Hi All,

My girlfried Katie shot her first whitetail buck yesterday evening on the Milk River bottom near Fort Peck, Montana. We had been to the area 5 times over the last 8 days filming the deer and seeing where they were moving. Yesterday evening, we picked a small spot that was surrounded by trees about 30 yards from the Milk River and overlooked a nice alfalfa field. There were at least a dozen trails that met together here and buck rubs everywhere. We got out about 1pm and settled in. After about two hours, we started seeing some movement in the field across the river. I rattled in a spike that we had rattled in three days prior at the other end of the field we were in. He came within 20 feet and we got some great film of him. About an hour and a half later we saw some does at the river bottom. I set the camera down (bad move) and rattled again. Within 15 seconds a doe popped out of the thick tree cover about 10 yards from us. Before we knew it, she was within 7 feet of us and I could see two more deer in the thick trees. She was right next to us so I could not bend down and grab the camera. Then a 4x4 buck came out of the trees. He was a little less than 10 yards away. Katie was already set with the 20 guage shotgun with slug. We are hunting on a piece of block management that was traditional hunting only which included shotgun. Katie fired and the deer dropped down instantly. We waited and watched for about 7 minutes. Then we went to get the truck. When we returned, the buck had expired in the same place we left him. When we approached him, I was looking for the entry hole and could not see it. Once we lifted his head, I say that the slug had entered his head about two inches below the ear, wow. A great shot by Katie and a great first Whitetail Buck from the Milk River, Montana. A special thanks to the Miller's for allowing some of their property to be in BM!

Cheers,

Chris & Katie

Hello,

I have had a few comments about what causes this anomaly. From my checking around online, this type of buck is called a stag. It either was born with defects in the guy parts area, or was injured during its life. The testosterone levels would have been low. The antler growth, velvet shedding, and antler dropping are controlled by testosterone. Because his was low, he did not drop his antlers or go out of velvet. There is a lot of information on the Internet if you search for "cactus buck" or "stag", I found more with "cactus buck".

Cheers, Chris