Alabama Hunter Tags 8-Pointer That Turns Out to Be a Doe
Melvin Dobbs was delighted when he took down a wide-racked 8-pointer in Sumter County, Alabama. However, upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was not a buck at all, according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Dobbs had been participating in a fundraising event organized by Equip Ministries, a substance-abuse prevention program that focuses on outdoor activities. While hunting, he spotted a doe with a buck behind her. The 8-pointer curled its lip, just like a rutting buck, when the doe urinated.
“We took pictures and brought it back for skinning,” says Matt Kelley, the organizer of the fundraiser. “But then we noticed that the tarsal glands weren’t even black and that its neck was unusually thin. Finally, when the guy who shot it started skinning it, he said, ‘Boys, this is a doe.’”
The 175-pound deer had a wide rack with eight points and two kickers. It is known as a “pseudohermaphrodite,” according to Chris Cook, Alabama’s deer program coordinator. These deer have testes inside the body cavity, but they do not possess fully developed male or female reproductive organs. While they may have external female organs, they also have underdeveloped testes that produce enough testosterone to allow for antler growth. Although they may resemble does on the outside, they are not truly does or bucks. It is very uncommon for a functioning female to have antlers.
According to Cook, female deer with antlers make up about one in every 1,000 animals. These does are able to reproduce and are healthy, but they have small, velvet antlers. Does with hardened antlers, like the one Dobbs killed, are even rarer.
“Over the years, I’ve seen a few that looked like does externally but had antlers,” says Cook. “However, it is not physically possible for them to be fully functional does. I usually receive reports about a few of these cases each year in Alabama. The ones I am typically informed about are the ones with fully developed antlers but are still covered in velvet. They have enough testosterone to begin antler growth but not enough to complete the cycle.”
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