Saw this guy last year a week from now (Nov 14) as he was trailing a doe and bred her in front of me. Felt like he was older at that point but had a weak left side that allowed him another year. Live pics below are from last year. Not the best as they came in early and light was low still, but legal had i chosen to shoot him.

Fast forward 51 weeks, and today this guy walks out, not really chasing or tending a doe, just being a nonchalant old buck who knows whats up and knows the doe aren’t quite there yet. His left side is still way weak but the brow caught up. Mass out the yin yang. Cool character. He is sniffing around and moves out of range after i decide his time is up. Get my xbow up in case he cones back and sure enough he comes back and starts to eat some corn. Turns broadside and perfect shot he runs 50 yards and piles up in sight. He showed no sign of injury last year or today. Not sure if he just had some bad genetics, or bad pedicle damage that was somewhat permanent, but what this dude lacks in score he makes up with character. Will make a nice euro mount.

Turns out after looking at him some more and realizing it was that same buck from last year, i remembered my north neighbor had a pic of him out of velvet this year (included) and the kicker he had on that right side had busted off. Still a cool old deer

I have no clue, but he would have been freezer filler if I saw him.

STx has a lot of insight about somewhat similar deer so he will chime in i assume.
To me I think normally that is damage to the pedicle. Usually due to not cleaning shedding and dropping the horn and Ive heard it called dirty shedding. I guess it could happen in very early velvet but I think not usually.
They say it sometimes corrects in future and sometimes not. We gave one a pass that had a spike on one side but big on other and he turned out real big next year. In your case he was old enough to take anyway; Often times the bad side will be much worse and often a big spike or cluster at the base. We have had several like that and I posted a bunch of pics a year ago in that real good thread titled "MANAGEMENT BUCKS" ( I think.)
Neat deer to take and good job. Congrats.

Cool old buck, left side could have pedicle damage but I lean more to some skeletal damage in the past on his right side which can cause deformation on the left antler.

My thoughts is most of the ones with pedicle damage i remember it was noticeable at the bur but cannot see all of his bur area. My Dad killed one that looked a lot like that and he had right shoulder that had been shot that had healed up but the part of the shoulder blade that sticks out had damage. Had read before about skeletal damage on one side would often cause damage to the oposite side damage.

Have a 2 year old buck behind the house that we get a few night pics of that has broke back leg and has had since he was young but his little rack this year the left side is deformed a lot,

I have one very much like that. Has only three points on one side and that side antler always slants back.

The other side is normal and well developed. Were a person to see him only from a side view (good side) you would think 'Shoot' immediately.

Buck has been that way for 3 years that I have pics of him. Big mature deer now. Possibly a pedicle injury at some point.

I have seen similar thing at breeding facility. It is more than likely damage to the pedicle.

Injury, regardless cool buck

All I see is an awesome deer! Congrats

It don't matter how he got that way, he's a trophy anyway!!!!!

80% pedicle injury
20% invisible injury to the animal

Quit, I like your analytical thinking style. I like to put numbers to stuff as well. So I’ll take it further and wonder about the 80% pedicle damage. Of that 80, what percentage might be done previous years during hard antler, or not cleanly shedding in winter, or in velvet this year? No, it may not matter but it’s interesting to consider.
However, I do think it matters to know the cause in case you get a young buck like that, it helps to know the likelihood of him growing out of it in future. The “shoot/don’t shoot” decision is always in play in my head.

That is a really, really cool deer and no doubt mature

Congrats on a great 'trophy' in my book!

Cool looking deer...

I am having a euro mount done so hopefully that will show if there was skull or pedicle damage somewhat, but maybe not 100%.

When i gutted the buck, he had a clean skeleton, no injuries or hidden damage anywhere i could see, no evidence of prior injury in the skeleton.

Just curious, in your experience, what types of “hidden injuries” are you talking about? Asking as i am really curious.

I assume he is just talking about any injury thats not readily seen.

Your kill pics are some of the worst I’ve seen…..congrats on the mature buck…..

He's a great buck, love the mass

We had a big 9 point on camera for several years. He was mature when we started getting pictures of him. His last rack looked a lot like the one above, but didnt have the mass that deer does. His teeth gave out and he had an injury. That year he relied heavily on feeders and my old man busted him. We attributed it to age and injury.

Sometimes they just get old and go down hill.