CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 237 



In the Modoc and Lassen regions in northeastern California it has 

 been my own observation, as well as that of residents of the region, that 

 a male Rocky Mountain mule deer in normal strength and vigor will 

 have his first antlers "forked-horn." In one well-attested instance in 

 the Lassen region, a mule deer buck known to have been only a year- 

 ling had three points on one antler and two on the other (Grinnell, 

 Dixon and Linsdale, Vertebrate Natural History of Lassen Peak Region, 

 1930, p. 572). 



It has been pointed out that deer in captivity t«nd to produce 

 smaller antlers than those of the same species and age in the wild. 

 It has been thought that this difference in size of antlers may be due to 

 the presence or absence of certain foods of high mineral content. This 

 difference in available food might well account for the variation that 

 we find in the size of antlers in the same species of deer in localities 

 only a few miles apart. 



During the second year of his life a mule deer buck is usually a 

 "forked-horn." The brow tine, which is commonly known to hunters 

 as the "eyeguard" is not acquired until the third year, at which time 

 a third point is usually added to each antler. Basal snags, or pro- 

 tuberances at the base of the antler below the eye-guard, are only 

 present on old bucks. Many of these old bucks are only * ' forked-horns ' ' 

 and frequently lack brow tines (see Fig. 78). 



Some hunters have claimed that the age of a buck can always be 

 determined by the number of points on his antlers. AVhile there is a 

 general relationship between age and the number of points, no hard and 

 fast rule can be laid down, because, as will presently be shown, there is 

 much variation in antlers with age even in the same individual. 



My own experience has been that the development of antlers in a 

 normal male mule deer is as follows: yearling, forked-horn or spike, 

 varying with sub-species ; two-year-old, forked-horn, rarely a three- 

 pointer ; three-year-old, three-pointer, rarely a forked-horn ; four-year- 

 old to eight-year-old, four pointer. Four points, exclusive of tlie brow 

 tine, on each antler is the regular number of points for a fully adult mule 

 deer buck. Aside from freak sets of antlers, the largest number of 

 points of which I have dependable record in mule deer in California is 

 seven full points on one antler and eight on the companion antler. 



Antlers in deer are secondary sexual characters and are closely 

 linked up with the reproductive system. Where it has been possible 

 personally to check on the animal in the flesh, it has invariably been mj^ 

 experience that all bucks bearing freak antlers or antlers that never 

 shed their velvet have been sexually aberrant. 



After reaching full normal size of four points, some bucks subse- 

 quently add extra prongs and snags or even an extra tine or two to 

 their antlers (see Fig 56). However, the majority of mule deer bucks 

 rarely develop more than four main tines to each antler. After a buck 

 has reached the zenith of his physical perfection, and although his 

 antlers may retain their full spread, a reduction in the number of tines 

 frequently takes place from year to year, so that we commonly find 

 large old bucks (see Fig 78) having antlers that are reduced to only 

 three, two, or in extreme cases only a single tine or "spike." In seve- 

 ral instances I have been able to examine the skeleton, skull, and par- 

 ticularly the worn teeth, of such bucks that have fallen to the hunter's 



