The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
A PECULIAR FORMATION OF DEER HORNS
By S. C. Turnbo
Here is something of a freak among deer that was told me by the old timer, Tom Mallonaa, who has hunted on many occasions in Douglas and Ozark Counties, Mo., and Marion County, Ark. In giving the account of the freak deer Mr. Mallonaa said that one day In the month of March in 1878 while he and Tom Boyd were hunting together in the Pine (Stillhouse) Hollow which empties into Little North Fork near the Hollinworth Mill, he shot and killed a large buck that had been castrated and its ears had been marked. No doubt the animal had been a pet and had gone wild again. The hind part of the forefeet of this deer measured 2 ½ inches across each one. "But the most remarkable feature about this animal," said Mr. Mallonaa, "was a peculiar formation of horns 24 in number found all over its head. They were stuck between the eyes, and on the top of its head and around the bur of its ears. These small beams of horns ranged from ½ inch to 3 inches in length. The buck was extremely fat. I showed the buck’s head to a large number of people from time to time, but none of them were able to give a satisfactory cause of this interesting and strange freak, said Mr. Mallonaa.
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
