A trophy hunter’s have a silent enemy. It is something to fear when you’re chasing a 150 plus inch whitetail. Broken points on a buck can be a heartbreaker for a hunter looking to shot a nice trophy buck. It always amazes me when I see bucks with broken points. It shows how tough and hard hitting these deer can be. The enemy comes in many forms for antlers but there isn’t anything that can be done to prevent it.
I was hunting on November 3rd and watched as a few does started to move in under the tree. They were walking slowly but constantly looking back into the woods. I knew what that meant and got ready for the buck to show. Not long after that, here he came. His head was down and smelling the scent of the does. When he got closer I thought that something didn’t look right about him. I took a look through the binoculars and was shocked. The buck was missing almost his entire right antler.
The buck was probably a three and half year old deer and would have scored around 120. This is if his right antler complemented the left. When I looked close at what was left of the antler, you could see that the brow tine was still intact but as main beam started to curve up by the ear it had been broken clean off. You could tell be the way the deer was acting that he could have cared less about it being broken off. He wasn’t self-conscious about how he looked or how he may not be capable of putting up a fight. He acted like he was still the toughest deer in the woods chasing the does around. He was making rubs and working scraps but those broken points are going to save his life for another season. If he survives shotgun season he could really turn into a nice buck next year. But for now, broken point gave him a second chance.
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