Antlers With Hairline Grooves?

[Mennoniteman]

One of our guys got this buck in Missouri this past fall, and the entire surface of the antlers are very consistently spiderwebbed with hairline cracks, these are actually grooves that you can feel with a fingernail. I'm very puzzled as to the cause of this?

 

[T-Max]

One of our guys got this buck in Missouri this past fall, and the entire surface of the antlers are very consistently spiderwebbed with hairline cracks, these are actually grooves that you can feel with a fingernail. I'm very puzzled as to the cause of this?

Just to clarify, they aren’t actually grooves scratched into the antler like he may have gotten stuck in barbed wire or something similar?


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[Drycreek]

Fighting maybe ?

 

[Mennoniteman]

Just to clarify, they aren’t actually grooves scratched into the antler like he may have gotten stuck in barbed wire or something similar?


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The lines are engraved into the surface like fine engraving on metal, but they are too consistent to be barbed wire.

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[Mennoniteman]

Fighting maybe ?

They're to consistent, and a little bit spiderwebbed, almost like insects boring under the velvet

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[deer patch]

Mineral deficiency?

 

[catscratch]

I need to check some racks but I think that's fairly common here.

 

[T-Max]

I have found sheds that have portions of the surface that “flake” off with several other cracks and grooves. It’s essentially a delamination. I always assumed is was due to a deficiency while the velvet antlers were finishing hardening. It seems too widespread to be genetic.


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[Mennoniteman]

Mineral deficiency?

I hadn't thought about that, it sounds like the best explanation I've heard so far.

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[Mennoniteman]

I have found sheds that have portions of the surface that “flake” off with several other cracks and grooves. It’s essentially a delamination. I always assumed is was due to a deficiency while the velvet antlers were finishing hardening. It seems too widespread to be genetic.


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In that area of Missouri the soil is very rich, one theory might be that the antlers are growing very quickly but lack one essential mineral?


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