Thread: Hummel

Originally Posted by timattalon

This is similar to what I have been told. If you have a male fawn that loses its mum (Hind) and is weaned too early, its first year it winds up struggling and more likely malnourished. If it survives the season to become a yearling stag and the pedicle has not formed properly then it will never develop antlers. Whether this propensity is hereditary or not I do not know, but if it is not pumping all the seasons feed into antler growth, do they grow more body / meat?

It will still grow antlers but will never achieve / reach it's genetic potential. Pedicle development is initiated at around 90 days from birth and nutritional stress at this time will affect antler size for the rest of the animals life BUT it wont prevent it from growing antlers. The fact that the stag in the photo has no coronet shows that the little stubs he has are not true antlers. If they were antlers the coronet would have hardened off by now. Common to see fallow spikers with tiny little spikes 50mm long coming out of a little coronet.