Heard somewhere severe malnutrition in their first year when they develop pedicles can cause this too. Not sure if its true
Heard somewhere severe malnutrition in their first year when they develop pedicles can cause this too. Not sure if its true
[QUOTE=Stocky;814492]Heard somewhere severe malnutrition in their first year when they develop pedicles can cause this too. Not sure if its true
Maybe someone shot there moma,s ! I read that somehere to but I think it’s a little coincidental to see a mature stag/Hummel 2 roars ago & now finding more of them around that 1-2 year old age bracket.
The Green party putting the CON in conservation since 2017
[QUOTE=Boaraxa;814505]He hasn't formed a proper coronet, which he would do if those bumps were stunted antlers. A farm stag that damages it's nuts it will keep on growing heads of velvet but each head gets smaller. So what we see in the photos isn't what we would expect to see with damaged nuts. Hummel Dummel ??
This is similar to what I have been told. If you have a male fawn that loses its mum (Hind) and is weaned too early, its first year it winds up struggling and more likely malnourished. If it survives the season to become a yearling stag and the pedicle has not formed properly then it will never develop antlers. Whether this propensity is hereditary or not I do not know, but if it is not pumping all the seasons feed into antler growth, do they grow more body / meat?
I shot one in 1981 at Arthur's Pass at a time when deer numbers were very low.
It will still grow antlers but will never achieve / reach it's genetic potential. Pedicle development is initiated at around 90 days from birth and nutritional stress at this time will affect antler size for the rest of the animals life BUT it wont prevent it from growing antlers. The fact that the stag in the photo has no coronet shows that the little stubs he has are not true antlers. If they were antlers the coronet would have hardened off by now. Common to see fallow spikers with tiny little spikes 50mm long coming out of a little coronet.
We see about 7 or 8 a year try to shoot them out prob I have is its a bit of a waste this time of year but left they seem to vanish mostly it is genetic occasionally it is petical damage to
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