Mule deer antlers peak earlier than thought

By Craig Nyhus

Lone Star outdoor newS

A decade-long study on antler progression in mule deer revealed some surprising results — muley bucks reach their antler peak earlier than most hunters thought.

Justin French, Big Game Specialist and Research Scientist at the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University, led the research and presented results at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute’s Deer Research Meetings in March.

“To study mule deer antler progression, it requires monitoring a large number of known-age bucks,” he said. “And it takes 10 years to get the data, which is tough with free-ranging mule deer, since the density is low and their range is wide.”

Two questions considered in the study were:

When do bucks mature?

Do scores crash later in life?

“Predicting future antler characteristics depends on understanding antler progression,” French said.

Researchers captured 93 bucks as fawns or yearlings over four years in the study, then fit them with colored ear tags and numbers. Then they monitored feeding and water stations with game cameras for 10 years.

Using a computer program to estimate antler scores, antler progression curves were developed for 53 bucks.

“The scoring system, called ICY, was developed by a student,” French said.

When scores were compared with known physical measurements, a correction factor was applied.

“The estimated scores were coming in a little high,” French said.

Two patterns were discovered.

“The average buck reached a peak score of 152 4/8

Third time’s a charm

By Nate Skinner

For Lone Star outdoor newS

An axis buck sporting 30 to 35inch beams is generally considered a trophy among hunters of exotic deer. Bucks with headgear much larger than this are for the most part, rare. Joe Ebrom was lucky enough to harvest one of these unique animals near Rocksprings recently during a late spring cold front. His axis buck was still in velvet and had beams that measured 38 1/8 inches and 39 5/8 inches, respectively.

Ebrom was hunting on a low-fence property in Edwards County with his son, Matthew that they had started leasing earlier this year. Another fellow lease member and friend of his had been chasing the monster axis for a couple of days, to no avail.

“We had seen some game camera photos of this buck, and there was no mistaking his swooping, heart-shaped frame,” Ebrom said. “When my son and I showed up to the property to start hunting, another lease member was already there in hopes of getting a shot at the axis. After two days of hunting him in the area where he had been frequenting, the other lease member only got a short glimpse of the buck before he had to leave to head home. So I decided I would try my chances at running down the elusive buck.”

Ebrom was sitting in a blind overlooking a feeder in a sendero, surrounded by cedar brush in the area where the buck was last seen, when he saw a tall set of antlers off in the distance.

“I had never seen a set of antlers that big, and I could tell that the animal was headed toward me,” Ebrom said. “Once the buck entered the sendero, I knew immediately that it was the one I was after. He was with six other axis bucks, and the entire group never would stop moving around in order for me to get a clear shot.”

Ebrom said he tried and tried to put the crosshairs of his riflescope on the giant axis, but the