Last season, a group of hunters was celebrating the harvest of a nice 8-point in Sumter County, but they were in for a surprise when the deer was hoisted up on the skinning rack. “Boys, this is a doe,” said the fellow that shot it. The deer weighed a stout 175 pounds and had 8 scorable points on its rack, including two kickers on the base of one antler. The lucky hunter said the deer was not chasing a doe but walking behind it. The doe urinated and this deer lip-curled just like a buck would. Chris Cook, Alabama’s Deer Program Coordinator, said the 8-point was what wildlife biologists call a “pseudohermaphrodite.” “A deer like this with hardened antlers will [...]

How rare is a whitetail doe like the one in this picture? According to the Virginia Division of Wildlife Resources, there are two types of antlered does. The first are females with velvet-covered antlers. These animals usually have normal female reproductive tracts and are capable of bearing fawns. On the other hand, does with polished antlers are actually male pseudo-hermaphrodites. They have the external genitalia of a female, but have male sex organs internally. Antlered does are extremely rare. How uncommon? Some scientists say that one in every 5,000 does might have antlers For more on does with antlers, click here.