Eating a wounded deer
Kansas
Erica called me earlier and said one of our neighbors called and said a deer was caught in our fence at the bottom. I was too far away to help so against her wishes I made her go free the deer.
Told me when she got it freed the deer had to use it’s front legs to crawl away. Later when I get home I might go and and try to find it. If both back legs are broken would it still be safe or good to eat the back legs or any part of the deer?
I hate wasting any kind of meat but seems like I heard over the years something about you got to watch eating meat off wounded animals. Is that true?
The deer will probably be gone when you get to it. When hung up in the fence like that, the blood rushes away from their back legs and numbs their legs. Had a similar occurrence happen in Northwest Kansas years ago while pronghorn hunting. Freed the buck and he did the same thing and had no use of his back legs. Came back the next morning and the buck was gone. I guess he just had to get the blood pumping back to the rear legs.
Had a nice buck get hit by a car crossing onto my place a few years ago. It bedded behind the house with both right legs broken. Asked for a salvage tag and the GW said he has seen them take a licking and keep on ticking. Told me to call if he was still there in the AM. He had moved about 50 yards in the night but could only crawl away on its two legs that worked. We put it down and he issued the salvage tag. The meat was fine.
If it's laying there paralyzed, kill it and grill it.
I went down just earlier. I had asked her if it was a fawn but she didn’t think it was but it turned out it was indeed which made it worse for her. A little button buck I guess thought it had gotten big enough to jump over instead of going under. It had crawled under another fence and had made it the thick brush beside the creek.
But yep it tried to get going but could only crawl. The left leg I’m holding up here seemed to be broken somewhere up in the ham part. Sad stuff.
Erica might not cook any deer meat for a little while. Said it traumatized her. Said the cows had it surrounded and when she went to help they started bawling as the deer was making noise and trashing about. She said even one our meanest cows seemed to be bothered by the fawn being hung up.
Shot it, got it tagged, and gave the meat to an older guy down the road that had asked me to shoot him a doe if I got a chance. Meat sure should be tender.
Nothing goes to waste in the wild.
Nothing went to waste with this guy either!
True statement Slate but if we leave too much meat out there for the critters we would just cause them to get lazy.
Crested I got a friend whose teeth doesn’t seem to be too healthy. I’ll tell him about this.
Back in the early days of my deer obsession, and when they still did this, I signed on to the roadkill list with area LEO agencies. If the people who hit a deer out in the county didn't want the meat, the dispatchers would start calling numbers off the RK list until somebody came to take the carcass off the side of the road. There were not many folks on the list, those that turned down calls multiple times were removed from the list quickly. I never turned down a call, and believe the deputies often asked for me to be called due to my quick response time, and willingness to come out to get the deer 24/7 not just during the weekends. I kept my freezer full of fresh venison. There were some deer that could not be salvaged, they had been badly torn up internally yet it didn't show on the outside. One that really surprised me was the night I got called at work to respond to a roadkill on the Northside of the Emporia Country Club Golf course on I-35. The deputy requested me to come out to the accident because it was a large buck, they wanted it removed quickly not wanting people to stop on the interstate to take pictures or harvest the antlers off of it. I told them I would be there in 20 minutes when my shift ended. The deputy was all giddy when I got there, he said it was a huge buck, that he only saw damage where the antler had broken away from the skull on impact, the buck had been sideswiped by a Kenworth! When I got to the deer in the ditch, it was obviously a large buck, not only in horn but also in girth and length, it had tall ears and a knobbed black tail, it was a muley buck! We have very few mule deer in this area. The left antler was still attached to the skull via the cape, but it had taken out about a softball sized circle of skull with it when broken off in the impact. As soon as I opened the gut cavity, the smell caused me to lose my stomach contents alongside the gut pile, most foul-smelling deer I have ever gutted! It had been hit less than 40 minutes prior to my arrival. When I strung him up in my shop, the stench was still present, my dog would not eat the fat strips I trimmed off him after skinning him. I could still taste the stink AFTER his vension was cooked, so could my dog, she wouldn't eat it either. I ended up tossing that meat out, it was horrible smelling. The meat looked normal otherwise, biggest deer I had ever processed, he was easily a 300+ #s 10pt buck. This was back before the cellphone cameras were a thing, I did not take photos and brag about bucks I had pulled off the road or from ditches like they were trophies to be proud of.
They no longer have the coyote list at the SO after some libtards decided it was best to allow the deer carcasses to go to waste along the roads instead. They complained it was not natural nor right for only certain humans to benefit from road killed meat (in other words they felt they should have some of the meat without getting their hands bloody). They were also the first ones to whine and complain about seeing the deer carcasses piling up along the roads, typical of those types of folks who like to believe they know what is best for all of us.
I've eaten a few that were hit by cars and I had law enforcement come out to dispatch and give me a salvage tag. Obviously cut away anything to badly mangled but the meat was fine otherwise. That is a sad story. Hate to see anything suffer.
Another thing happened down there. Yesterday morning Erica texted me and said #9 had just dropped a calf. Later we learned she had twins. Most of the times a cow can’t handle twins and usually you have to bottle feed one. Yesterday though both seemed to be doing alright.
Last night after dark we brought some hay and when they came only one was with the momma. Searched with a spotlight and finally found the other one laid down pretty good distance from the herd. Fearing she had done abandoned it we met a guy later to get some milk replacer and bottles.
Already had it planned to see if one of my old hog traps would fit in the our house. We were planning on bringing the calf inside our house for a couple nights until we found somebody that had a stall.
Luckily later last night when we got back out there she had moved over as well as the other herd back to the other baby. Took a chance and left them over night. This morning brought more hay and she seems to be taking care of both…she just might be a super momma.
Saw the post on FB, great looking calves. One of each or same plumbing? My grandfather believed blk/wht face cattle were the best
Great news on those calves. Glad the coyotes didn’t find the one that was separated for some time.
Randy I’m thinking one of each and if I’m right there’s a decent chance the heifer won’t ever have a chance to calve herself. But yeah I love these cows.
That’s what I told her Dale. Yesterday morning when we thought there was just one she came back upset cause she couldn’t see it…told her coyotes could have possibly got it. She actually got mad at me and shut the front door pretty hard as she went back down with the binoculars.
I know one thing if coyotes ended up getting one they’re going to have Erica after em. I’m afraid she’ll make me go on a killing spree.
Good excuse to burn some powder.
Good lookin calves. Hope she does prove out to be a “ super momma” and cares for them both.
Dave I spent the latter part of this evening burning fire ant piles. I Should’ve been paying more attention to stuff down here instead of traveling around hunting for some silly horns. Thought I better get rid of some of these…if one these babies lay down in one of these it could be bad news.
Brian that’s what we’re hoping for.
Yep Randy…Erica told me the other day on FB she seen where y’all might be having some puppies. Something about an accident:?)
Tried to keep them separated but failed to do so. The pups should arrive in a couple of weeks instead of Jan 2025 as we had hoped for. We didn’t want her to get pregnant so young.
