Mike: One day last fall I swear I saw a doe with a small set of fork-horn antlers, but I didn’t shoot. Have you ever seen a doe with antlers?—Steve from MO
Steve, no I have never seen one in the wild, though I’ve posted a few on the blog. According to VA biologists, there are two types of antlered whitetail does. The first is a female deer with velvet-covered antlers like this one. This animal usually has a normal female reproductive tract and is capable of bearing fawns.
The second type is a female deer with polished antlers. This animal is actually a male “pseudo-hermaphrodite.” It has the external genitalia of a female, but has male sex organs internally.
How rare is a doe with antlers? Renowned biologist Dr. Grant Woods told me: “I’ve often heard the number 1 in 10,000 quoted as the frequency of does that have antlers. I don’t know if researchers actually calculated that from check station data, or simply used that figure to illustrate how rare it occurs. Either way, a doe with antlers is a rare event.”
Generally only one or two, if any, are killed each season by hunters in any given state.
Just shot a spike doe today in mass. 12/5/2020
Never heard of it never seen it super interesting, heart and tenderloins tasted great!
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I shot a seven point yesterday in western NY. it turned out to be an antlered doe with a normal hardened rack. 2020 is definitely a strange year and on halloween to boot.
I killed a spike doe Oct 10 in Southern B.C. first time I have ever seen one, what a surprise it was.
Mike, I shot an antlered doe in Indiana in 1995. She had polished antlers and was a 5 point. When I rolled it over to gut it, boy was I shocked to see female parts! I was told that there was only 1 other deer like that taken in the state that year.
Dean, I believe in modern slang that would be termed a metrosexual.
My brother Mike shot a slick this past year during Muzzleloader season that had milk sack and button nubs for antlers. Also had big dark glands on her or it’s back legs like a buck. Don’t know what it was for sure, but we converted “it” to steaks and burger. You never know out there…..
I’ve killed a hermaphrodite doe before. I shot her for a doe, but when I walked up on her she had 4 inch spikes covered in velvet. She even had a teet sack full of milk and female parts so I was blown away she had antlers albeit they were short spikes. It was the strangest thing I’ve killed till this day.
I killed an antlered doe, a 5 pt. about 25 years ago in Northampton Co., Pa. during the early archery season. She was in velvet and in a group of does and fawns. One of the fawns must have been hers as it tried to nurse and she gave it a good swift kick rolling it over. Only thin odd about her were the antlers body wise she was normal. She was not the matriarch of the group either.
Pseudo-hermaphrodite. That is a strange word right there. I think I might have found a new “nickname” for some of my buddies. LOL!
All kidding aside, the strangest one I’ve ever seen around here was a buck whose testicals were internal and the antlers continuously grew and maintained velvet. It was a male, through and through. No female parts, so it was not a pseudo-hermaphrodite.
There, I said it again…