Palmation on Mule and Whitetail Deer

[WoodOx]

Palmation - a timely question!

Has anyone read anything on how exactly this occurs?

- Is it related to genetics?
- Is it related to age?
- Is it related to nutrition?
- Do deer horns grow anything like a moose's horns? Moose sometimes get long, unpalmated tines - this is basically the reverse of what we see on deer with palmated horns.

Pictures, comments, etc would be great.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I think its too rare to draw any conclusions.

Didn't think we had any nuclear plants here in BC.

SSS

[bckev]

when I look at tooleys buck, it makes me think of a little buck I was seeing in Ok falls. Nice palmation, I think they must be crossing with moose. No longer do we just have to worry about muleys and whitetail crosses. What happens when they start crossing with the mountain sheep and goats :-)

[Ltbullken]

Older deer tend to palmate but it might genetics or damage in velvet. Usually it's age. If the animal 'looks' old, not fat and robust, but a bit more spindly and grey-ish, likely just age. This also means the animal isn't prime so maybe not a good harvest...?