Found a brand new shed today from a what is/was probably a decent 6 point. From the looks of the stub, it probably came off within the last three days. This was in Montgomery County...thats pretty early for them to be shedding and still have two weeks of being hunted.

I pulled camera today with a half missing in east Montgomery county and thought same

Sometimes bucks will drop their antlers early due to injury or severe stress of some kind

I saw two good bucks about to throw down on 85 across from east chase at lunch today.

First I've ever heard of deer l
osing them in January.

Would a sick/geriatric deer shed early?

Not supposed to, it's based on photoperiod. But animals don't always read the book on what they're supposed to do.

That damn drought wasn't good for their health. I was shocked at what our deer looked like in Selma way back in September when I started feeding em. Nothing but skin and bones. I was shocked at how well they bounced back too just from corn. I learned a valuable lesson. When it gets that dry, start feeding.

I believe this 100%. Having had the opportunity to work with several outfitters over the past few years, I've seen evidence first hand of bucks dropping one or both antlers very early after a devestating fight or a very bad injury such as a non fatal gun shot wound. I'm no biologist, but I believe the reasoning for this is to stop being challenged by other bucks still participating in rutting activity. Avoiding conflicts would be very beneficial in recouping from the injury. Jmo.

That's awfully early. I usually see bucks all through turkey season still with horns

When I did a post season survey one year, I had what looked like a dinosaur age old buck lose his horns around February 10 I believe. Came to the corn one day with horns, couple of days later they were both gone. Very recognizable deer because of his age. I was surprised.

My opinion is that maybe you have a good buck/doe ratio and the breeding is over. Testosterone drops, so do the antlers...

I've been seeing a young half rack, but I think his antler got knocked off somehow. The other side seems to be still holding on tight. I had some game camera pics and it looks like he just shed that one side.