This is one of the biggest deer I've taken and it has a hole in the left antler. Someone told me that it's caused by a worm boring into the antler during velvet. Has anyone else experienced this?
Holes in the antlers...?
- Thread starter staywarmguy
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This is one of the biggest deer I've taken and it has a hole in the left antler. Someone told me that it's caused by a worm boring into the antler during velvet. Has anyone else experienced this?
Hilltop
Veteran member
Here is a post from Big and J;
"Finally, what about those burrowed holes in antlers? Is there a species of fly that lives on antlers? Yes, and it is appropriately named the antler fly (Protopiophila litigata). It is a small fly (less than 1/8-inch) that breeds exclusively on the antlers of cervids such as deer and moose. Antler flies mate on antlers from late May through late August and the female deposits her eggs into the minute cracks or pores in the antler surface. However, this only occurs on shed antlers and not on velvet antlers! The antler fly is found in eastern Canada and is not responsible for the holes we see in some antlers.
So what actually causes them? It is unlikely they are caused by a “boring fly” or other insect, but rather the result of an injury to the growing antler. I asked some of the best minds in deer research if they were aware of any studies identifying the cause of holes in antlers. Neither Dr. Bubenik nor John Ozoga nor Drs. Grant Woods or Karl Miller were aware of a single study. I have observed deer at captive research facilities with blood on the surface of an injured velvet antler. This blood often attracted flies and may be the cause of speculation about the role of flies in this scenario. In the few cases I observed, the bucks injured their antlers on a fence and the flies arrived afterward. The above researchers suggested the likelihood of the holes being injury induced."
"Finally, what about those burrowed holes in antlers? Is there a species of fly that lives on antlers? Yes, and it is appropriately named the antler fly (Protopiophila litigata). It is a small fly (less than 1/8-inch) that breeds exclusively on the antlers of cervids such as deer and moose. Antler flies mate on antlers from late May through late August and the female deposits her eggs into the minute cracks or pores in the antler surface. However, this only occurs on shed antlers and not on velvet antlers! The antler fly is found in eastern Canada and is not responsible for the holes we see in some antlers.
So what actually causes them? It is unlikely they are caused by a “boring fly” or other insect, but rather the result of an injury to the growing antler. I asked some of the best minds in deer research if they were aware of any studies identifying the cause of holes in antlers. Neither Dr. Bubenik nor John Ozoga nor Drs. Grant Woods or Karl Miller were aware of a single study. I have observed deer at captive research facilities with blood on the surface of an injured velvet antler. This blood often attracted flies and may be the cause of speculation about the role of flies in this scenario. In the few cases I observed, the bucks injured their antlers on a fence and the flies arrived afterward. The above researchers suggested the likelihood of the holes being injury induced."
libidilatimmy
Veteran member
Interesting, I was always under the impression that they were cause by an insect of some sort. I wonder how deep the hole is on the OP's antler as in does it follow the length of the main beam, or is it shallow?