Hi Guys,
Here are some photos of a weird forkhorn buck that I killed the other day with my muzzleloader. I had been hunting for five straight days with nothing coming in except does with fawns and very young deer. After fighting the heat and humidity plus the mosquitos for four days, I was ready to quit and come back after it cooled off. Finally on the fifth day it cooled just a bit and a nice breeze came up so I decided to hunt until full darkness set in.

I was only wanting to shoot a deer for the freezer so when this guy showed up late in the evening, I shot him. At the time I didn't even notice his offside antler, or if I did, I didn't recognize it as an antler. I didn't see it till I walked up to him. I have heard that when deer form these types of wild antler growth that it is because they have had a testicle injured, but this guy was fine in that department with both testicles fully intact.

I don't know what caused this but it is really strange to walk up on what you thought was just a forkhorn meat deer and find something like this. I am currently cleaning up the antler and skull for a European type mount. There was some rotten velvet left on the strange antler and it stunk to high heavens but I have gotten most of it off. I have to be very careful with it though, because in places the tips of the antler are still somewhat soft and it can be hard to tell if I am taking off just velvet or getting some of the antler tip as well. Some of the antler is porous without a hard covering.
Bob