I was reading an article recently about a young hunter here in New York that took a hermaphrodite deer that had 6-point antlers and female reproductive organs that were external. Some of my buddies called it an “antlered doe”. At risk of sounding like a wildlife biologist, which I assure everyone that I am not, let me explain the difference and point out a few more oddities that occur in the deer herd.

A true antlered doe has an abnormally high testosterone (male hormone) level. This causes the doe to grow antlers that are very small and thin like a spike buck. The hormone level is not high enough for the antlers to harden and be shed. Antlered does keep their antlers year-round and they stay in velvet. These does can and often do breed and raise young.

Hermaphrodite deer, like the one the young hunter took, have both male and female organs. They can grow larger antlers that can fork into additional points. The antlers of hermaphrodite deer usually stay in velvet and do not harden or get shed. Often one or both sets of the reproductive organs will stay inside and not be seen until examination of the internals.

A third type of genetic oddity in deer is called a cryptorchid buck. With these bucks, their reproductive organs stay in the abdominal cavity and do not drop. They may eventually drop in some cases but if so, are small and malformed.

Cryptorchid bucks are sterile and cannot ever reproduce. A lack of testosterone means that these bucks do not fight other bucks for dominance. The condition is due to a birth defect but can also be caused by injury to a normal buck’s reproductive organs.

Just like the previous two types of deer, these bucks suffer from antler abnormalities. The antlers never harden and stay in velvet. They continue to grow and end up stubby with multiple short points protruding from enlarged bases.

Cryptorchid bucks stay slender like does and do not grow muscular. They exhibit very little tarsal-gland staining and do not make scrapes and rubs like other bucks.

The rarest of these three types of whitetail deer is by far the antlered doe. It is not at all uncommon to misdiagnose these oddities in the field. A very close internal examination is usually needed to discover the truth.

So, congratulations to the young hunter on getting his first “buck”. And remember, the only surefire way to tell an antlered doe in the field is if she is nursing a fawn.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!