Kenison Taxidermy of rural Monroe City announces find of fanged whitetail deer, a sight that has not been so uncommon for the local taxidermist.
Vampire deer, really? Kyle Kenison of Kenison Taxidermy says, “Yes!” Over the last ten years Kenison has seen maybe four or five. “The recessive ancestorial gene comes from ancient times.” There are deer still to this day located in China, that have tusks and no antlers. This species is the Chinese Water Deer or Vampire Deer, they grow fangs rather than antlers. The “Vampire Deer” are found across Europe, the fangs earning them the nickname. Aside from the tusks, the water deer are harmless. The fun part is this gene is recessive and often shows up in the whitetail deer herd in this neck of the woods.
Sounds like a scary horror show. Vampire deer among us… While the Vampire deer of Asia don’t suck blood, they use their tusk to fight other bucks, much like the whitetail use their antlers to secure dominance among the herd. In whitetail, these fangs are mainly only seen when a skull has been cleaned for a European mount.
Kenison Taxidermy has seen around five of these such whitetail over the years, but Kyle says, “They might be more predominate, but if we do a shoulder mount, we won’t ever see them.” As the fangs lie just under the gum tissue and don’t poke through. When asked if maybe we could feel them, Kyle wasn’t sure, but this is something to maybe investigate on your next harvest.
The fang is a small peg-like tooth that measures one half inch to three quarters of an inch long. When taxidermist boil a head out to do a Euro mount, this is when one would be visible. Kyle was excited to share that one of the euros he has done has two fangs, but most are just one sided. This year’s find was a mature whitetail buck with one fang.
It is said that researchers believe ancient ancestors of the whitetail - much like musk and water deer - had sharp, long curved tusks they used for survival, possibly even eating meat. But eventually these upper canines regressed in most subspecies, and whitetails evolved antlers for protection and mating purposes instead. [Wired to Hunt, Emily Kantner, June 30, 2022.]
It is estimated, by some researchers, this abnormal phenomenon is only seen in one of every 10,000 to 20,000 whitetails, depending on the region. Some taxidermists with decades in the business have never encountered a fanged whitetail, while others expect to handle one nearly every year. If this research is correct, Kenison is extra ordinary in the seeing up to five in the past 10 years and only looking at the approximately 700 European mounts he cleans for his many clients. This year Kenison took on more than 100 European mounts and found one so far with a fang.
While Vampire deer sound intimidating, Kyle says outdoorsmen and women have nothing to worry about, “It’s kinda cool to find and for me, finding one with double fangs, too!”
Kenison Taxidermy has been in business since 2012 and is a family-owned business where Kyle, his wife Paige and their son Kolt reside along with their business. Kyle is a full time Taxidermist these days while Paige is a second-grade schoolteacher at Monroe City R-1 School District. Both are doting parents and proud business owners.
The next time you see a deer, you might look at them a little differently. Maybe the vampire deer are the ones that attack all the vehicles.
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