The "Franken-Buck"

[MuskratMike]

Just possibly the strangest set of horns on any Mule deer yet! Shot by my hunting partner in Eastern Oregon. Using a .54 caliber Hawken with L&R lock and triggers and an Oregon Barrel Company barrel. He shot it at 75 yards running dead away. Placed the .535 patched round ball in the back of the head right between the ears coming out just below the right eye. Needless to say the deer was dead before he hit the ground. Using 80 grains of Goex 2F and pillow ticking did the trick. After seeing the buck up close we named him the "Franken-Buck".

[VJM]

Hellova shot! Congratulations.

[Dave Patterson]

Nice buck, and one heckuva nice shot!

As to the rack, you probably would have mentioned this, but I just have to ask:  was he an intact male?

Reason I ask:  big-ranch buckaroos will stick a rope on anything they see; the faster it moves and the wilder it is, the more they crave dropping a loop on it... including bear, elk, pigs, antelope, coyotes, pretty girls, their saddle partner's colts, and... deer.  Illegal as all get-out, but the young bucks just can't seem to resist the urge to apply a little rawhide-therapy to anything they see.

One of the little side-twists to that irresistible urge to rope is, some guys will castrate a buck before they turn it loose.  A neutered buck often grows some pretty wild and weird antlers.

Eastern Oregon = buckaroo country.

[MuskratMike]

No he had a full "set" and was starting to swell in the neck.

[jaeren]

Bucks when spooked and in velvet can grow some strange racks , bumping them will cause this. Also very painful for the Buck.

[Huntschool]

Interesting....  First off I would be interested in the age of this buck.  I can see no evidence in the picture of pedicel injury so I would discount that which really only leaves us with genetics and early antler development injury or possible stress (lack of food or water) during the developmental period of growth.

See here: http://wp.auburn.edu/deerlab/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/22013-WSB.pdf

That is one wild rack.  I have a 3.5/4.5 yo that visits my place that was a great high racked 6 point (eastern) last year.  This year his left G1 looks like a baseball bat with the thick end up terminating in something that looks like an eagles claw foot......  All our bucks are I hard antler right now and they are already chasing..... I have not seen this guy for two weeks or more.  I need to get a good pic of him

[hanshi]

How about, "corkscrew buck"?

[Hungry Horse]

Years ago a hunting buddy killed a similar buck in Northern California. It’s rack was a more typical rack in the main beams, but every point was corkscrewed. We nick named it the “beauty parlor buck” because it looked like it had a fresh perm.

  Hungry Horse

[MuskratMike]

All good names; but going to stick with "Franken-Buck". He is a 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 Y.O. buck and was in perfect health. The horns showed no signs of previous trauma. As we out here on the frontier do not have chronic waste this was not the cause. Eastern Oregon is always in short supply of rain but plenty of rivers , streams, and creeks for deer to water and all the ranches along them have grass or alfalfa for the deer to eat he showed no signs of ailment or lack of feed. Just a good buck with freakish horns.