This deer was harvested with a bow by my neighbor Jay Trudell in South Eastern Wisconsin. Jay made a great hit and the deer piled up inside of 50 yards. Jay is the fellow from the American Bison thread I posted earlier. On New Years Eve, Jay brought to deer to me for processing. I skinned it for a shoulder mount, stopping right behind the ear. The buck dressed out at 175 pounds and has a good layer of fat on it’s rump. Every indication was that this was a normal, healthy deer. I returned the head to Jay for mounting. After the taxidermist capped the skull, he cut the skull plate to remove the antlers. As he finished the cut, he hit metal. Jay got the skull and antlers back and cleaned them and brought them to be to show me what was inside the brain of this deer. The hide was completely healed and did not give away that there was an injury. The threaded portion of the head had snapped off. The deer had been shot in a prior season with a Wasp Hammer broadhead. It entered the brain but did not kill the deer. It also passed through the hinge of the jaw and had grown over with bone and prevented the law from opening all but the smallest amount. I placed one of my aging jaws next to the skull to show how the jaw hinge should look. Here you can see the opposite healthy side The bone had grown over the broadhead and through the vent in the blade and bridged the gap. The upper left arrow shows how much hinge movement was allowed in the jaw, The opening and closing of the mouth had worn a curved area away The shot appears to have taken from the ground and not an elevated stand and looks to be nearly perfectly broadside. As unique as this buck is, here is another injury from a deer brought to me for processing (also by Jay). While deboning the hind quarter, my knife blade encountered an irregularity. What is normally a long, straight and smooth femur was a twisted and odd shaped bone. I boiled the femur to remove the meat and to inspect the bone and wile scraping away the meat, the blade of a replaceable blade broadhead fell onto the table. I boiled both femurs so compare. Not only had this deer survived the multiple fracture but it survived the winter and went onto heal well enough that it appeared normal to the archer that shot it. Convinced the remaining portions of the broadhead had become calcified into the bone, I took the two femurs to work and x-rayed them. There was no metal to be found and the twisted up mass of bone was simply how the shattered bone had healed. Deer are very tough animals.
Bowhunting is some serious stuff and I like to do a serious job of uncovering the story. Sometimes, shots end up much farther back and still dont kill the deer.
I hate to think so but I wouldn't be a bit surprised. There are some guys out there that don't know what the word ethical means.
I agree, sounds like a perfect broadside on the ground head shot, maybe after hours or out of season to try and bag a good buck. Its sad to know theres people out there that would even attempt this stuff. No morals or ethics, karma will get them. Either way GREAT pics and thread R.C.
Very interesting thread post as usual. I like your attention to detail! It seems like Wasp must have copied the chisel head from Muzzy (or vice versa), as it's looks identical. While I think it's amazing that a deer can survive situations like this, I still can't imagine the pain they must go through as the wound goes through the healing process!
That is pretty cool with the broadheads. I got this bone out of a 8-point buck 2 years ago. In the baggy is pieces of some kind of ballistic tip bullet and some lead. The bone measures 6 1/4 inches long. I never even seen the buck limping or any scars on him just found the bone while skinning him.They are tough animals.
