Thirteen-year-old C.J. Nowling, of Jay, Fla., took his first buck Jan. 3, while hunting with his grandfather in Santa Rosa County – or did he?

What the boy and his grandfather didn’t realize – until they were cleaning it – was the 6-point buck was actually an antlered doe.

"In most of these cases, what we find is that the deer has a combination of both male and female internal sex organs, and the external sex organs are usually underdeveloped and not well defined," Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologist and Deer Management Program leader Dr. Robert Vanderhoof said. 

"Deer with both male and female sex organs are called hermaphrodites.  Often, underdeveloped males, called cryptorchids, can be mistaken for antlered does because they also exhibit poorly developed external sex organs," he said.

But after close inspection of the carcass and its entrails by veterinarian David Summerlin and FWC wildlife technician Mike Graves, the 110-pound deer Nowling shot had only female sex organs and its antlers were hard and well-polished.

"In most cases, antlers on female deer tend to be malformed and stay in velvet.  A doe with polished antlers, which is what I’m told this young man shot, is quite a rare occurrence," Vanderhoof said.  "Females with polished antlers are almost always infertile and usually have tumors on their reproductive organs, which produce the hormone testosterone, necessary to enable polished antlers to develop in deer."

Interestingly enough, four days later and halfway across the state in Levy County, Cale Barber, of Williston, shot another antlered doe – this one with a 4-point rack.  The deer weighed 142 pounds, which is large for Florida deer, especially a doe. 

And just like Nowling’s 6-point, its antlers too were hard and polished and it had only female reproductive organs as confirmed by FWC biologists Elina Garrison and Bambi Ferree and FWC veterinarian Mark Cunningham.

The day started out quite normal for Nowling and his grandfather, Waylon Nowling, also of Jay, who were deer hunting on a friend’s 2,000-acre tract of land on the Escambia River known as the Downey Ranch.

"I think the deer are going through somewhat of a pre-rut, and that last snap of cold weather really had them moving that day.  We saw two different groups of deer as we walked to the stand, and we ran out another group when we got there," Waylon said.

While the two men sat in a shooting house, they watched a couple of different groups of deer, a few turkeys and a mature black boar-hog come into the 2-acre food plot that afternoon to graze on wheat and oats.

"Earlier during the hunt, I saw one pretty decent buck but could never get a good shot at him," C.J. said.

But at approximately 4:45 p.m., a nice 6-pointer stepped out of the woods and into view along with a doe.  That’s when the eighth-grader took aim at the deer with his .243 rifle and made the 175-yard shot.

"It was a heck of a good shot, and we couldn’t climb down out of that stand quick enough," Waylon said.  "I’m not sure who was more excited, me or him."

But it wasn’t until the two men had the deer hanging up to clean when Waylon noticed . . . Houston, we have a problem.