200”x3 - pet vs free range

[Andy S.]

Why do high fence deer usually have whiter racks than free range deer? Seems any time you see a 200in deer with an unusually white rack, it came off a high fence.

Tell tell sign if you visit taxidermists that mount high fence genetically enhanced bucks. My taxidermist does from time to time, typcally high fence operations from the Midwest and Wisconsin. I can walk in his shop and spot a high fence rack from a mile away. Extremely white antlers, tines/points going everywhere, and more jagged antlers with a lot of flat edges. Not as round of an antler as a true free range antler, if you will.

 

[megalomaniac]

Tell tell sign if you visit taxidermists that mount high fence genetically enhanced bucks. My taxidermist does from time to time, typcally high fence operations from the Midwest and Wisconsin. I can walk in his shop and spot a high fence rack from a mile away. Extremely white antlers, tines/points going everywhere, and more jagged antlers with a lot of flat edges. Not as round of an antler as a true free range antler, if you will.

So why are they so white? Sun bleaching from being raised in a pen without cover???

 

[Andy S.]

So why are they so white? Sun bleaching from being raised in a pen without cover???

I honestly do not know, have always wondered the same thing. Maybe genetics? But they definitely "shine" when sitting in the floor with mostly free range antlers laying next to them.

 

[Lost Lake]

Think CWD, several examples here of how it spreads that so many want to ignore. Food for thought.

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hymie3]

This was three or four years ago but,
I know a man from here who told me that he was dickering with a Texas deer farmer for several months on a price for a specific buck, it was 10k. I immediately lost all my respect for him. Not sure if they ever came to an agreement on it...no dignity in taking a giant buck in that manner. but that's just my opinion.

 

[Rakkin6]

In ways I feel bad for the guy from Kansas. Even though he did kill it legally and ethically it still has to stink knowing it was bred and raised like that. I bet when he saw it on his camera he crapped his pants. I would have done the exact same thing and I have to give him respect for not trying to cover it up and being honest upfront about it.

 

[44 mag]

So why are they so white? Sun bleaching from being raised in a pen without cover???

I have always assumed that's its because they don't have natural stuff to rub against and die the antlers but I could be 100% wrong

 

[AT Hiker]

So why are they so white? Sun bleaching from being raised in a pen without cover???

I take in a few KS free range bucks and it seems the later in the year they are killed and the further West, then the whiter the rack. Not always true but Ive noticed a pattern.
I killed one in early September just slightly West of middle KS but it was chocolate.

I wonder if these high fence deer have very little anything to rub after velvet is shed, thus keeping the antlers more bone colored? I know the bone under the velvet is bone white.

 

[RS]

I hunt slightly west of middle Kansas in early to mid November, and pretty much all the bucks antlers are whiter. As far as cover, there's only some cottonwoods in the drainages, the rest is CRP fields or milo.

 

[AT Hiker]

Then again not all mule deer and elk in the open prairies have sun bleached racks. Most seem to be darker.
I bet it has something to do with what they rub after velvet.

 

[redblood]

He said his heart sank when he saw the hole in the ear.

Yes he did the right thing. Id be sick, if i found out i had killed a tame deer- but he couldnt have been sure when he shot it.

 

[TNGRIZZLY_]

My question is: can the farm sue him for killing it?
It is after all there property just like livestock.

 

[AT Hiker]

Yes he did the right thing. Id be sick, if i found out i had killed a tame deer- but he couldnt have been sure when he shot it.

I cannot speak for him but if something like that started showing up on my camera pulls, I'd know it was anything but normal.
Still wouldnt change the fact I'd shoot it but I'd be highly suspicious of what I killed.

Down the rabbit hole…when this dude killed this deer, did it(the deer)act like a pet or did it act "wild". I know nothing of farmed deer behavior but I do know a thing or two about wild deer and their tendency to walk on glass, as most of us do.
Maybe the hunter was caught up in the moment but the more I think about it I have to wonder if this deer had no clue what was going on, was he just going to a bait pile like a calf to a feed trough?

 

[AT Hiker]

My question is: can the farm sue him for killing it?
It is after all there property just like livestock.

Can the state sue the farm for potentially spreading CWD?

Not sure of the laws anymore but TN used to be a "fence in" state. Meaning, it was the landowners responsibility to keep other livestock off their property, that is if the livestock were not habitual escapees. No clue what KS law states.
You pose a good question. I don't think I can legally kill someone's cow for the heck of it just because it came in my yard but this kid killed a deer during deer season but it happened to be a farmed deer. I mean, this is a shoot first ask questions later type of scenario. Then again I have little sympathy for deer farmers either.

 

[Lost Lake]

I take in a few KS free range bucks and it seems the later in the year they are killed and the further West, then the whiter the rack. Not always true but Ive noticed a pattern.
I killed one in early September just slightly West of middle KS but it was chocolate.

I wonder if these high fence deer have very little anything to rub after velvet is shed, thus keeping the antlers more bone colored? I know the bone under the velvet is bone white.

I wonder if nutrition might have something to do with it? Maybe naturally occurring minerals they get free range vs pen raised?

 

[trout]

I too have noticed the white racks on farm raised bucks. A friend told me that this is typical of the mineral supplement used dicalcium phosphate.

 

[fairchaser]

That would be awesome to see a buck like that sauntering toward your stand but you would have to know something fishy was going on. I'd start looking around for candid camera but I'd still shoot.

 

[LanceS4803]

I was posting wrong info.
Edited

 

[AT Hiker]

Holy $7it, the whole think was a lie!

Update: New Revelations Come Out About Derek Settle's 57-Point Whitetail Buck

Not the SD buck...he is legit (to my knowledge).

 

[Andy S.]

Two overly non-typical bucks being discussed in this thread, and the stories could easily be confused. The KS buck that escaped from a high fence in KS and was killed in KS, and the IN high fence buck that was killed in IN but checked in fair chase in KY.