What causes this in an antler?

[cnelk]

My son and I both shot bucks in Wyoming last week.

Each of the bucks has a ‘hole’ in the main beam.

What is the cause of this?

 

[isItFallYet]

Carpenter bees

 

[isItFallYet]

Carpenter bees

How far up the antler does it go? I just read something about hollow antlers being caused by a brain abscess.

 

[MuleyFever]

Ticks?

 

[Jethro]

Bot Fly larvae, most common cause.

 

[dirtshooter]

My nephew shot this buck a couple years ago with some holes in the antler as well.

 

[E.Shell]

Bot Fly larvae, most common cause.

^^ This ^^
Damned botflies. I have a few with injuries like that.

 

[cnelk]

Thanks!

 

[cnelk]

.

 

[Maverick1]

Botfly, as mentioned above!

 

[Maverick1]

Congrats on the success!!!

 

[CaliWoodsman]

Interesting - I’ve got this on a mule deer, always wondered what it was.

Looks like a couple of nice bucks!

 

[elkguide]

Great looking bucks. (for all that we can see)

There must be "the rest of the story" along with a few more pictures hiding out there somewhere!?!?!

 

[cnelk]

Interesting - I’ve got this on a mule deer, always wondered what it was.

Looks like a couple of nice bucks!

A couple of pics of the bucks - we hunted from my Wyoming cabin.
I submitted mine in the WT meat pole and WT Photo Contest.

 

[cnelk]

Great looking bucks. (for all that we can see)

There must be "the rest of the story" along with a few more pictures hiding out there somewhere!?!?!

Ha. Yeah see my post above ^^

 

[Rooster1970$]

Parasite

 

[wind gypsy]

Good to know, my muley this year had that too.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Whitetail Antlers: The Hole Truth | Deer & Deer Hunting

Have you ever seen a whitetail rack that has a hole in it similar to the one in this photo? When Deer & Deer Hunting forum contributor Mark Schrock shared this photo of a buck he killed last fall, the first thing I noticed was the hole in its main beam. These holes are actually quite common in...

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