Murder Bucks

rogue trader

Well-Known Member
Took out my first Murder Buck at the weekend. I found him fraying on the edge of the wood at first light.

I had a good look at him and although he looked a little thin I couldn't find any problems physically with and it got me thinking. I hear a lot of stalkers saying that you should take out Murder Bucks but if a Murder Buck manages to get through a season, will he grow a proper/better head the next season if food etc are good or is a murder buck always one and he'll grow single spikes every year if allowed to do so?
 
They normally grow the same antlers the following year it took me two seasons to catch up with one on my patch !
 
Size of a head can vary a lot from year to year, though they tend to keep the same general shape, so yes more than likely to be a murder buck in future years.
 
Right lads dont mean to sound stupid but what is a murder buck? I have heard the terminology thrown about a bit but dont know what it means.

Adam
 
Generally a buck that grows two spikes as antlers as oppose three points on each antler, when they fight the antlers wont lock together so the murder buck has the upper hand and when they fight the two spikes stab the other deer normally causing serious injury or death.
 
View attachment 31364

Cheers guys.

@Teyhan1 - Here you go.


looks more like a yearling spiker than murder buck to me, antlers are very thin and 'young' looking. IMHO, murder bucks usually show more 'structure' slightly thicker antlers and maybe with more colour and pearling..that said, this could be a 'young' murder buck.

as bogtrotter quite rightly said, probably a lot of spikers shot as murder bucks, and that's no bad thing as they should make up the majority of the buck cull anyway.
 
20130914_185216.jpg
recent red murder
 
aren't murder bucks created because of natural selection?

that's reverse logic, beasts like murder bucks have been seen to have less domination during rutting and also testosterone imbalances, so for them to be victorious in a fight, it would not make sense that natural selection was guiding their survival...unless you mean natural selection in that mankind were meant to cull them :)
 
20130914_185216.jpg
recent red murder

I would say first year head rather than 'murder' hasn't had a chance to develop a full set of antlers yet.
As for the roe, I would agree he looks very young, as others have said, normally murder bucks have much more established antlers than that and are considerably longer.
 
that's reverse logic, beasts like murder bucks have been seen to have less domination during rutting and also testosterone imbalances, so for them to be victorious in a fight, it would not make sense that natural selection was guiding their survival...unless you mean natural selection in that mankind were meant to cull them :)

perhaps we were meant to cull them.

but if nature was left to its own devices would they not become the norm in the antler arms race?
 
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