Interesting find in a deer I processed
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
I have a series of pictures I want to load so please wait until I'm finished before you comment. Thanks
As I had posted in the "New Years Eve butchering" thread. This deer was harvested with a bow on Dec. 30th by Jay Trudell in South Eastern Wisconsin. Jay made a great hit and the deer piled up inside of 50 yards.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
On New Years Eve, Jay brought to deer to me for processing. I skinned it for a shoulder mount, stopping right behind the ear.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
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.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
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.
From: Appletree
18-Jan-08
Wow - it's amazing that deer didn't have an incredibly hard time chewing - that broadhead looks to be right through to it's jaw.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
Thanks for NOT waiting til I was done.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
I placed one of my aging jaws next to the skull to show how the jaw hinge should look.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
Here you can see the opposite healthy side
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
The bone had grown over the broadhead and through the vent in the blade and bridged the gap.
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
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
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
The end
From: HeadHunter®........
18-Jan-08
and.......?
From: St. Croix
18-Jan-08
Tough crowd here tonight!
I thought the pictorial and illustrations were very well demonstrated. Can't help but think the owner of that broadhead wasn't focusing on a "spot"...not the right one anyhow! Any guess as to how long that buck lived with that thing in him???
From: Bowme2
18-Jan-08
Pretty amazing. ;-)
(I love the editing tools)
Rick
From: Rancid_Crabtree
18-Jan-08
My guess is that he was shot a year prior to this.
From: Rick
18-Jan-08
That is amazing! I wonder how he avoided an infection? Thanks for the pics.
Rick in Alabama
From: Appletree
19-Jan-08
After seeing all the pics, forget the jaw, I'm impressed this deer wasn't walking in circles, drooling and trying to bite its ear! Did the fellow who shot it notice anything funny about its behaviour?
Bowme2 - I'm not taking it as anything but good-natured ribbing, I'm sure that's how it was intended.
From: Trebarker
19-Jan-08
Had to have caused a headache or two for that deer, with the tip into the brain cavity especially. Amazing what they can survive. I've tried to imagine what kind of shot the shooter had made to end up hitting the deer in the skull like that. Had to of been a long hail mary or a neck shot, both speak of inexperienced hunter and or recent convert from another type of weapon.
From: Dave B @ Work
19-Jan-08
maybe the shot was taken while he was feeding, head down, quartering away?
That had to have dropped the deer in his tracks at least temporarily don't you think? I don't see how it wouldn't have been knocked out for a short time. While the bowhunter was patting himself on the back, the deer got up and ran away after waking up, never to be seen again.
From: JTV
19-Jan-08
Rancid...Nice Buck...congrats !!....All I'll say is that illustrates the stupid idea of head shot's ..."IF" that old BH was an intentional head shot and just not an errant shot.....Jeff
From: walkerhound
19-Jan-08
That IS amazing. No head tilt or circling or anything? Not even a limp in the off side? I bet his ability to solve complicated mathematical problems was affected, at the very least. Incredible, -N
From: bo-n-aro
19-Jan-08
Very amazing endeed! Very enteresting and thanks for posting!! One of the hunting shows has a segment on things like this. You should send it to them......... Now, who is "them"?????? Any ideas out there?
From: sticksender
19-Jan-08
bo-n-aro, I'd guess you speak of the "Muzzy Moment"
From: HerdManager
19-Jan-08
HAD to knock that deer unconscious when it hit. To take all the KE instantly.
From: Matt
19-Jan-08
Great evidence for those who favor the head shot as to why they shouldn't.
From: Blacktail Bob
19-Jan-08
Damn fixed blade broadheads!!!!
From: TD
19-Jan-08
Now, had that been an XYZ broadhead it would have left a much better blood trail.
From: thickshaft
19-Jan-08
Thanks for sharin
From: ForkHorn
19-Jan-08
Not to start anything but....Why is his hand covering the exact area in the first pic?? And here comes the conspiracy theory.... is that blood on his index finger??
Just a thought
ForkHorn
From: hunting dad
19-Jan-08
As solid as that head is stuck there, it may have touched a part of the brain not as vital to day to day operations. I've seen 2 stories of people with brain injuries. One was a construction accident involving a nail gun through the hard hat into the top of the head. He didn't even know he was shot. The other was a gun shot victom that had half his head shot off and recovered. Deer are sure alot tougher then us. He sure adapted to eating with minimal jaw movement too.
From: midwest
19-Jan-08
One of my favorite conversation pieces.
Killed by a shotgun hunter, this buck showed no signs of injury. The entrance wound just behind the back jaw was completely healed over and the hide and bone had grown all around the exit portion, completely capturing the broadhead so that it could not be backed out.
From: midwest
19-Jan-08
From: midwest
19-Jan-08
Also, there was no broken off arrow shaft on the broadhead, but the threaded portion of the broadhead is undamaged.
From: Katahdin
19-Jan-08
I agree with the conspiracy theory. Has anybody checked the grassy knoll?
From: Rancid_Crabtree
19-Jan-08
Forkhorn, Jay's hand is much lower than the wound. He had no idea of the injury and even after butchering the deer, I had no idea. It was the taxidermist that discovered the wound. I put a mark on the picture where the wound was. The red you see is the leather on the finger of his shooting glove. The fact that the bone was already growing over the head indicates that it was at least a year old wound. Jay, made a double lung hit with his shot.
Also, the deer showed no signs of injury or any odd behavior.
From: BlacktailStalker
19-Jan-08
Very cool. Not a doubt in my mind that everything is legit. Nice buck too!
From: foxbo
19-Jan-08
Very intetesting thread. Rancid, you did an excellent job with the pics. Thanks.
From: Matt
19-Jan-08
"Not to start anything but....Why is his hand covering the exact area in the first pic??"
Unless you are of the opinion that deer grow antlers out of their necks, this might be a great opportunity to use the "edit" feature to erase your misguided comments and salvage your dignity. ;-)
From: decoy
19-Jan-08
As always Rancid, thanks
From: RLong
19-Jan-08
Intersting to see just how much damage the head can take with no signs of injury. Both buck in the pics provided also show another thing. Both BH's used held up very nicely:^)
From: hunting dad
19-Jan-08
They held up well. Just imagine the damage if they had been in the right spot.
