Ever seen a shed with pedicels joined to form fused antlers? A student brought this one in to show me today:

Never seen that! Thanks for sharing!

Can't say I have. That's pretty wild!

Really cool! Thanks for sharing.

That's bizarre. I wonder what it'll look like next year?

Saw one similar once. Some 40 years ago my father killed a small buck that had both antlers grown together. It was much smaller than this one with a forked horn about 6" long on one side and a "mashed" antler on the other.

Apparently the "mashed" antler was badly damaged while it was in velvet (I'm guessing). It was spread out flat to the head with 3 "points" going in different directions along the skull. the entire mass of the damaged antler was just a "glob" of bone about an inch thick.

The base and antler were spread out some 3-4 " across and actually grew into the base of the "normal" antler on the other side.

Wish I had pictures. The only reason it was shot was because, in those days, my father was a "meat" hunter. Spike bucks weren't legal that year and does were also off limits. He said this little buck came out into a food plot and appeared to be a small spike. It fed around for 45 minutes before he looked at it through the scope. The first thing he saw was that "normal" forked antler. That sealed the fate of that buck.

I always wondered what he would have looked like the next year. Maybe "normal" as just the antler was damaged. Maybe something really strange as the pedicel seemed to be damaged as well. We'll never know.

Asymmetrical injury expression syndrome.
Its a category I came up with to explain suck anomalies.

I saw a elk in Alberta that had HUGE pedicels to the point that they grew together, kinda like a cape buffalo's boss.

I've got a photo around here somewhere. The elk had eight or nine individual spikes coming out of one pedicel and at least six spikes coming out the other. The spikes were various lengths; the shortest being six-inches or so and others being up to three-feet.

It was a strange looking bugger.

Even funnier is the fact that my Albertan friend and I were hunting in a 5-point area. When he saw this bull with all kinds of spikes, he had a short conversation with himself as to it's legality.

Finally, he thought, "Sh1t, it's got way over five points on each side ... but it has no eyeguards, mainbeams or normal points ... but, it's gotta be legal."

When we got it home, we called the local Fish Cop. The Fish Cop's words were, "Holy Sh1t, I've never seen the like ... Yeah, it's legal."

Blessings,

Steve

That is really interesting.....

I have asked this student to keep me informed what they see on trail cameras and in the field this season. I am curious, too, if it was just a one year injury.

Steve, I can't imagine seeing an elk like that in the field! As TexasRick mentioned about meat hunting, I would bet it was just as good eating, though...

Looks like he must have shed the whole top of his head. Trail camera photo now would be interesting.

Very cool, thanks for posting