and fawns last year not much of anything at all. The only buck seen was a spindly 4 pointer as best I could tell. Only groups of little scrappy looking dog deer no normal size does or bucks.

[P. Beyer]

I dissaggree; This is an example of (2) Wstern Ky Deer, and neither is small[?] (at least I don't think so) There <i>are</i> plenty of big deer here in Western KY, We just gotta hunt em' a little harder because they're a bit smarter than those Lil' un's.

http://www.drummer233.freeservers.com/images/10point.jpg

http://www.drummer233.freeservers.com/images/dr22.jpg

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[greenskeeter]

I don't recall seeing them in any deer I've harvested, but if you are referring to warbles, I have seen them in squirrels.

[screamineagle]

Fred Bear those are nice bucks What county do you hunt in? I hunt in Ohio, and Daviess Counties. And I've never seen the places on deer you are describing. I would like to put out some clover or something to help my areas too.

[P. Beyer]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by screamineagle</i>
<br />Fred Bear those are nice bucks What county do you hunt in? I hunt in Ohio, and Daviess Counties. And I've never seen the places on deer you are describing. I would like to put out some clover or something to help my areas too.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Those are both Farmland deer from Marshall Co.

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[BigE]

Thanks for the info. Those are some real nice bucks.
I Hunt in Carlise County which is as far west as you can go.
I know that there are a few deer like that out there. I wondered about minerals because we see so many deer with broken tines and racks. This year the Buck I shot I thought was a doe. It had Broken off the right side at the base and had 3 inches of rack on the left side. It had pretty good mass( I am still ticked at myself for not seeing the antler) I would have let it go if I did. I have killed 6 bucks and all but one had a broken tine or rack. My grandfather has has gotten around 25 bucks and 14 of them that I counted had some type of broken tine or rack. Including his best buck a great ten point that according to him broke it when it fell after he shot it (he glued it back together). The deer are healthy and have good body size. Plenty of natural foods. Just thin brittle racks.

[Valley Station]

BigE,
What is the normal weight of your 1 1/2 old bucks? You in an area with deer overpopulation?
Close to chemical plant or other industrial source of pollution??
May be some kind of pollution source deer are exposed to that limits bone and antler development! There are some deer not to far from you, that I hear will "glow in the dark"!

[BigE]

They typically are 135 to 165 field dressed.
Westvaco paper is a couple of miles away. Maybe the deer grow bad racks because the smell that place makes?
I have seen some nice bucks come out the river bottoms. Lots of deer in our zone. This year the weather was limiting but in four days I saw 6 deer. 1 doe shot this one, 1 deer I thought was a doe (shot that one) and 4 young bucks that I let walk.
I watched as the guy in the next field nailed one of them.
Usually I see many more does. They seem to have gotten smarter now that they are hunted more.
typically see 20 or more deer while hunting. (I think the weather was the main reason this year. Funnel clouds and deer hunting don't go to well.

[Rob]

BigE,

I have read on another forum that smaller racks on big bodied, mature bucks is a characteristic of bucks that live mostly in hardwoods. However, there are plenty of beanfields over around Bardwell & Wickliffe, which seems to be the area you are describing. In general, an average 1 1/2 year old (yearling) buck from this area will dress 110-120#, a 2 1/2 yr old will dress 120-150#, & a 3 1/2 yr old will dress 160-180#.

The bucks antler spread is usually about even with the ear tips at 2 1/2 yrs of age. The antler bases are usually without significant mass until the buck is 3 1/2 yrs old.



Rob

[P. Beyer]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Valley Station</i>
<br />BigE,
What is the normal weight of your 1 1/2 old bucks? You in an area with deer overpopulation?
Close to chemical plant or other industrial source of pollution??
May be some kind of pollution source deer are exposed to that limits bone and antler development! There are some deer not to far from you, that I hear will "glow in the dark"!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I do about 50% of my Bowhunting at West Ky WMA, I've not yet to see a glowing deer; as for the chemicals/pollution affecting antler development, I haven't noticed that either. What I have seen is Tons of deer out there though[:D] I counted 40 deer from one stand last year!

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear