Extra "Horns"

[RobertD]

The only pronghorn I've ever killed has a "horn" or keratinous bump the size of a Tic Tac on the bridge of his nose. I thought it was just a one-off until I saw another hunter on here that killed one with a decent sized bump on his as well. Working on a client's Wyoming buck at work, I found something similar, kind of off to the side on his nose though.

After some "research" I see that a not-insignificant amount of bucks have these or extra horn growth around their regular horn bases. I'm wondering how common this is or if there is any literature out there about what causes it.

Anyone else seen this on their own bucks?

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I've killed around 15 bucks and have never seen it on any of mine, but I was with a friend who killed a buck that had one. I don't think it's common, but it isn't necessarily rare.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I killed one with 4 horns had an extra horn on each side coming out of the base. Hair growing between the base of the main horn and the little extra ones. Weren't huge but pretty cool deal.

 

[MTLabrador]

My buck last year had two extra horns with their own sheath and their own bone core. I’ve seen several bucks with rhino type nose bumps.

 

[Mudranger1]

Wyoming 2018
My son shot a Colorado one that had a very small growth right on the bridge of its nose but it was only about 1/4" long maybe a little longer

 

[Bluffgruff]

Some nose bumps on my archery buck from this year.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

My buck from 2018

 

[bullbugle307]

Good stuff guys!

 

[BuzzH]

New Mexico buck:

The extra horn coming out of the bridge of the nose:

 

[bullbugle307]

New Mexico buck:

The extra horn coming out of the bridge of the nose:

Wow. At first glance that looks like a piece of metal or something sticking out of there. That's a cool extra horn.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

My buck last year had two extra horns with their own sheath and their own bone core. I’ve seen several bucks with rhino type nose bumps.

View attachment 192408

Do you have a pic of the skull without the horn sheaths?

 

[MTLabrador]

Do you have a pic of the skull without the horn sheaths?

I don’t, but it was almost a 1” little bone core sticking right out the back of the horn base. Pretty crazy looking. Most others I’ve seen have been attached to the skin without a core.

 

[RobertD]

Great photos everyone.

I think what's most remarkable is a four-horned buck with horn cores inside the extra horns.

Jim Heffelfinger has a paper on his website that documents several different prehistoric pronghorn or pronghorn-adjacent species and all the bizarre and remarkable evolutionary paths their horns went down.

The four-horned bucks almost look like a genetic throwback from some previous iteration.

The rhino horns... idk. Makes you wonder if it's just a random mutation, or if several millenia from now they'll all have them.

 

[RobertD]

My buck last year had two extra horns with their own sheath and their own bone core. I’ve seen several bucks with rhino type nose bumps.

View attachment 192408

Fiancée commented over my shoulder: "Wow that's a fantastic picture."

 

[MTLabrador]

Fiancée commented over my shoulder: "Wow that's a fantastic picture."

He did pick a pretty place to live, that’s for sure.

 

[Nambaster]

I saw a bull elk with an antler growing off of his ear. My friend shot a 4x4 mule deer with ivories. Nature is awesome!!!!

 

[Bob C]

Never come across such thing before .

 

[idelkslayer]

I've shot one buck that had a set of 2" horns growing behind his main horns exactly like the buck shown by MTLabrador.

During the Pleistocene and Holocene there were many species of Pronghorn antelope. Some had 4 horns with one set that looked similar to modern pronghorn and the second set growing backwards. The base of each set was close together. Other species had 6 or more horns.

I figure that the extra horns that grow in pairs behind the main set are a regressive gene that pops up every once in a while.

This paper (coauthored by James Heffelfinger) I think I've heard of him somewhere, discusses the varieties of pronghorn.

http://www.deernut.com/Documents/bestiary_of_antilocaprids_20thpaw.pdf

 

[ovis2]

I saw a doe 4 days ago in northern New Mexico that had a pyramid-like bump on the middle of its nose.

 

[RobertD]

I've shot one buck that had a set of 2" horns growing behind his main horns exactly like the buck shown by MTLabrador.

During the Pleistocene and Holocene there were many species of Pronghorn antelope. Some had 4 horns with one set that looked similar to modern pronghorn and the second set growing backwards. The base of each set was close together. Other species had 6 or more horns.

I figure that the extra horns that grow in pairs behind the main set are a regressive gene that pops up every once in a while.

This paper (coauthored by James Heffelfinger) I think I've heard of him somewhere, discusses the varieties of pronghorn.

http://www.deernut.com/Documents/bestiary_of_antilocaprids_20thpaw.pdf

Yep, that's the paper I was referring to in my other comment. Good reading for any pronghorn junkie