Shot an antlered whitetail, turned out to be a doe

[Lonedrake]

I don't normally post much on here but my dad came across something out deer hunting last week that made me wonder. His group found a young whitetail buck with only one small antler. Since they were looking for meat, not a trophy, my dads friend decided to shoot it. When they walked up to it, they noticed that the other antler had snapped off about an inch from the base and the antler that remained was still in velvet. When they flipped him over to gut him, they discovered that it wasn't a he, it was a she. A whitetail doe with antlers, still in velvet in the middle of November. I have never seen this before and was wondering if anyone else has come across such an animal?

[stokcondave]

Heard of it, never seen it.

[Buzz001]

When I was younger my grandpa shot a doe he thought and when he got up to it there was one horn about 3 inches long growing out of the eye socket but the deer actually turned out to be a doe had all female organs , crazy stuff

[Stinky Buffalo]

Interesting!

A few years back my friend shot a young buck that had teats on it. Apparently it happens.

[Lonedrake]

Just to clarify on my first post, when they flipped it over, it had all female anatomy. No male anatomy at all. I've looked it up and apparently it does happen. Some have even been pretty good sized antlers....but apparently they almost always remain in velvet. Interesting.

[catnthehat]

Antelred females are not a regular occurance, but they are out there.
The velevet typicall is not shed as it is 0art of the rutting sequence, and i would imagine that an antlered female does not produce enough tetosterone to kick start the rutting process .
camp wainright BTW has a very high rate of antlered does for some reason, more than most other places in North America.
Cat

[BigRackLover]

heard about it. it can happen. Thank goodness we have anterled and non-anterled tags.

[The Fisherman Guy]

A friend I took out last year for his first year deer hunting shot an antlered doe for his first kill, when we got up to her I noticed the antler... still in velvet in November.

We flipped her over, and she had all female anatomy on the exterior. We failed to check the organs for validation of her actual sex, she could have been a hermaphrodite.

However, she was 130lbs on the hook - no head, legs, organs or hide.

Turns out this isn't all that irregular. The information I received was that she likely was a hermaphrodite, without the proper hormones to complete the male antler process. The antler was somewhat flexible, and thin as you can see from the picture below. No indication of a pentacle on the left side of her skull either, just the single antler.

[Rennich98]

It's called a hermaphrodite

[Lonedrake]

Thanks, I know what a hermaphrodite is, and I don't think this deer was one. Hermaphrodites or organisms with both male and female reproductive organs. As far as they could tell, it was just a doe with antlers. No male reproductive organs, although they didn't check the internal organs. Could've been something hiding in there. I read a few other stories on these and it sounds like its caused by a doe having a high level of testosterone that causes the antlers to grow. But what I wondered is, do does have pedicels for the antlers to grow from if they do get this burst of testosterone? I didn't think they did, but I've been wrong before.......just ask my wife.

[dinohunter]

could this be unicorn?

[TRAPPER92]

I seen a deer with one antler coming out the side of its head - maybe that one was a doe too! This was years ago.

[Rennich98]

Maybe just too much testosterone

[357Maximum]

Two years ago I saw a small on horned Doe nursing a fawn in the Candle Lake Saskatchewan townsite. The single horn wasn't much taller then her ears .

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by dinohunter

could this be unicorn?

Nope, It's a, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Muliecorn! :

[bigbuck19]

This was posted on the live2hunt facebook group

[Elkhunt]

The new term is "Intersex". Lots of info on the web.
Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male. This is usually understood to be congenital, involving chromosomal, morphologic, genital and/or gonadal anomalies, such as diversion from typical XX-female or XY-male presentations, e.g., sex reversal (XY female, XX male), genital ambiguity, or sex developmental differences. An intersex individual may have biological characteristics of both the male and the female sexes.[1][2] Intersexuality as a term was adopted by medicine during the 20th century, and applied to human beings whose biological sex cannot be classified as clearly male or female.[1][2][3] Intersex was initially adopted by intersex activists who criticize traditional medical approaches to sex assignment and seek to be heard in the construction of new approaches.[4]

Some people (whether physically intersex or not) do not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male. Androgyny is sometimes used to refer to those without gender-specific physical sexual characteristics or sexual orientation or gender identity, or some combination of these; such people can be physically and psychologically anywhere between the two sexes.[5] This state may or may not include a mixture or absence of sexual orientation.[6][7]

[hayseed]

My son shot a mulie doe, in 332, two years ago with like little spikes in full velvet.

Total female anatomy. Happens more than a fella would think.

[H380]

I've seen a doe with velvet spikes the last two years in our area , raised a set of twins both years so plumbing and all must be in order .

[smoky the bear]

First one I shot with a bow was a he/she. 3.5 spikes in velvet. Kind of had to scratch the head for a second. Good one to talk about around the campfire.

[Hallywood]

Hunting moose years ago in the North country shot a bull took it to the butchers there was a group of hunters bringing in their mule deer it was a 4x4 with the circumference of your pinky finger all the way thru it was a doe also.

[notastraightshot]

I read that on the internet this year that one in 5000 or so (not to sure of the numbers) does can grow antlers because of testosterone or something to that effect. Cant believe everything u read on the internet but while hunting some lease land near Drayton Valley my brother shot a doe. when i got up to it i noticed it only had one five inch velvet spike. had all female anatomy. So i guess what i read was true interesting to say the least. mighta been a full trophy curl by next year. Ha

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted by notastraightshot

I read that on the internet this year that one in 5000 or so (not to sure of the numbers) does can grow antlers because of testosterone or something to that effect. Cant believe everything u read on the internet but while hunting some lease land near Drayton Valley my brother shot a doe. when i got up to it i noticed it only had one five inch velvet spike. had all female anatomy. So i guess what i read was true interesting to say the least. mighta been a full trophy curl by next year. Ha

LOL, you mean he shot a buck, and then he noticed it had female parts, after.

[happy honker]

Back in september i shot a small buck, there was nothing irregular about his horns, but he had organs for both sexes.