Roe deer antlers: which trophy would you hunt?

Roe deer antlers are present only on males and, like deer, are deciduous. This means that every year they fall and then grow very fast. It is in January and February when these bulges fall to make way for a new trophy, which is getting bigger and bigger. In this period of growth, they are covered with a kind of velvet, which the animal begins to remove by scratching itself on trees and walls.

The typical shape of a roe deer antlers is six-pointed, but there are very frequent exceptions and anomalies. The most typical are the so-called "buttons", which are young specimens with very short and deformed horns. Another could be when there is a lack of testosterone and what is called a "wig" develops, an excessive proliferation of velvet that prevents tissue ossification. This means that the animal cannot see and therefore eat, so it is destined to die. Another type of antlers that attracts attention is that of the so-called "killer roe deer", which are those whose antlers are limited to two very long points without any type of tip or excrescence that allows them to block them in their fight with other males, giving rise to wounds in their opponents of some consideration.

What are roe deer antlers used for?

Defensive and attacking work: roe deer, unlike deer that use thrusting antlers, try to hurt their opponent with them. On many occasions, the rival comes out very badly. That is why a healthy and prominent roe deer has good antlers.

Marking: the "forest elves" scratch the different plants in the area to warn other males and females of their presence. They also do this practice to know the span of their horns.

Help in reproduction: if the specimen has a large horn, it can determine the future of the fight or directly make its rival retire. On the other hand, the females do not pay attention to this characteristic.

Now that we know a little more about the characteristic that makes steeds lose sleep, we present to you 5 rare trophies that have been hunted this April. Many of them, with the qualities that we have pointed out previously.

roe deer with wig

As we mentioned before, wigged roe deer are abnormal and have lint throughout their lives. In this case, Rafa hunted down this specimen that had already almost completely lost its vision due to the hair that had grown on it. This really is a selective hunt, since the animal suffers from sight and from the search for food. In addition, other specimens exclude it from the groups.

ancient roe deer wig

Nature is very capricious, and with the specimen that Carlos Blanco hunted, it is demonstrated once again that there are no limits of rarity in the "goblins". This animal was being monitored for three years by the organic and last year it wore a wig due to having a single testicle. The organic believes that he developed the testicle late, which led him to unstrap and be left without the wig.

unconventional roe deer

This time after many days in his search, Daniel Iglesias hunted down a dream roe deer. Its main characteristic is that the right horn is bent in L, which makes it a different and unique trophy. Daniel missed the first shot from 290 meters away, but the second made the animal collapse and thus managed to hunt down the roe deer that he fell in love with when he saw it the first day.

ten-pointed deer

These ungulates usually have six points, but Victor Martín from Zaragoza managed to bring down one of ten, with a spectacular pearly and very thick. The first shot was missed, but the second managed to stop the animal. He had already assessed it with his binoculars, but when he approached it he was amazed at the beauty of that horn, which he will undoubtedly never forget.

gold medal roe deer

In this case, Luis Ruiz del Olmo shot down in Castilla y León a roe deer with a five-pointed left antlers (extraordinarily long) and three (the usual ones) on the right. The stalking was wonderful, they enjoyed a fight between males in which the dejected one threw another specimen. The whole atmosphere made the set a unique moment to remember.

And you, have you hunted down any rare or unusual trophy? Share it with us and it will be published on the Instagram of our hunting community! @ywhcommunity

Author: María Balletbó