Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Bantams on December 18, 2011, 02:42:51 PM

Title: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: Bantams on December 18, 2011, 02:42:51 PM: Imagine my surprise when I was butchering my dad's doe last month, and discovered this deformed femur! Upon closer inspection I found several bullet fragments but could not figure out why the bone was shaped like this.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-QyyQ_-kftZ4%2FTu5qoyquWuI%2FAAAAAAAABGM%2FlgJus9xu4VE%2Fs1600%2Fleg%252Bbones.jpg&hash=b9cf52d500947c9b1392e12dea5b33cee56a5ed7)

After telling the local large animal vet, he kindly offered to do an x-ray. You can see that the femur snapped cleanly in half, but since the bones were completely separated, they were unable to fuse. Instead, scar tissue or connective tissue grew between the broken bones, firmly joining them. Our vet told me that ruminants (deer, cows, sheep, etc) are remarkably capable of healing broken bones. Horses, not so much.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-XBofPPZsccc%2FTu5mdbuUfbI%2FAAAAAAAABF0%2Fx96ZDyR6eto%2Fs1600%2Fxray.jpg&hash=01f509d7b5c572930814def5b90050a5d22f1877)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-bvJU7Sw4uTY%2FTu5mc8PtMPI%2FAAAAAAAABFo%2FR101wWdwW88%2Fs1600%2Fxray%252Band%252Bbone.jpg&hash=cc310df80431372024f4d814766361052e0b32af)

I believe this is the same doe I observed several weeks earlier. If I looked very closely, I could barely tell that she was limping. She got around just fine. But I'm sure he did her a favor.
Fortunately there was no sign of infection, so no wasted meat.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: Widgeondeke on December 18, 2011, 02:54:04 PM: very cool find. Was the meat in the area good looking?
that is/was a tuff doe
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: huntergreg on December 18, 2011, 02:59:19 PM: love the pics. Interesting also! :tup: animals are tuff!
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: JBar on December 18, 2011, 03:47:10 PM: The buck I shot this year had a messed up back leg just like that. Wish I would have looked at it a little closer now. Amazingly tough critters!
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: danderson on December 18, 2011, 03:52:38 PM: That looks alot like this elk that I discovered a few years ago, it must have lost its battle with survival due to its broken leg, but its will to survive had to be strong.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: NW-GSP on December 18, 2011, 03:56:35 PM: I found a buckshot pellet in the hide of the doe my girlfriend shot this year, no infection totally healed around it
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: Ripper on December 18, 2011, 04:29:40 PM: That's really cool of your vet to do that.What a sight to see. Thanks for posting.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: ICEMAN on December 18, 2011, 05:25:17 PM: Bantam, thanks for taking the time to post that, very interesting.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: Hunterman on December 18, 2011, 06:11:01 PM: This site always has some cool stuff that is shared on here.. Thank man this is cool what the vet. did..

Hunterman(Tony)
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: big wood on December 18, 2011, 07:53:37 PM: that is some cool CSI chit, good investigating. thanks for sharng
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: 400out on December 18, 2011, 08:59:41 PM: :yike: amazing what they can take! a elk with antler in his skull :yike: :yike: crazy
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: Bantams on December 19, 2011, 01:14:26 PM: Thanks guys!
Widgeondeke, I cut up the broken leg first, so I didn't get to really compare the two. But the outer leg muscles seemed about normal, while the inside muscles near the bone were much smaller and there were a bunch of extra blood vessels along the bone. All the meat was in perfect condition, fortunately.
The broken leg was two inches shorter than the other one - she certainly was a tough doe!

Kelsey
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: shootnrun on December 19, 2011, 01:49:33 PM: That is very cool!

My brother shot a buck last year that must have been getting into peoples flowers, and/or was terrorized by the neighborhood kids. Birdshot in one hind quarter, and a plethora of .177 pellets and BB's scattered through miscellaneous places all over. :guns:
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: TopOfTheFoodChain on December 20, 2011, 02:35:38 PM: :tup: Thanks or the post. Amazing what they recover from.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: j_h_nimrod on December 22, 2011, 06:25:54 AM: I shot a mountain goat years ago that had a fused front wrist (where cannon bone meets the rest of the leg). It had likely happened 3 years previous because the annual rings showed a marked decrease and then increased the next. The skull looked a little skewed as well, like it may have fractured. When it was shot it was in great shape and moving along well. It is amazing enough for a deer, but an animal that lives in the steep cliffs and can still thrive. Animals are amazingly strong and resilient.
Title: Re: Previously Shot Deer - Interesting Pics!
Post by: hoyt2002 on December 23, 2011, 04:13:20 PM: I had a buck 2 years ago that had a 22 in has hind quarter and a doe with a thru and thu in her front quarters healed.