Question for the experts

[DoubleRidge]

In addition to the two bucks pictured in previous post I have killed one buck before with a smaller missing patch of hair between his shoulders....don't have a pic of that buck on my phone.....but I never thought much about it.

But looking back through pictures I noticed three things....none of the bucks in velvet have the scuff mark on their back and I've seen no small yearling bucks with the the scuff mark and I've never seen a doe with the scuff mark between her shoulders blades....most examples I've seen are on decent size racked bucks.... interesting.

 

[rem270]

Never killed any with big patches missing but have seen some patches maybe a dime size, some have had more than 1 patch missing. I most always find some type of scar or scab so I have always assumed it was from fighting. But going under a fence could be a cause too.

 

[Wrangler95]

First time I saw it in person was this past season. With where it is located, and the fact that it had a hole in it as big around as my finger and deeper than the first knuckle, I assumed he had been fighting, got an injury, and it itched so he kept scratching it.
View attachment 139502

You are correct!!

 

[Ski]

It's the tine tips brushing across their shoulders as they lift and shake their head at scrape licking branches. Pretty common in places where antlers get big, like the midwest.

 

[BSK]

It's the tine tips brushing across their shoulders as they lift and shake their head at scrape licking branches. Pretty common in places where antlers get big, like the midwest.

Very interesting.

 

[Headhunter]

I have killed well over 400 deer and other than an obvious injury, I have never seen any deer missing patches of hair.

 

[DoubleRidge]

It's amazing how far apart everyone's observations are on this topic?...I've seen it before...on trail cam pics (post#20) on a deer I've killed (don't have pic on this phone) and certainly on hunting shows filmed in the mid west (as most are)...I watch very few shows today...but one that is decent is Heartland Bowhunter.... watched a recorded episode today....tall tine buck with hair missing on top of shoulders....just interesting how observations vary.

 

[gasman]

First time I saw it in person was this past season. With where it is located, and the fact that it had a hole in it as big around as my finger and deeper than the first knuckle, I assumed he had been fighting, got an injury, and it itched so he kept scratching it.
View attachment 139502

Is that in Haywood Co? That could be a bullet wound. I had one disappear on me after a neck shot in that general area of a deer. @rem270 @RUGER @cbhunter #necksyear

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Is that in Haywood Co? That could be a bullet wound. I had one disappear on me after a neck shot in that general area of a deer. @rem270 @RUGER @cbhunter #necksyear

Madison County, just east of Jackson.

 

[Ski]

It's amazing how far apart everyone's observations are on this topic?...I've seen it before...on trail cam pics (post#20) on a deer I've killed (don't have pic on this phone) and certainly on hunting shows filmed in the mid west (as most are)...I watch very few shows today...but one that is decent is Heartland Bowhunter.... watched a recorded episode today....tall tine buck with hair missing on top of shoulders....just interesting how observations vary.

There are always a lot of theories. Growing up in Ohio, it was fairly common to see it on big rack bucks. I was always told since I was a kid that it was the antlers rubbing as a buck made a scrape. I just believed it because that's what everybody said, and once I was old & experienced enough to reason, it made more sense. Even more so when I began running cams. Once a rack gets big enough, a buck can't look up without the tines hitting his back. And given that he looks straight up to thrash a licking branch, those antler tips scratch his back. Furthermore, we only ever see it when bucks have hard antlers. When you think of how many licking branches a buck that size hits in Oct/Nov, it's easy to see how they sometimes rub themselves bald.

Notice in the first two pics the ruft hair along this buck's back, most accentuated above the back of his shoulders. Not bald yet but his tines are short for his rack and it's still October.

In the third pic from left you can see two faint dark spots behind the bucks shoulders. Those are bald spots from antlers rubbing. I shot him a week later and you can clearly see one of those bald spots immediate right of the arrow fletching.

 

[BSK]

This is a truly fascinating thread!

I've looked back at trail-cam pics of the tallest tined bucks I can remember, and no bald spots in mid to late November.

Is that in Haywood Co? That could be a bullet wound. I had one disappear on me after a neck shot in that general area of a deer.

Like gasman, only one I have on cam with a bald spot across the shoulders is a buck one of my BILs shot high on and nicked with a muzzleloader. Buck carried that wound the rest of the season.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I don't think it's a bullet wound, it's on top of the base of the neck, right above the spine. And the hole he had there was vertical to the spine, and in the neighborhood of an inch deep.

 

[BSK]

I don't think it's a bullet wound, it's on top of the base of the neck, right above the spine. And the hole he had there was vertical to the spine, and in the neighborhood of an inch deep.

I was only joking about the bullet wound. I have no doubt these bucks are wearing away the hair through either scratching with their antler tips or sliding under fences, or both.