Tennessee Hunter Bags Freaky Non-typical with Antler Fused to its Jaw

Some spots are big buck magnets. The 10-acre food plot that Bradley Baxter, his dad, and his brother-in-law planted on their family land in eastern Tennessee was one of those. Over the years, Baxter’s dad had killed a number of nice bucks over the plot and established mineral lick. This year, they drilled in a mix of corn and beans for the plot. The ready food source and nearby water made the spot attractive to deer and the trail cameras around it had been active since turkey season.

When the unusual deer first showed on Baxter’s trail camera in the spring, he knew it was the buck he would hunt this fall. Image by Bradley Baxter

This was Bradley’s lucky year. While his dad normally called dibs on the food plot stand, and routinely killed a nice velvet buck from it, this year, Bradley’s mom put her foot down and said they had enough mounts in the house and it was someone else’s turn. Bradley was more than happy to step in.

Baxter watched the buck grow throughout the summer from his trail cameras. Image by Bradley Baxter.

Like a lot of deer hunters, he had been closely watching his trail cameras in the months leading up to season. As spring turned into summer, one buck started to sport an impressive and symmetrical 10-point rack. As nice as that buck was, it was his running buddy that had Bradley’s attention. “The bigger buck finished out at 140 plus, but the other buck had a nice 5-point rack on the left side and had something weird going on with the right. When we first saw it, we didn’t think he had much of a rack on that side, but as it grew, we realized that the rack was growing downward, alongside the buck’s jaw. It ended with a giant bulb at the end,” Bradley said.

He suspects the strange growth was due to a possible injury. “It might have been a fight. We are a long way away from a road, so I doubt it was a vehicle. Whatever it was, it also blinded him on that side. Trail camera photos just showed a black, empty socket where his eye should have been.”

After watching the two bucks on camera in the days leading up to the three-day Tennessee early velvet season, Bradley knew exactly where he wanted to be on the Friday opener. Knowing he needed to get in early, he had his dad drop him off by four-wheeler well before daylight.

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“I’d probably been in the stand an hour before first light. The first buck, a small 6, came by while it was still mostly dark. Next came a 9-point, then several does,” Bradley said.

Around 7:30, he looked up to see the big 10 step out into the food plot at 35 yards. As tempted as he was by the big typical, Bradley knew the big non-typical was almost always traveling with this one. So, he waited.

After a few minutes, another buck stepped out. It was the non-typical he was after. A bit farther away than the big 10, Bradley ranged the buck at 47 yards. He slowly raised his TenPoint crossbow and took aim at the buck’s shoulder.

At the shot, the buck bolted out into the food plot, running in a big circle only to plow to the ground just 20-30 yards from Bradley’s stand. “I watched him the entire time from the shot till he fell,” the hunter said.

Knowing the buck was down, Bradley texted his dad to come back to help with the recovery. Upon close inspection, the rack was even weirder than they thought. The rack grew into a big blob of antler that never fully hardened. “It was soft at the end, almost squishy,” he said.

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Upon skinning the buck, Bradley discovered that the antler had grown into the skin along the deer’s jaw, fusing the two together. “I have guided out West for years and have caped out a fair number of animals, but I have never seen anything like this. I wasn’t even sure where to cut to free the skin from the skull,” Bradley added.

Upon caping the buck, Baxter discovered that the downward pointing rack has actually grown fused to the skin of the lower jaw. Image by Bradley Baxter

Tennessee’s August season provides one of the best chances in the country at a velvet buck, but it isn’t without its drawbacks. Bradley finished by saying, “Every year I sit out in the heat of this early August season and tell myself it isn’t worth it, I’m never doing this again. But this buck was so unusual that he made being out in the heat and the bugs worth it. I have no idea what he scores; in fact, I’m not even sure how to go about scoring him. And I don’t really care. He is just a unique buck, one that I might not ever get a chance at again.”