Unusual

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 5, 2014124 views4 comments

A kind way to say this guy has a bizarre set of antlers. No two ways about it, this is just really odd. This is the kind of deer one could have nightmares about. My guess is that this is a genetic trait of this male. There was a buck with a somewhat similar rack last year. My suspicion is that this is the same deer. Another photographer thinks some photos he took earlier than that are the same deer as well. Guess we'll have to see what next year brings. Nice healthy guy that looks nice and fat. Like yesterday, the buck is pretty much in the open but I couldn't get any closer to it. I'm going to try again tomorrow if the weather cooperates. The cropping to get a bigger image of the buck was the major modification to the original. I also warmer it up a little and added a little saturation to reflect what I saw in this nice fresh grass. I added a half stop of exposure to help with viewing the deer but also compensated some by reducing highlights and whites. Contrast and clarity were pushed up a bit as well. Your comments would be appreciated.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4 at 180mm
1/500th at f/4 and ISO 640
tripod
Lightroom 5

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on December 5, 2014 at 6:10 AM

This is indeed a strange one. The mass on the rack is amazing, especially the left side. Looks like a heavy bodied deer also. I have always been fascinated by antlers. These are really cool. What's the fence material in the background doing there?

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on December 5, 2014 at 7:52 AM

Unusual antlers for sure! My guess would be a genetic cause, although I have read that if a deer injures its antlers during their development, and they grow odd, they could do so every year after the injury. I do find the wire in the BG which I guess is there to protect a tree or plant, distracting. Also it seems there is a slight magenta cast, at least on my monitor.
Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on December 5, 2014 at 8:32 AM

Hi Peter,

Based on your posts it almost seems like antler abnormalities are in particularly high frequency in the area/reserve you shoot in. Is it an isolated (and possibly inbred) population? Or perhaps next door to a leaky nuclear facility?

I live in a very rural setting amidst large (and unbounded) populations of cervids (white-tails, muleys, and elk) and only very, very rarely see any form of antler abnormality, and never have seen any that would match the ones you have posted.

Just curious.

Cheers...

Brad

PS: Hope you realize I was totally kidding about the nuclear facility (but not about the possibility of this population being inbred).

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on December 5, 2014 at 11:26 AM

The cages are to protect young oak trees from critters such as deer. We have volunteers who locate them and put cages around them until they get big enough to grow out of the reach of the deer. I'd like to put up an enclosure to show the difference between an area the deer can't get to get at to browse and where they can. The difference can be amazing.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments