This is a buck that I have been watching all year and I am happy to say that he has survived the VA hunting season thus far, but I have to wonder how much longer he will make it? After going through all my trail cams pics I saw a common theme in most of his pictures. He always had his front right leg bent in a strange position and finally it dawned on me that he has a broken leg! No telling how long it has been broken, I just got this property this year. I did not try to harvest him this year because he ending up breaking one of his main beams just before season. The last picture shows his broken leg and broken rack. Can he hobble his way into next season on three legs? Will his rack be affected by the injury? What will he score next year?
He might make it if you have a mild winter. They are surprisingly resilient creatures. Here, he would have been wolf droppings months ago
In addition to the severity of your winter, the amount and prevalence of predators in your area is another factor to consider when trying to decide if this buck is going to make it on 3 legs. If you've got coyotes near you, my guess is this buck won't be able to make it.
Hate the Yotes.. Medically speaking, with the time his leg has been broke, it's not going to heal correctly (lots of chance to this). He most likely wont be able to run effectively if it does heal and any type of predator will key in on his weakness. His rack wont be affected by the injury but he will form an absess at the site of the break. Antler growth (from what i understand) is genetics and the level of testosterone in the blood flow is what cycles the deer through antler growth, velvet shedding, and the actual shed of the antler end of season. Food for thought. A deer in my old stompin grounds of indiana had his testicles caught in a fence and they fell off (much like hogs, livestock, if you tie fishing line around their sack or place a rubber band around them they will die and fall off). Anyway the deer lost his testicles and his antlers stayed their size and stayed in velvet his whole life. Because the level of testosterone in the blood flow to his antlers stopped. His score now.. I'd say between 140 and 145. If he makes it (big if) and he's able to continue to get the same nutrition next year he could be a nice 160 class buck next year.
Man I hate to see that! I had a young muley doe limping around my yard earlier this season, but haven't seen her in over a week now. I would like to think her injury has healed up.
I have high hopes for him since he made through the VA dog season. A few dog chases went through my place and he managed to avoid the dog club's shooting lines. There are very few coyotes or predators of any kind in Central Virginia and the winters are pretty mild here. He will be getting plenty of corn and supplements through the winter so hopefully he can make it to that 160 class? With so many dog clubs in my area, not many bucks get a chance to get this big!
If the deers leg isn't fully healed by the time he is developing new antler it can most definitely affect antler development. However if his leg isn't healed by then or by now for that matter he likely has other problems. My guess is the leg is already healed and he is disfigured now due to the bad break. Hope he makes it.
That's sad... I personally would have taken him and put him out of his misery instead of waiting to see how big his antlers got next year!
If the dates on the pictures are correct then I think he will be fine if he made it this long. The idea of infection ect ect....looks like that all would have happened 6 months ago. Without an abundance of snow, which i don't think you get in VA I wouldn't worry about coyotes...deer travel much better on three legs then you think.
I didn't figure out his leg was broken until this week while I was cataloging pictures. It looks so obvious in these pictures because I selected them out of the hundred or so pictures I have of him. As I collected the pictures of him it really wasn't clear that his leg was broken. I didn't pursue him because he broke a good portion of his rack off. He is not exactly going to be a chip shot either. I was fortunate to get many pictures of him in the Summer but about two weeks before season hit he went nocturnal. I've gotten pictures of him in the day since then but not many.
My mother and her husband has a doe that comes in that has her left front leg busted and paralyzed... it's been coming in for 7 years now... births twin button buck fawn every year... the first year we saw her she looked so pitiful... again, that was 7 years ago...
