Blood in Deer Beds

I was out this weekend taking a walk looking for sheds here in NY. We have quite a bit of snow and I stumbled upon a few drops of blood in a high deer traffic area. Followed that to a bed where the entire body imprint in the snow was soaked in blood. Kicking the snow in the bed showed that it was soaked pretty deep. It was enough that I was expecting to find the deer dead in the area. About 15 minutes later I found an identical bed with the same amount of blood. Has anyone seen this? I have seen blood from a buck shedding a fresh antler, which can be quite a bit of blood, but nothing like this. Any thoughts?

 

Seen some here and there but nothing like you're describing from one that's not wounded pretty bad. Maybe some kind of predator got a hold of it or vehicle if there's a road near? Other than that I'd have no idea and would be curious to know too.

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Has to be some sort of lethal wound if it is bleeding that bad.

 

I'm on team car or predator. I've seen a little blood due to shedding but it was maybe a thimble full.

 

That sounds like way more than you would expect from shedding an antler. That is likely going to be a dead deer in my opinion. Too bad.

 

I dought a predator?
It would most likely finish or staying close.
Could be many things. Car, or Maybe got hung up in a fence?

 

I’ve seen it too but not that bad. I figured it was cut legs from the crust on the snow but hard to tell.

 

possible miscarriage in progress. We followed a blood trail for quite awhile last year that started out of a bed and then just continued. Only thing we could think of was a miscarriage- no roads for nearly a mile and no sign of struggle to indicate a predator. Just started in a bed and continued on till it got to the property line.

 

I was thinking car too until I talked to a neighbor today about it. He said about 2 weeks ago he had found 3 beds on different areas with a substantial layer of blood covering the entire bed. He tried staying on the tracks but it eventually ran out, maybe froze, and never saw a sign of a dead deer. My thing with it was that there were no clots or specific areas where it looked to be bleeding, it was literally the entire impression had a layer of watered down red blood. Very strange to say the least. Kicking myself for not taking a picture


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My guess is that it was a bleeding deer. Sometimes that happens when they get a wound of some sort and it doesn't clot right away.

 

How heavy is the poaching in your area?

 

I'm sure people do it, but I wouldn't consider it an issue in my area.