Which Deer Has the Biggest Antlers? Find Out Here (2024)

FAQs

Which deer has the biggest antlers? ›

The Irish elk stood about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall at the shoulders, and had large palmate (flat and broad) antlers, the largest known of any known deer, with the largest specimens reaching over 3.5 m (11 ft) from tip to tip (though it is rare for specimens to exceed 3 metres (9.8 ft) across) and 40 kg (88 lb) in weight.

Elk and mule deer grow new, larger antlers each year until they reach their prime age of about 6-8 years old, at which point their antlers are no longer shed and reach their maximum size.

The biggest rack ever measured was 333 ⅞ on a deer in Missouri, but that was a pickup, or found deer, not one shot by a hunter. Tucker's kill is the “deer story of 2016 — and maybe the deer story of the decade,” Field & Stream proclaimed.

Whitetails in northern latitudes grow much larger than their southern cousins. This phenomena is known as Bergmann's principle, which doesn't seem to have nearly as much influence on mule deer body size.

The Megaloceros, or “Irish elk,” had the largest antlers of any known deer with some if the biggest bulls having antlers spanning 3.65 meters or about 12 feet and is the heaviest known deer at over 700 kg(1,500 pounds) due to the bull's rack.

Originally Answered: Since male dear and elk shed their horns or racks, how come you hardly ever find any horns in the woods? Rodents will chew shed deer antlers to sharpen their teeth. Rabbits, squirrels, mice, and rats will drag shed antlers into their den or nest. That's what happens to most of them.

The dropped antlers are called “sheds” and the process does not hurt the buck. From spring through summer, the antlers grow back and are usually bigger than the previous year. From August through September, the antlers lose the velvet encasem*nt in preparation for the whitetail breeding season.

Male deer or bucks use their antlers to establish dominance and compete for mates during the breeding season. Once the breeding season is over and hormone levels decrease the bone where the antler was attached to the pedicel begins to erode away. Eventually the antler falls off, generally during January to March.

The following slide shows two extreme outliers at the Faith Ranch: a 50 point deformed buck and the 236 I shot in 1990. These images provide a visual to describe outliers on the bell curve of antler scores.

After seven decades, Wisconsin continues to reign supreme for the number of Boone and Crockett whitetail entries. The state has 125 entries, with 81 typical and 44 non-typical deer entering the book between 2020-2022.

What is the oldest deer to ever live? ›

Certain zoo specimens of deer have survived well beyond the age of 20. For example, a red deer in Milwaukee Zoo in Wisconsin, USA, lived to be 26 years 8 months, dying in 1954. Another red deer, this time housed at the National Zoo in Washington DC, USA, lived to be 26 years 2 months 2 days old.

White-tailed deer in Florida are smaller than their northern relatives because their bodies have adapted to the steamy temperatures. Their smaller bodies allow deer to use less energy to regulate their body heat.

If the “mule deer vs. whitetail deer” game were about who would win in a fight, muleys might take the prize. Mule deer will get a little bigger than whitetails, especially leading up to the rut. Mule deer bucks can weigh around 330 pounds, about 30 pounds more than their heaviest white-tailed counterparts.

Fully formed, mature mule deer racks are taller and broader than those on whitetails. They are also bifurcated, forking in two directions as they grow, splitting again to create more tines (points), and so forth. A white-tailed deer buck's antler points will all grow off of one main beam.

Many believe the biggest and best antlers on a buck are a result of good genetics. But it's a lot more than just that. Overall, there are three main elements in antler development: nutrition, genetics, and age. And the best driving factor for bigger and better antlers is actually nutrition.

If you look at a graph of average antler size of white-‐tailed deer at different ages, it is clear antler size increases until 5 years of age. Average antler size then remains relatively constant, suggesting antler size does not change much after a buck reaches 5 years old.