Got a few pics of this axis and another smaller one with what appear to be black antlers. Never seen this before. Have any of y'all seen this before or since the freeze? Thought it might have been in velvet when the freeze occurred or somehow related to the extreme cold. Southern Kimble Co.

Haven't seen that on my place, but it sure would make a cool shoulder mount, if you can preserve that color. 'Be a neat reminder of this year.

So many axis look almost the same, that is a good buck and I would be hunting him if I could. Agree he would be a great reminder of this year.

Dang never seen one that dark

With whitetails, the lighter or whiter looking antlers are due to density of the antler. Dense antlers do not stain nearly as much. Less dense antlers will stain much better and depending on what they rub on, can make them look shades of brown to really dark. This one could be a combo from the freeze and the density of the antler. Do you know how long he has been out of velvet? I know that majority of the axis that shed their velvet from late April till early June will have their prettiest antler color and it is a bit darker than it will be in the rest of the year. I agree that this one is much darker than normal. If you do kill him, once you get your hands on him it will answer a lot of question.

I have never seen any antler that dark. Are you sure it is not the lighting? Look at the inside of his ear. Black like his antler.

No I have a couple pictures of him at different angles. All black like that.

So on a recent axis hunt near Rocksprings, we saw a lot of black antlers and some with extensive freeze damage. Best i can tell is that if a buck was in velvet during the freeze, there is a chance that it can/did turn the antlers black and cause them to be more brittle and/or stop growing.

Its frostbite damage from the severe freeze. We have been seeing tons of it in the industry

Yep, those antlers are damaged. Better let me talk him off your hands for you.

X2 on frostbite damage
We have many like him

I shot one this weekend with super dark antlers. Not black but very chocolate brown. I loved the way they looked though

I'm guessing he was in full velvet and grown out all the way when the big freeze his. Probably was very close to shedding velvet and had way less blood in it at the time of the freeze and the frost bite didn't affect it like the others which were in mid-growth and full of blood.

Either way, I'd be hunting this toad every day until he was in the back of my truck headed to the taxidermist! What a buck!