"vampire tooth" on deer

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jethro69

jethro69

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
489
City & State/Province
knox tn
just got my euro mount back and it had a fang is this rare?
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Jethro, I don't know how rare that is but that is the 2nd one I've seen. I aged a doe this year that had one on each side. I would not have noticed that but, the jaw jacks rubbed on the teeth. I have a friend who talked the hunter out of the skull so I'm curious to see how they are going to look. By the way I've aged hundreds and that was the first I've seen.
 
You've got an extremely rare find there Jethro69. That fang is a genetic throwback. Before whitetailed deer were whitetailed deer--before they had evolved to their present physical shape, which occurred around 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age--the precursor species to whitetailed deer had fangs instead of antlers. Whitetailed deer still carry these genes for fangs but those genes are normally unexpressed (the genes are not active). However, every so often and for reasons unknown these genes become activated, causing the deer to grow his/her ancestral fangs.

The same thing happens with manes. The precursor species to whitetailed deer had short manes that ran up the back of their neck. These genes are normally inactive, but on rare occassion they "turn on" causing the deer to grow a short section of mane.
 
Winchester said:
Yep, seems to be linked to the asian ancestry of Whitetails.
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All of the pre-Ice Age North American deer were fanged. Some of the Asian varieties still maintain their fangs.
 
With the sudden teenage interest in vampires this could be a great selling point for getting teenagers into hunting.

Teenage girls at least.


Seriously, that's pretty cool.
 
BSK said:
I have a buck with a genetic throwback mane. I made sure the taxidermist preserved it.
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I killed one too, but didn't even notice till later. He had a nice spread and it was close to dark. The mane shows up well on the mount.
 
Football Hunter said:
BSK said:
I have a buck with a genetic throwback mane. I made sure the taxidermist preserved it.
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Got to see pics of that
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Here ya go. Interestingly, although manes are one of the rarest genetic throwbacks to be expressed in whitetailed deer, there is a pocket in southern Indiana where it has become commonplace. For some reason, that gene group has become activated in that local population.

mane.jpg
 
ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER said:
could you see it before you did the euro
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No I could not see it.The guy who did it said he has seen 3 of them this year.There is probably more of them but is never seen unless you get a euromount.
 

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