Same buck different years? or totally different deer with same anomaly?

[jeffnles1]

EDIT - I'm not 100% sure it's the same buck. There seems to be possibly too much age difference but again, deer mature fast. What do you all think? Odds of 2 deer with deformity on the same side in the same stretch of woods one year apart. Hmm, what are your thoughts.

Last summer, we watched a pair of twin bucks which were quite unusual. One had a normal antler on the right side and a small deformed antler on the left side. The other one was a mirror with a normal antler on the left side and a deformed smaller one on the right.

Fast forward to Nov 2, 2024, we saw a beautiful buck chasing a doe through the woods. When he turned around, he had a spectacular antler on the right and a deformed smaller one on the left. The photo taken today was about 200 yards from the one I shot in August 2023.

Either this is the same deer or perhaps the father of the ones we saw last summer.

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[Louis champan]

What a beauty, love that first shot.

 

[Woody Meristem]

Some deformities are genetic, some are caused by an injury -- that he had a sibling that may well have been what some would call a "mirror twin" points to it being genetic . Since I'm not a great believer in coincidences, I'd tend to think it's the same animal. If the habitat is good and there's an abundance of food he could easily go from being a spike buck at age one to having an impressive antler a year later. The diameter of the main beam just above the burr isn't great which points to him not being very old this year. Check this site -- https://www.deer.psu.edu/average-joe/