Rack Science

By the look of some of the bucks appearing this year on the pages of our GON Truck-Buck and Youth Big-Buck contests, there have been some awesome deer taken. Congrats to all!

Some hunters will profess that there is nothing finer than a buck sporting a big typical, symmetrical rack. Typical racks are virtually equal in size and number of points on both beams. Others (myself included) enjoy harvesting one with an atypical, or non-typical, rack. Sometimes, the gnarlier, the better.

Have you ever wondered what factors affect antler growth? A whitetail’s antlers grow and drop every year. The size and shape of the rack are most determined by three factors: age, nutrition and genetics. Noted whitetail deer researcher Dr. James Kroll found that antler growth can be maximized if there is corresponding strong rainfall that encourages plant growth and provides the nutrients needed at just the right time

The growth tends to increase through the life of the deer but will reach a point when the rack’s growth diminishes or gets smaller.

Now, let’s back up a bit. The growth begins sometime in the summer from the pedicles, or frontal bone structures, that soon become antlers covered in velvet. Those antlers are very soft, filled with blood and nerves and a fully intact skin cover of soft hair.

As daylight begins to decrease in late summer, it signals for the blood flow to stop and the antlers begin to harden through “calcification.” During the period of velvet, the rack is soft and the most damage to the rack can occur.

Sometimes, injury to skeletal bones like legs can affect antlers, as well. For example, the Boone and Crockett Club notes, “if an animal’s left rear leg is injured, then the right antler will likely be deformed. If a front leg is injured, either antler might be affected. However, some damage can occur to the rack as bucks begin to fight for dominance during the rut. The fighting can be so fierce that a tine or two of the antler can break off.

Speaking of tines, have you seen a buck with a drop tine? These are abnormal points that generally drop or point in a different direction than the rest of the tines.

You also may notice bucks with split brow tines. I hunt with a friend in Ohio and we have a deer on cam with both brow tines split. One brow splits into three tines and the other splits into two. Now, that’s one to hunt for sure!

Some mature bucks can develop what are known as “stickers” or “kickers,” which are additional tines that come off other antlers.

Some bucks have what I call a “crab claw,” which is two points at the end of the tine. It gets its name because it looks just like a crab claw.

Some hunters choose to remove, or cull, some bucks from the herd because the antlers aren’t meeting their desired property goals.

Well, as they say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Good luck the rest of deer season.