Looking at the buck in general I would say he is just a youngster so won't have to look after any ladies just yet.
The antler is bent forwards due to being damaged at the base. He is still in velevet and the antlers are pliable so he might get away with it for one year if just the antler is broken but if the pedicle, the part of the skull where the antler grows from is damaged then he will throw a deformed antler on that side for every year following. It may be the result of a road accident or maybe getting caught in a fence but I think the former is more likely.
Either way if he is allowed to continue, as his antlers get bigger and continue to grow over his eye or face, the potential for a spike or tine growing into him is high and therefore will cause him terrible pain and infection. This would be a perfect animal to cull to prevent the risk of future suffering.
I saw a photo of a roadkill whitetail a few years ago. It was seen wandering the highway (yes, it was in the U.S.) Before it got hit. When the carcass was removed it was emaciated and found to have part of the antler embedded in it's eye socket from a similarly abnormal growth, therefore rendering it blind in one eye and the resulting infection and maggot infestation had blinded the other eye. Not pretty and one can only imagine the suffering that poor animal had gone through. Always best practice to take animals such as this at the earliest opportunity.
Bookmarks