Another pair of bucks came out of the forest recently. I couldn’t match them with photographs from last winter, but they weren’t afraid of me.
The first one was such a solid guy that I did some research to learn how to count his points correctly. It turns out that for mule deer, you don’t count the total points. You count each side separately, and the eyeguards–that single spike at the base of each antler–isn’t included in the general point count.
From the profile you can see clearly that this is a 4×4 with 2 eyeguards. According to Wikipedia, a 4×4 is a standard male rack.
This is the buck who followed him. He’s ginormous. He might be the biggest mule deer I’ve ever seen.
He has six points on each side, making him a 6×6 with 2 eyeguards.
He let me get really close, and didn’t pay much attention to me. Hey, I shouted, look over here. Pose for me, already.
Great post! That second buck is very handsome!