Buck with infection

[Waterboy Bob]

I helped a buddy retrieve a deer Saturday night. When I got to the buck, there was a terrible smell unlike any deer I've ever been around. When we got back to the shop and hung him up I noticed his snout looked funny so I pressed on it. His nose and entire skin covering his snout peeled back to his eyes. Completely detached and rotten. Almost looked like gangrene. The deer was pitiful skinny too. I've googled every deer disease and nothing sounds like this. Might just be an injury, snake bite, or?? Anybody ever seen this before?

 

[cbhunter]

Wow, got any pics?

 

[Waterboy Bob]

I didn't take any pics…didn't really want to handle my phone after handling the deer. It was like rotten mush when you pulled it back. Nothing but nose bones and rotten, greenish flesh under the hide of the snout.

 

[Snake]

I wouldn't eat it ..

 

[BSK]

Have no idea.

 

[fairchaser]

Deer are amazing survivors even with the worst looking injuries imaginable, legs shot off, cracked skulls and some nasty diseases. Usually they are so weak, coyotes can catch and drag them down. But, I've seen a few come in shot by hunters wondering how they survived and glad the hunter ended their misery. It's tough to make a living in the wilds.

 

[Ski]

They are incredible survivors. Never fails to amaze me how they can defy all odds.

 

[Smoke]

I've seen it with injuries before after infection set in. Last one I walked up on bedded in the dark. It was a small buck. I nudged it in the butt with my foot and it got up and staggered about 25-30 yards and laid back down. I could smell it and thought it had been gut shot. I stood there until daylight and finished it off. It had been shot low behind shoulder and infection had set in bad. Had greenish color to the wound and some nasty looking stuff all around the wound.

 

[BSK]

I once walked up on a buck with a late-stage brain abscess. He would stagger to his feet and then fall over. When he could stay on his feet he just walked in little circles. This is very common in fall when bucks crack their skull plate from excessive rubbing and/or sparring.

 

[Snake]

Deer are amazing survivors even with the worst looking injuries imaginable, legs shot off, cracked skulls and some nasty diseases. Usually they are so weak, coyotes can catch and drag them down. But, I've seen a few come in shot by hunters wondering how they survived and glad the hunter ended their misery. It's tough to make a living in the wilds.

That's for sure brother.

 

[Kevin Snook]

I helped a buddy retrieve a deer Saturday night. When I got to the buck, there was a terrible smell unlike any deer I've ever been around. When we got back to the shop and hung him up I noticed his snout looked funny so I pressed on it. His nose and entire skin covering his snout peeled back to his eyes. Completely detached and rotten. Almost looked like gangrene. The deer was pitiful skinny too. I've googled every deer disease and nothing sounds like this. Might just be an injury, snake bite, or?? Anybody ever seen this before?

 

[ttf909]

I killed a small rack 4 pt once. He seemed normal till you touched his rack . One said was broke into his skull. Green stuff coming out and it was open to the brain cavity . Idk how it was alive. Shoulder shot dropped In its tracks so it wasn't broke at the shot.

 

[CHRIS WILSON]

I once walked up on a buck with a late-stage brain abscess. He would stagger to his feet and then fall over. When he could stay on his feet he just walked in little circles. This is very common in fall when bucks crack their skull plate from excessive rubbing and/or sparring.

My brother killed a nice, heavy antlered 8 point season before last that had a fractured skull plate. It was more of a mercy killing than anything else. One of his friends that owned some land nearby called him about this buck out in one of his field that just wasn't acting right. It would just stand there dazed, pretty much oblivious to anything around it. When it did try to walk on, it would drift/stumble to one side. They figured it was sick with something so he put it down. When he went to saw off the skull plate for the antlers, he realized what the issue really was. First time any of us had encountered something like that with a buck.