mule deer silhouettes

WATCH: Cactus Buck Filmed With Bizarre Growth That Looks Like Its Antlers Sprung a Leak

And by “sprung a leak,” we mean a leak of that lovely black bile so often seen on cactus buck alongside their insane antlers.

As common as deer are to us Americans, they’re often responsible for some of our most beloved and beautiful wildlife sightings. Few things rival spotting a majestic buck with a kingly rack out in the wilds, or seeing twin fawns play with their mother in a meadow. But nature gotta nature, and some deer aren’t so fortunate as to live their lives as a beautiful manifestation of nature itself.

Enter this cactus buck, who’s got a whole mess going on up top. If you’re unfamiliar, the term “cactus buck” is used to describe male deer with abnormal antlers that feature odd growth patterns and the retaining of velvet. This is due to a greatly-lowered testosterone level in the buck. Which is, sadly, typically the result of testicular trauma. How’s that for a phrase you never want to read again?

Other causes for bucks entering a cactus phase include undescended testicles and/or a disease restricting blood flow to a buck’s testicles. It makes for a wild sight, but also makes for a shorter life-span as the cardiovascular side effects of this condition typically take out a buck far before their time.

“Freaky Friday with this weird cactus buck… Looks like he sprung a leak at the base of his antlers?” captions the videographer, Jeremy Houston, who’s a well-known documenter of mule deer on Instagram.

That unappealing globular mass protruding downward from the buck’s antler, however, isn’t a sprung leak. Rather, it’s an excess mass of velvet that refuses to fall off.

Cactus Buck, Cactus Buck, Do Thine Antlers Hurt?

Such “globs” of velvet are, so far as we know, another side effect of the buck’s testicular condition. This is not an uncommon sight on cactus bucks, either. But the main identifier for these cacti-carrying cervids is their spiny-looking antlers, hence the name.

Often, the buck will sport multiple misshapen points on their antlers. Each is covered with a rough velvet that gives off the cactus-like appearance. And if you’re looking real close, most also sport either miniscule – or completely unapparent – testicles. But what is causing this rather common sight?

According to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, a number of ‘cactus bucks’ were evaluated in Colorado. Their necropsies and virus evaluation “indicated an association with EHD or BT viral exposure and development of abnormal antlers.”

Interestingly, they found mule deer to be more resistant to infection and mortality caused by the viruses. Yet this is the species we see in Houston’s footage. Sadly, cactus bucks typically don’t live to see but one or two more summers after the condition takes hold. This is due to the “long-term impacts of inflamed blood vessels of the testicles which can result in chronic inflammation and a regression of testicular tissue,” ODFW explains.

But nature remains unpredictable, and some hardy cactus bucks go on to grow incredible spiny racks. For once a deer becomes a cactus buck, they stop shedding their antlers altogether.