What would you think if you saw this deer
- Thread starter JJ3
- Start date
LY
Well-Known Member
That he's recently gotten very sick or really really likes the ladies.
He's sickly !
Zoo hunting club it says on the video.
This happened to me Dec 26. I have videos of the deer I killed from nov 13 and he looked awesome . Hunted him and saw him nov 18 th twice, still perfect but didn't shoot him either time bc there was a larger buck off in the distant. He was a healty,muscled up, mature 14 pt deer. Fast forward to dec 26. Saw him limping badly and was skin and bones. Turns out he had a puncture wound under his chin from an antler/ fight , jaw completely broken and teeth knocked out. Back foot was completely cut off about five inches high , infected but healing over. Started checking him out and his jaw was seized shut, I forced it open and chunks of jawbone and teeth fell out. I don't believe the poor guy could open it to eat. It was pitiful. He literally had no back strips and the nfected leg stunk so bad I was scared to eat it. Took it to be mounted and my taxidermist started really checking it out and came to the same conclusion as me on the broken jaw (6.5 yrs old btw) we're both at a loss on his foot but believe there unrelated. His rack was perfect so he wasn't hit by a car but he had a very rough month and wouldn't have lived much longer. Hopefully your deer was just run down from lady chasing and nothing serious but Mother Nature can be rough on these awesome creatures.
bwgarrett3
Well-Known Member
Honestly, the rib section looks photo shopped. :? Cover that section up and the deer doesn't look unhealthy to me. I understand it's a video so it would be hard to photoshop it but I'm basing it off the pic you posted.
It would cause concern, and I would want to know date of video.
poorhunter
Well-Known Member
I've posted this one before, but what would you think about it? Picture taken in early October when they should be just about as healthy as any time during the year. This is the biggest buck I got on camera the whole year on this (mine and neighbors) farm. Biggest buck we saw the whole year in the holler. Even today, all day every day we will see 30-50 does eating in our pastures without one buck, and it's been that way since early November...seems like we should have seen at least one buck.
JJ3
Well-Known Member
Andy S.":3iqwtg98 said:
Here's the link to the video. It says it is from the 2015 - 2016 season. This video popped into my YouTube feed last night and I was watching it as Clemson put the whooping on Bama. It hit that frame at the 1:31 mark and I had to stop it and back it up and watch that section again and freeze frame.
The buck was obviously sick and losing body mass when you look at the ribs, backbone and neck. Could be many reasons for that.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Kw8rVgXD8
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Deer get sick and die all the time from a myriad of reasons. Unfortunately, now, one additional concern for decline is CWD. A high fenced deer that is underweight is a further cause for concern, especially when it's in the CWD hotzone.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
I watched the video posted... none of those bucks look like they have any imported genetics... just basically what typical TN bucks in a high fence should grow with unlimited food.
megalomaniac":x5ie9f57 said:
Perhaps thier high fence was a good idea to keep CWD out.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
This cannot be over-stated.megalomaniac":29l4arjr said:
We don't want to believe it, but natural deer mortality may approach 50% on 4 1/2-yr-old bucks.
One of the most vulnerable periods for 4 1/2-yr-old bucks is early January thru early March.
They are often run-down from the rut, physically at their weakest, food sources may be at their lowest, escape cover at it's least.
Just like with humans or any other animal, they can get something as simple as pneumonia, and die.
Sometimes from the pneumonia, sometimes by being weak & easy prey for dogs or coyotes.
Another issue I've only become aware as significant in the past few years:
Coyotes cueing in more on older bucks right after they shed their antlers.
Coyotes (and dogs) will come running to even the faint smell of blood.
Bucks will have blood on their heads from shedding.
The shedding often happens when bucks are at their physically weakest point for the year,
and when escape cover is at its lowest.
Generally speaking, the older the buck, the larger his basal circumferences,
and the more blood on his head after shedding.
Getting bucks to full maturity is not just an issue of management,
but is much an issue of luck, at least regarding any particular buck.
Free-ranging top-end antlered fully mature bucks will always be rare animals in TN
no matter what the deer regs, no matter what anything else.
We can just do what we can to increase the odds of their survival,
but when we identify a top-end antlered 2 1/2-yr-old buck,
his specific odds of surviving to 5 1/2 are much lower than
a more "average" antlered 2 1/2.
(Albeit, this is more due to hunter selectivity, or antler high-grading, than Mother Nature.)
BigAl
Well-Known Member
I'll be curious to see if the Zoo manages to keep CWD out of the fence. and if it makes it inside, what steps they take to minimize it.BULL MOOSE":1y0qf0w9 said:
BigAl":148lhuen said:
It seem some people might suspect them to be the ones that introduced it to the area. I have no idea if there are facts to support that and would have to assume it was accidental if so. Negligent maybe but hopefully accidental.
