CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



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why this buck was very shy and kept out of the way of all of the larger 

 bucks. 



Gus Nordquist has mounted between 300 and 400 deer heads each 

 year for the past ten years. He has thus had an excellent opportunity 

 to observe unusual sets of antlers since deer heads from all over 

 California are shipped to him to be mounted. Nordquist has taken the 

 trouble to examine the teeth and skulls of two large spike bucks and 

 stated that the worn teeth and the characters of the skull in each case 

 showed that the bucks that carried these large antlers were unquestion- 

 ably old individuals. Nordquist states that in one instance the spike 

 antlers were over fifteen inches in length and more than an inch and 

 a quarter in diameter at the base. Examination of the teeth and skull 

 proved that the animal that wore the antlers was well past middle age. 



Fig. 89. This old buck's left antler was a straight spike ten inches long and 

 one inch in diameter. The other antler was tall and carried four points. Yosemite, 

 January 31, 1929. J. S. Dixon No. 30. 



I have personally examined two sets of spike antlers that measured 

 over fourteen inches in length and well over an inch and one-eighth in 

 diameter. In both instances there was conclusive evidence that the 

 bucks were old. 



Nordquist and I have both found that in nearly every instance 

 where an old buck has been found bearing spike antlers, there have 

 also been several extra snags, from one to six inches in length, clustered 

 about the base of the main antler. The presence of such snags or prongs 

 at the base of the antler has been shown by both Caton and Nordquist 

 to be characteristic of age, and restricted to antlers of old bucks. 



In 1930 I found that in Yosemite Valley all of the older bucks had 

 dropped their antlers by February 8, the earliest date a buck was seen 



