Bloody shed antler

[crotchhorn]

I've still been scratching my head over the image of that large shed BigBuckSK posted a while back, with the broken off part and the blood running out. I have a theory about part of it but am stumped on the other aspect of it.

The hole in the antler is what's called a "foramen". That's really the manifestation of a channel or pathway which at one time during the antler growing period, contained a large blood vessel that supplied the growing antler tissue. Fine and dandy.

Part two is that seemingly, for some reason, when the growing antler ossified (hardened), that particular foramen or blood vessel (or at least the channel it ran in) was left intact with blood in it. The antler dies, I believe, beginning at the pedicle and continuing on out through to the end of the beams. Fine and dandy so far, the antler hardened at the pedicle but for some reason a foramen full of blood was choked off from the pedicle end and as the rest of the antler hardened out, it remained that way. Being sealed off, the blood would not evaporate or leak out or have any place to go.

It appears that there was some kind of projection, or point extending out for some unknown length, that was the terminus of this blood filled foramen. The question I can't figure out is why or how, after the antler had been shed, did the terminal part of that protrusion or sticker point get broken off, allowing the newly exposed blood to run out finally? Could he have shed one side first and then kicked the other off and broke off that point? That's the really hard part to figure out. The pedicle looks like aclean, typical pedicle that was shed normally, not with any small jagged piece of skull attached to it like they are sometimes when the buck forcibly removes if after one side has fallen naturally and he wants to be rid of the other side.

Any theories?

 

[Found one]

I, like you, have been baffled since I saw the picture, and read the story of how blood poored from the shed. I like your theory about the trapped reservoir of blood, sounds good. But the one thing I dont understand is how the blood stayed in the the enclosure and how it stayed in its liquid form. Your theory about the buck kicking or breaking off the tine was also logical. I believe that the veins that run through an antler become sealed prior to dropping. However, in certain rare cases those veins may remain open, and yes it is possible for blood to remain trapped. My dad, who shed hunts up in montana, picked up a fresh whitetail shed last year and blood poured from the tip of the last tine. It wasn't as red as the blood in BK's pic but it was blood. I found a monster muley shed here in Nevada this year and it has an abnormally large vein exiting the middle horn (about the size your pinky). I suppose in the rare case that blood were to remain trapped in there, and the buck were to break the tine nearest the vein within one day prior to shedding, than yes your theory might be right. It makes me wonder if I began cutting all my fresh brown sheds in half from this year would I find red blood. Not happening though. Oh, yeah, I picked up an old shed last year and snapped it in half. When I did this a bunch of white powder poured a vein cavity. It didn't appear to be antler material. Things that make you go hmmmmmmm!

 

[steeleyes]

Last year, we had a similar experience with a freshly dropped elk shed. We were packing a number of elk sheds out on a pack frame and I noticed blood on my buddy's back. After checking him over for any obvious cuts, ticks, etc. we were baffled as to where the blood came from. When we got back to civilization, his dog picked out a favorite antler almost immediately. Needless to say, in the next couple of days, blood started to pour from the antler.

I'm thinking that the marrow that contained the blood may have hardened on one side not allowing the blood to escape. Once the antler was turned over, the blood was able to escape from where it was no longer contained. We cut the antler open and when I inspected the antler, the marrow was full of blood. I imagine there was more than a cupful left.

On another thought, any excess blood left in the antler would have frozne during the winter.