Is He Done Growing on Top?

[El Serio]

Took these pictures last weekend, do you think that the portion of the horn above the prong is done growing? Will his prong keep growing? For reference, location is northern Utah.

 

[375H&H]

He shed his horns a month or 2 ago and just started growing back. He will grow a LOT by next hunting season.

 

[TRS_Montana]

That looks like the makings of a great buck by next season.

 

[bonedogg]

he will grow below the prong and not above it.

 

[1_pointer]

Holy cheatgrass! Were you in Skull Valley?

 

[HiMtnHntr]

I believe the post above is correct, he will grow below the prong.

 

[El Serio]

1_pointer, you are a very good guesser, how does someone from Indiana figure out something like that based on the grass in a grainy cropped photo? Utah's west desert is plagued with invasive species, lots of cheat grass and feral horses.

 

[El Serio]

he will grow below the prong and not above it.

That was what I was wondering, if that is the case he probably won't end up getting too big, but that is to be expected, as of the 2016 Utah record book, there had never been a B&C buck entered from this county. Still fun to hunt and good eating though.

 

[wytex]

I believe he will grow length below the prong and add some mass above it. Looks like a good buck in the making.

 

[El Serio]

I believe he will grow length below the prong and add some mass above it. Looks like a good buck in the making.

I hope you're right about the mass above the prong increasing. I have never paid enough attention to them during the winter to know how that part will do. (so far opinions posted seem to vary) In the past I have only scouted during the late spring and early summer when they are already mostly grown.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Bart O’Gara did a ton of pronghorn research (including horn growth) and wrote Pronghorn Ecology and Management (the Pronghorn Bible, if you will). He did publish papers on this subject, but I found a blog post on Eastman’s that actually summarizes the research and explains it quite well. For those who like the CliffsNotes version, the prongs and tips are largely done by late winter (probably depends on location a bit) but the bottoms will continue adding length and mass until August.

For those who like reading this stuff...

http://blog.eastmans.com/antelope-horn-growth-an-american-original/

https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-abstract/56/4/829/841169?redirectedFrom=PDF

 

[El Serio]

From the referenced O'Gara paper "By February, prongs and hooks were nearly developed", that study was done in Montana, I wonder if the difference in latitude makes it finish earlier or later? Hopefully I can find him again and get pictures as he continues to grow to get an answer.

 

[EliAGrimmett]

I have that book! It's huge.

As for the question: If you can picture the bucks horn core under his horn, once any part of the top no longer has part of the horn core beneath it's surface, then it's done growing. This is why the bottom part of the horn will continue to grow for the longest and only really stops growing when the rut kicks in and hormones change what's happening with their biology. Basically, there has to be a way for the horn to be fed from the core. If the horn becomes solid keratin (like the white part of the tip of your fingernails that you cut off) then that part of the horn is done being fed. Not sure if I'm explaining this well. Hm...if you take a cross section from anywhere in the horn and you were to slice through part of the core, then that part is still possibly growing. If no core would be present in your cross section, then that part is done growing. Hopefully that makes more sense. At least that's how I understand horn growth to operate.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I have that book! It's huge.

As for the question: If you can picture the bucks horn core under his horn, once any part of the top no longer has part of the horn core beneath it's surface, then it's done growing. This is why the bottom part of the horn will continue to grow for the longest and only really stops growing when the rut kicks in and hormones change what's happening with their biology. Basically, there has to be a way for the horn to be fed from the core. If the horn becomes solid keratin (like the white part of the tip of your fingernails that you cut off) then that part of the horn is done being fed. Not sure if I'm explaining this well. Hm...if you take a cross section from anywhere in the horn and you were to slice through part of the core, then that part is still possibly growing. If no core would be present in your cross section, then that part is done growing. Hopefully that makes more sense. At least that's how I understand horn growth to operate.

Yes, this. Nicely done

 

[El Serio]

That explanation makes sense to me. The growth has to originate somewhere, and push out from there. I have wanted to read the big book by O'Gara & Yoakum for years. I have always just had a hard time with the price. Then it dawned on me last week that my local library can bring one in on loan. I will be reading it soon.

 

[1_pointer]

1_pointer, you are a very good guesser, how does someone from Indiana figure out something like that based on the grass in a grainy cropped photo? Utah's west desert is plagued with invasive species, lots of cheat grass and feral horses.

I was born/raised in IN and live there now. I spent nearly a decade in UT going to graduate school and working for the BLM. I've spent plenty of time in UT's West Desert.

 

[El Serio]

Then you would be familiar with the feral horse problem. Due to the restrictions of the 1971 "Wild Horse Annie" law, the BLM doesn't have any really effective management tools left to control the horse population. My uncle retired from the BLM about 10 years ago, and he is still frustrated about the inability to manage horse populations. "Wild" horses are treated almost like an endangered species, much to the detriment of the native species such as pronghorn. The pronghorn population of the West Desert, Riverbed unit has shrunk 25% over the past 10 years; from 600 to 450. Snake Valley population is down from 350 to 250. Meanwhile, across the west "wild" horse populations are nearly triple their population objectives and the BLM isn't allowed to cull the herd, only administer birth control and hold adoptions both of which are costly and ineffective in controlling the population.

 

[1_pointer]

You are correct, I am familiar with horse problems, especially in that country. Just a tip, but if a pronghorn hunter in that area wants to find watering locations, a decent aerial map will show them via the wagon wheel of horse trails around them.

IMO the toughest hurdles allowing for better management of horses by the BLM comes from Washington DC...

 

[El Serio]

Agreed, the problem is at the top. If D.C. wants to stick with the current "humane" management restrictions that treat the free ranging horses like pets, they need to come up with a lot of funding to allow the BLM to conduct comprehensive annual roundups with veterinarians to surgically sterilize large numbers of mares or at least to administer birth control effectively. This would cost a fortune. A much more cost effective method would be to allow excess animals to be culled and sent to slaughterhouses for pet food or European consumption, but I doubt that could ever happen in today's political climate, especially just to protect a low profile species like pronghorn. I wish there was a pronghorn organization similar to the RMEF to fight some of these political battles for pronghorn.