Antlered Doe Shot On Osage County Ranch

An Osage County hunter made a surprising discovery after harvesting a deer this month.

The hunter took an 11-point antlered doe off a ranch owned by Osage County Sheriff  Eddie Virden.

Does are female and rarely grow antlers. Bucks are male and almost always grow antlers.

The sheriff says the family had gotten trail pictures of the deer earlier in the season, but it appeared to be a nice looking buck.

Virden says the deer had a smaller neck. No one thought much of that at the time, until a few weeks ago when Virden’s son and daughter-in-law got the deer while hunting.

They thought it was a buck until they started to process the meat.

“They called me and said, 'Hey, there's something funny going on here, this isn't a buck, it's actually a doe,’” Virden said.

The discovery took the hunters by surprise and also made for a new joke.

“You never expect that to happen on your place...so, kind of the joke now is, 'You think our does are big, you ought to see the size of our bucks,’” Virden said laughing.

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Big Game Biologist Dallas Barber tells News On 6 does do sometimes have antlers, but it's not common.

He says the doe most likely had a hormone deficiency, with higher testosterone, causing the antlers to grow.

Barber says antlered does have to be checked in with the Wildlife Department as a buck, so there’s no record of many have been harvested in the state.

The sheriff says they will eat the meat the deer provided.

His son is deciding whether to get a full body mount or just a shoulder mount to display the unique antlered doe.