Hunted on a place this past season and did not make it out the first weekend of the season, but hunted regularly from the second weekend through the end of the season and saw only 1 buck with a complete headgear and he was a small 8 point. I was wondering if this was the theme of anyone else's year? I saw more bucks than does during the season on pretty much every hunt. I liked the buck to doe ratio, but was not impressed with the overall numbers of deer and can only surmise that the bucks were really fighting over the does that were on the place. Does would come to a feeder and only stay for a few minutes, as there was always bucks chasing them off either in hopes of catching them ready to breed during the rut and then later in the season the bucks were chasing them off to keep them off the corn.
Also, bucks during the rut would come to the feeders from downwind and check to see if any does were present at the feeder. Once they did not smell any receptive does, they would back off into the brush not to be seen again, so in this case the buck to doe ratio was probably working against me. Lots of times I was seeing just parts of the buck through the brush, as they would never come into any type of opening.
With the broken antlers and lack of numbers of deer seen, it made for a below average year of hunting. Anyone else have the same problem? Don't get me wrong, I am all for seeing fewer deer if there is a chance of seeing a good one, but there did not seem to be as many deer around this year and everytime I saw a buck, he was broken up horn-wise.
Maybe the drought is to blame for the double whammy. Just an odd year all the way around.

Nearly every mature buck I saw had at least broken browtines and sometimes broken g2's and g3's. When your doe to buck ratio gets tight there's more competition for the available does and the fighting among bucks increases. Personally, I like to see broken brows, scarred faces and tattered ears. It gives character to those old fighters.

I agree on all points, but when you see a 10 point with all five tines broken off on one side and this happens with almost every buck that you see, it is sort of discouraging when it happens again and again. We had one big bodied buck that looked older come into the same feeder for a few days and he had both antlers broken off below the brow tines and they were close to 4 1/2-5 inch bases.

one time i shot a big 8, that only showed me one side of his rack.

I knew he was a good buck, so i pulled the trigger.

imagine my dissapointment to discover he had broke off every tine on his left side

Saw 4 buck with broken tines

Yeah, it sucks when they break off a main beam or their g2's, 3's and/or 4's. I can live with broken brows but anything else I give 'em a pass.

I also think that those short tined, heavy mass 8 pts will reek havoc on your long tined bucks. All the more reason to cull 'em.

It think drought had Some fault on weak antlers!

Seen a mainframe 10 with split brows fine first of the season. Had 4" of his entire L main beam left.

I agree, but it did seem like there was more fighting this year also, I saw bucks sparring several times,something I usually don't see.

Plenty of broken tines and racks this year. Some have broken off both racks near their bases. I expect as much every time we have a significant drought year.

I didnt see near the breaks than back in 09'
I did rattle in an old 8pt with the tip of his main broke off.
but the big 10 that I had on game cam still had a double main and split brows as late as Dec. 1st all still intact.

I havent been back out since the second weekend of the season so everything I saw was intact, except the buck I shot had a small drop that broke off when rubbing off velvet.

Last year we had an 11pt that broke of nearly every point so it was about 1.5-2 inchdes long, he looked pretty funny. He was 2.5 YO last year and had little mass, this year he really put on some mass and a 12'th point and as far as I know he is still intact. Brother saw him 2 weeks ago and he was 100% yet. The second weekend of the season my dad found a broke point about 6" long laying in the raod on the way back to camp, but we have yet to see the deer it came off of in person or on cam.

matt

I arrowed my one buck early in the season - a real nice typical 8 pt.

On January 1, I had a really nice 8pt. present himself to me for a very easy 20 yard broadside shot. Only one problem - one whole side was broken off! I was sick - where are bucks like this when they are complete! It was if he knew that his broken main beam was going to save him!

Lone Star Outdoor News just wrote an article (Page 5) on this exact issue. Lots of broken tines this year — some interesting theories on why.

http://issuu.com/lsoneditor/docs/122311?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

Thanks, looks like an interesting read for more articles than just the broken antler one.

We saw a bunch of em on our place. Main beams, bow tine, G2's, G3's, etc and a few with a combination of all the above

Just a few of the many different bucks I saw with broken off antlers or missing one entire side of the rack. I bet I saw 10 bucks with messed up antlers this year, especially after the rut when they had been fighting. The buck in the middle picture is immature but had a very nice rack earlier in the year but pretty much only had main beams with a few nubs later in the year.

doesn't bother me... you see a lot of the younger deer with busted racks, not so much with the old deer. I kind of like it when I see a good 4 or 5 year old with an entire side busted off... keeps them safe.

I agree with you Kyle, no one is going to shoot a one sided buck. Definitely keeps a few more bucks around for the next year and for breeding purposes.

We never see bucks actually fighting in Grimes County. The younger ones spar, but there had to be some major fighting going on this year because we saw scrapes on the bucks' bodies and saw two 8 points with broken tines (one with a broken brow tine and another's G3.

Here is a picture of an 8 point with a number of gouges on his left side from fighting, but his antlers are intact.

Biggest buck I saw this season, a tall, dark (presumably 8 point) with good mass and tine length...busted the entire right side off just above his brow tine. He was with a doe so I gave him a pass. At least his genes are still in the pool now.

Saw several this year. More then usual.

Just about every buck has something busted, it that's way every year. I have not found any yet with broken bones(legs).

x2

Saw a few more this year seems like than in years past. The one buck I shot din't have anything broken until he ran into a tree after the shot. From that stand I have shot 2 bucks and both have broken antlers after running into the same tree. Found both broken pieces but think will cut that tree down before next year