What makes whitetail have antlers like this? Will they grow out of it?

[mmgravy]

Genetics is what I'd say is causing this in your deer . Since it seems to be multiple deer . If it was just one and you only had pics from one year of him like that it could be from a vehicle strike .
When me and my wife first got married one of our deer biologist for the state lived just down the road aways and there was a nice 7 point (eastern count) seen on a regular basis in his field from the road. That deer kept velvet on all year long and never dropped his antlers. I stopped and was talking to him on evening and ask why that buck always was like that ? He informed me that he'd watched him the first year he grew antlers and that in early august that year a dog ran him across his pasture field and when that buck went to hop the fence he'd misjudged the distance that he'd needed to clear the fence and had castrated himself on the barb wire fence . When I was talking to him he said that buck was going on 5 1/2 years old but without the testosterone he hadn't grew into the body of normal bucks and he'd keep his antlers that he had during the time of the accident.
There is a lot of variables that go into horn growth . Or lack of however you wanna look at it . Vehicle strikes will cause one side not to grow like the other. For a year or so unless it was a very bad strike they should recoup in a year or so

Interesting information on the velvet buck. I shot a 4x4 this month that had a full velvet rack. When we skinned the buck we could see where a critter of some sort had grabbed him from the back taking a chuck out of the inside of one ham and in the process grabbed the testicles as well castrating the animal. It had happened before this year as the inside of the ham was all healed and haired over. Same thing is true with the area where the buck's testicles were. I am having the head mounted and the taxidermist is going to have it tooth aged so it will be interesting to see just how old the animal was. By the way, the venison from this buck is the best tasting venison we have ever had and is as tender as a fawn's meat.

 

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Interesting information on the velvet buck. I shot a 4x4 this month that had a full velvet rack. When we skinned the buck we could see where a critter of some sort had grabbed him from the back taking a chuck out of the inside of one ham and in the process grabbed the testicles as well castrating the animal. It had happened before this year as the inside of the ham was all healed and haired over. Same thing is true with the area where the buck's testicles were. I am having the head mounted and the taxidermist is going to have it tooth aged so it will be interesting to see just how old the animal was. By the way, the venison from this buck is the best tasting venison we have ever had and is as tender as a fawn's meat.

Bucks that get castrated usually never loose their velvet. Ofter, they grow huge masses for antlers , to the point they are unscorable by b&c standards because they have no defined main beam . Often called porcupine bucks because of all the random points .

 

[mmgravy]

Bucks that get castrated usually never loose their velvet. Ofter, they grow huge masses for antlers , to the point they are unscorable by b&c standards because they have no defined main beam . Often called porcupine bucks because of all the random points .

This buck has/had a perfect 4x4 rack.