Antler Characteristics and Body Mass of Spike- and Fork-antlered Yearling White-tailed Deer at Maturity
We compared antler characteristics and body mass at 4.5 years of age (adult) of 140 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) reared in a captive herd at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (Hunt, Texas) from 1973 to 1990. Each yearling (1.5 years old) was classified as spike- (N = 43) or fork-antlered (N = 97), and its live body mass recorded. Fork-antlered yearlings were further partitioned into 3-5 points (N = 33) and ≥6 points (N = 64) subclasses based on the number of antler points ≥2.54 cm in length. All deer were reared in 1.62-ha enclosures and maintained on a 16% crude protein diet...
