In my case, the reason i believe a car did it, is because the buck was young and there was an abundance of big bucks in the area. It is possible it was from fighting but i have a feeling given the circumstances, it was broke in another way.
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I shot a buck this year that had one antler dangling in front of his face, when I recovered him I went to touch the antler and it flopped around, the skull was cracked in a very similar fashion to this one. I think the buck probably got into a fight and broke the antler. I was discussing this with the editor of the QDMA Magazine and he told me once the skull plate breaks the deer get a disease and usually die within a month or so from the disease. There is an article on the QDMA website in one of their past issues.
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• Anonymous - 3/29/2008 7:49:24 PM It sounds like that is what happened to this old boy. I don't think he broke it by a car. It looks like he broke it fighting. when.

I killed a buck, a 1-1\2 year old 8pt with the antler hanging from the skull like this. (i assume a car did it)you could tell something was wrong and when i opened it up, there was a little puss around the fracture but it had been like that for a while for sure. A chunk of the skull was still attached to the antler and the brain was not protected (aside from the skin) but the animal seemed VERY healthy otherwise. It ran over 100 yds after the shot that destroyed one lung and clipped the heart so it couldn't have been too unhealthy. I would guess that if the antler pulled away from the hide it would have died from the open wound but if it was able to keep the antler attached somehow it might have lived for a while???????
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I realize the antler is not a true shed I am just curious as to what may have caused it and if anyone thinks it could still be alive. I actually found the antler in swampy grass and it did have alge growing on it(probobly from the warm winter we had). I sprayed it down with clorox to get the alge off so hence the bright white color. I too have shed hunted for years and have never found one 2years or older without any type of chewed marks this has none. I was able to watch this buck for 20min with binoculars in Dec. so if this isnt the buck then it has an identical twin.
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This is not the buck that this hunter saw in a field last December. If you look closely at the green mold growing on it and the fact that this antler does not have a wax ring attached at the base, It is not a shed. Also the color of this shed dictates that it has been laying around for at least two years or more. I am an avid shed hunter and expert deer hunter in the western NY area. Many sheds of this calibre are carried around by dogs and coyotes. This an antler that was once part of an entire skull. It may have been in a fight with another buck at some time or possibly been hit by a car been severed or even died of disease, but it is definitely not a shed found this year.
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