Karl Puckett

kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com

Chris Hickman and his son, Kelson, first saw the mule deer with the unusual antlers while they were hunting in the Geraldine area in 2015.

The muley had what appeared to be at least a dozen velvet-covered spikes poking out of its head, undeveloped stumps no longer than its ears.

A year later, father and son saw a deer with strange antlers again, in the same location. With those crazy-looking antlers, it was hard to misidentify.

“I still remember the one spike coming up and all those knots on its head,” Chris Hickman.

It was a “cactus buck,” the unofficial name for deer with odd antler growth.

Kelson shot the deer in October 2016, and a shoulder mount is under way.

“It’s definitely a minority of animals out there, but we do see them occasionally,” Jennifer Ramsey, wildlife veterinarian for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said of cactus bucks.

Deformed antlers can be related to Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease that occurs in deer in some areas of the state, Ramsey said. And that’s what she suspects caused the deformities in the antlers of the deer harvested by the Hickmans, but she can’t say for sure without examining the animal’s organs.

EHD outbreaks are caused by tiny biting insects. In some years, the disease kills a lot of deer. Deer that survive may end up with antler and other deformities as a result of the infection.

“We do see some of this repeatedly in certain areas we know we’ve had EHD,” Ramsey said.

The theory is that the virus results in decreased testosterone affecting antler and velvet growth, Ramsey said.

With a healthy deer, velvet dries up and antlers are shed. In some cases, antlers on deer with testosterone problems never fall off, and velvet remains, too, she said.

Some people call the deer “cactus bucks” because the antlers look similar to a cactus, Ramsey said.

“Not a technical term at all,” she said. “It’s just kind of a description.”

Abnormal antler development and velvet retention also can be caused by old age and injury to the reproductive organs, which can decrease testosterone levels, too, Ramsey said.

Kelson Hickman, 14, is really into the outdoors, said his father, Chris. He ties his own flies for fishing. He wants to be a fisheries biologist. He purchased his hunting rifle with money he earned himself. And prior to seeing the atypical deer, he was interested in the subject, reading about deer and elk with unusual features.

Outdoors hunting scrapbook

Then he got the chance to shoot one.

In 2015, Kelson Hickman got a shot, but missed.

A year later, in October 2016, the Hickmans saw the deer again standing within 500 yards of the location where they had seen it the previous year.

“We were quite amazed to find the same deer again,” Chris Hickman said.

They put two stalks on the deer to get within range.

Kelson didn’t miss the second time.

Now the deer is at Timberland Taxidermy.

“It’s just so unusual and so unique there was just no doubt we were going to get it mounted,” Chris Hickman said.

Follow Karl Puckett on Twitter @GFTrib_KPuckett