A Doe with Antlers?

A group of Alabama hunters recently had a surprising encounter while out on a hunting trip. They thought they had successfully bagged an impressive 8-point buck, but as they got closer to their prize, they realized something wasn’t quite right. The animal they had killed did not have any male genitalia. It was a doe with antlers!

Matt Kelley and his hunting companions were taken aback by this unexpected discovery. Concerned about the unusual find, they decided to contact the Alabama Department of Conservation to report their bizarre kill and to find out more about what they had encountered.

A Rare Phenomenon

Chris Cook, a coordinator with the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division’s Deer Program, was familiar with similar cases. He explained that sometimes deer can appear to be does externally but still grow antlers, although they are not fully functional. These deer have enough testosterone to initiate antler growth but not enough to complete the cycle.

Cook shared, “I’ve seen a few over the years that looked like does externally that had antlers. But it’s not physically possible to do that and be fully functional does. I’ll get reports about a few each year in Alabama. The ones I usually hear about are the ones with fully developed antlers but are still covered in velvet.”

A True Pseudohermaphrodite

According to Cook, the deer killed by the hunters was not a doe or a buck but something else entirely. It was a pseudohermaphrodite, a rare phenomenon that makes up only 0.1% of the deer population. These deer have functioning reproductive organs and antlers, but they do not possess fully developed male or female organs.

“A deer like this with hardened antlers will have testes inside the body cavity,” Cook explained. “They don’t have fully developed male or female organs. They may have external female organs, but they would have to have underdeveloped testes that were still large enough to produce enough testosterone to have that antler growth.”

An Unforgettable Moment

Kelley vividly described the shocking moment when they realized they had shot a doe with antlers. He said, “The guy who shot it was starting to skin it and said, ‘Boys, this is a doe.’ What was more crazy was the guy who shot it said the deer was actually not chasing a doe but walking behind it. The doe urinated, and this deer lip-curled just like a buck would.”

The hunters were amazed by the deer’s appearance and rack. It was truly an exceptional sight. The landowner, who had lived on the property his whole life, had never seen anything like it before.

The deer, weighing 175 pounds and with two kickers on the base of its antlers, was hunted in Sumter County, close to the Alabama-Mississippi border in the western part of the state.

A Rare Encounter

Encounters with pseudohermaphrodite deer are incredibly rare. To stumble upon one during a hunting trip is undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The hunters did the right thing by reporting their find to the Alabama Department of Conservation, providing valuable information for further research.

This fascinating discovery serves as a reminder that nature can surprise us in the most unexpected ways. It’s a testament to the diversity and wonder of the animal kingdom.