This isnt exactly a hunting question but I figured a bowhunting forum would be a good place to find alot of people that watch alot of deer. I live in wisconsin and on my way to work this morning (4:45am) I saw a deer laying down between the road and a corn field. As I got a little closer I saw the deer raise its head up (I thought to get up and run away) and then suddenly smack its head into the ground! It repeated this at least once more. Now it was still dark and I didnt see any blood or debris from a car that would suggest it was hit. Asked ppl at work if they ever saw anything like this and no one has. My guess is it either had a tick in its ear or maybe it has CWD? Has anyone ever seen anything like this? My county is supposedly a CWD free zone but it does neighbor a CWD county.
Being that close to the road I would suspect it was hit by a car and injured. Was it purposely hitting its head on the ground, or could it not keep its head up on its own?
It looked like it was doing it on purpose. But like I said I didnt see any debris or blood or skidmark or anything that made me think it was hit by a car. I talked to one older lady that bowhunts and she said shes seen it before but only after a deer was shot. Bow season is open but the closest bunch of trees was at least a quarter mile away. It was laying all curled up as if it would be sleeping like my dog does on her bed keeping warm (28 degrees this am). So I really dont think it was hit by a car and that jusy seems a weird place for a deer to lay down if it was somehow shot. I supposed it could have been hit the night before when it was still light out but if the deer was acting like that I dont think it would have survived that long through the night.
Many times on a deer hit, it could have been the deer literally running head first into a tire or a mirror hit. I had that happen on a big F250 we owned. Husband had a big spike literally pierce his truck behind drives door. . Took long time for the head bleed to kill the deer. In NYS it's illegal to kill a deer hit. Only cops or DEC can. I couldn't find my hit deer but hubby had to wait for cops . Besides not armed and the deer was flailing it's legs and body hard. He could have been brain damaged with a brain bleed. This actually happens with a bad buck fight where rack damage can cause infections and or bleeds
Yea that makes sense too. That also has happened to me, buck took my driver side mirror right off but took off into a corn field. Im going to check back there after work and I carry concealed so if its wounded Ill put it down. As a hunter myself it pisses me off every time I see a deer laying on the side of the road. One time an oncoming car smacked a deer right over my truck (little s10). I stopped, made sure they were ok and waited for the cops to come. Once the paperwork was done I had the cop tag it and I took it home and butchered it myself. Only had to throw one leg away.
Ya hubby called me as well as cops and I took the spike home and proccessed him, hubby went on his way to work. The deer died just as sheriff rolled up, he gave me a tag.
Thats good to hear. Seems like this will be a myth unrevealed, no one Ive talked to has seen a deer do this that hasnt been shot. I remember a few years ago I watched a video on deer that had CWD and they were definitely not acting like normal deer but if I remember correctly those deer were so far along in the stages of CWD they had growths on the outside of their hides. Well at least the question is out there maybe one day itll happen again and someone can share why this strange behavior happened.
