Horns Breaking

[WALLY]

I am looking for a good reason and maybe a solution. For the past couple of years I have noticed that the good deer seem to break one if not both horns off while fighting. Wondering is this from poor nutrition and is there something that can be done to prevent this from happening. We are not feeding any protien at this time, but next year we are going to start.

[buck_wild]

could be nutrition as we definitely see more broken antlers in droughts, but maybe they are just fighters !!

[az2tx]

IT is rain or the lack of it. even if you feed protein you will get more breakage in a drought year

[FITZGERALD]

tranq em and wrap their antlers in bubble wrap.worked for me.plus when you get a kill you get to pop all them bubbles so exciting!

[aaronm]

tranq em and wrap their antlers in bubble wrap.worked for me.plus when you get a kill you get to pop all them bubbles so exciting!

thats funny. Is the doe population way down that you have noticed? That would cause more fighting. IF not it was probably due to lack of rain.

[txtimetravler]

doe to buck ratio out of whack maybe?

[trophy8]

hunted the purvis anch with a buddy of mine in mitchell county...they had a lot more bucks than does...and they fed protein alot and had water...late season good luck findin a buck not broke up....thats part of it

[old killer]

More bucks will mean more fighting. Good management should yield more bucks. Shoot them early.

[BOHTR]

I've noticed lots of broken antlers on our place this year too......

[texasaggiebowhunter]

Its a number of things all together. Skewed buck to doe ratios will cause more intense fighting. A lot of it thoug does have to due with nutrition. High amounts of phosphorous and calcium along with a myriad of other vitamins and minerals are needed for proper growth and maintenance. Drought years can cause minerals to be low and hard to obtain. When I was working on a ranch in colorado city I saw a lot of broken antlers. We had the sex ratio balanced and fed protein throughout the ranch, still, we couldn't find a buck with decent antlers because they were all broken up. I examined some of the broken antlers and noted ho they were more porous on the inside than I had ever seen. Not sure what caused this but I intend to do some research soon.

[Landrover]

Late season is always that way from the midwest to the south and the east coast from my experiences. I am in hill country now and have seen 3 deer already with breaks and I have only been here for 3 hunts.

[TX_Kevin]

If you ever get it figured out market the solution and you'll make a whole bunch of money. This is probably more common than not.

[Mike D]

Its a number of things all together. Skewed buck to doe ratios will cause more intense fighting. A lot of it thoug does have to due with nutrition. High amounts of phosphorous and calcium along with a myriad of other vitamins and minerals are needed for proper growth and maintenance. Drought years can cause minerals to be low and hard to obtain. When I was working on a ranch in colorado city I saw a lot of broken antlers. We had the sex ratio balanced and fed protein throughout the ranch, still, we couldn't find a buck with decent antlers because they were all broken up. I examined some of the broken antlers and noted ho they were more porous on the inside than I had ever seen. Not sure what caused this but I intend to do some research soon.

I'm glad someone else is on board with this. Protein is great for building more body mass and an overall healthier deer herd but it will do little to nothing for antlers. Minerals and calcium is what helps grow and strengthen antlers. Genetics probably plays the biggest role in antler growth.

As far as busted up racks, if they deer are fighting regularly, that's going to happen. I saw it a lot when I was hunting the panhandle. Around Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter, most bucks were busted up, including broken main beams. These are not little spindly racked deer either, these were big racks. But when 2 bucks that weigh 200# plus go after it and are serious, stuff is going to break.

[JeffJ]

I'm glad someone else is on board with this. Protein is great for building more body mass and an overall healthier deer herd but it will do little to nothing for antlers. Minerals and calcium is what helps grow and strengthen antlers.

Oh no, this post may put all the protein companies out of business.

[WALLY]

Thanks for the help guys