MISSOURI MAN LANDS A `UNICORN'

KEYTESVILLE -- Chris Bax, of Jefferson City, had high hopes when he ascended an oak tree with his self-climbing deer stand the afternoon of Nov. 1. Signs of deer rutting activity were plentiful on the private property he was hunting in Chariton County, and he had seen a buck with a massive 14-point rack the day before. He was ready to resist "buck fever" if the big whitetail showed up again, but he was unprepared for the animal he encountered later that evening.

Bax, 26, was about 18 feet off the ground in open woods, enabling him to spot the beast when it was still 40 yards away. It was headed directly toward him, so he fitted an arrow to the string of his compound bow but waited to draw it. The white-tailed deer tested the air warily, searching for a whiff of trouble. Finding none, it proceeded right underneath the tree stand, giving Bax a bird's-eye view of its headgear.

It was a good-sized buck, and the antlers were big on one side. The other side was smaller, but between the two main beams of the antlers was a point bigger than the average man's middle finger. It stuck straight out over the deer's forehead.

Bax drew his bow and waited until the deer stepped six yards beyond the tree stand, then released the arrow. The shot penetrated the deer's heart and one of its lungs. Bax watched as the animal ran about 50 yards and then collapsed.

After tagging, checking and dressing the deer, Bax took the oddball antlers to Hilkemeyer's Store in Freeburg to share the oddity. Neither he nor the store's proprietors had ever seen a set of antlers like it, and they encouraged him to show it to someone at the Missouri Department of Conservation.

MDC Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen, who runs the state's deer management program, said "unicorn" antler points like the one on Bax's deer are very unusual. Non-typical antlers in general, however, are not especially rare.

"A single point out of the middle of the forehead is very unusual. I've heard of something like this before, but this is the first time I've heard of one in quite a while. I'm sure there are more cases than I hear about, but it's still pretty uncommon."

To get some idea of proportion of typical and non-typical antlers among Missouri deer, Hansen cited figures from the Show-Me Big Bucks Club. Club records show 330 out of 2,161 registered racks were scored as non-typical. That's about 15 percent.

Hansen said "typical" antlers on a white-tailed deer consist of two main beams growing upward and forward from spots called pedicels at the top left and right of the skull, with shorter "points" branching upward. The term "typical" also refers to antlers that are symmetrical. To be perfectly "typical," the main beams and points must be exactly the same on each side.

Antlers can be measured or "scored" either as typical or non-typical, depending on the degree to which they conform or differ from the typical shape. A "typical" rack gets one point of score for each inch in length of its various points, the circumference of the main beam and the distance between the two beams. A point is subtracted from "typical" scores for each inch of difference between features on the left and right sides. In contrast, "non-typical" racks get credit for every inch of antler, without regard to symmetry.

"A perfectly symmetrical rack is a rarity," said Hansen. "A lot of times, you will score a rack as both typical and non-typical and see which yields the higher score."

Hansen said the primary cause of non-typical antler development is injury to the pedicel -- the area on the deer's skull from which the antlers grow. He said this probably is what caused Bax's deer to grow a spike in the middle of its head. In fact, Hansen said, such injuries sometimes even cause antler development in female deer, which normally don't sport antlers.

Other causes of non-typical development include hormonal abnormalit ies and inherited tendencies. Strangely, an injury to a buck's hind leg also can cause non-typical antler development . . . on the opposite side. If the left hind leg is hurt, the right antler may be deformed.