Your thoughts on wounded deer.

[jlane]

Got a buck that was shot in his back right leg,(broken above the knee) He has survived so far, Shot back in October,
Question is have you guys had any history of this happening, and then seeing them the following year, if so did you see any abnormality in antler growth.
This buck was in the 160/170 class,he has lost a lot of weight, also shed antlers early.
With feeding him i think he will survive, he disappeared for a while, then came back, disappeared again, now looks like he's back in his safe place.

 

[jlane]

View attachment 51497

 

[Boarhead]

Sometimes i dont think we realize how tough whitetail deer are with a will to survive.
Have seen several 3 legged deer over the yrs and it's amazing to see how they get around.
I bet that buck could well will have a different looking rack next season,hopefully a droptine or two would be nice.lol
Good luck hope ya get him.

 

[Jamie]

if that deer was wounded back in October and is still alive, that injury isn't going to kill him, at least not directly. one of the biggest bucks I've ever laid eyes on was a three legged 300+ pound slob of a deer. I've seen several three legged deer over the years, probably an equal number of bucks and does. deer are tough, and I think they do recover from flesh wounds and broken bones more often than not.

 

[at1010]

Sometimes i dont think we realize how tough whitetail deer are with a will to survive.
Have seen several 3 legged deer over the yrs and it's amazing to see how they get around.
I bet that buck could well will have a different looking rack next season,hopefully a droptine or two would be nice.lol
Good luck hope ya get him.

I agree with this. My buddy had a doe he called 3 cause of three legs. Hell he had her on camera for 9 years I think! They are tough!

Not sure about the rack growth tho bud.

 

[hickslawns]

I agree. If he survived this long, I'd think he is going to make it.

 

[Bigslam51]

3 legged buck from the summer of 2015. Had pics of him for a few weeks and then nothing, I wrote him off as yote bait.

Turns out he hobbled his ass almost 2 miles to another farm and is now 4 years old and still kicking. Tough animals for sure.

 

[Dustinb80]

Damn that's crazy

 

[cspot]

The buck should be fine even without supplemental food especially if the injury happened in October. I remember a doe many years ago that either took a bullet or got hit by a car and her back left leg was just hanging there. It was broke just below the hip. She looked absolutely awful and stayed all winter in a little 1 acre patch of woods across from my house. Thought a few times about breaking the law and putting her out of her misery as she looked very poor. I would always decide to give her another week. The leg ended up healing such that the leg was bent over behind the other leg. When she walked or run her good leg would hit the bad leg. Long story short she survived and to my surprise she actually had twins that Spring. That next fall she did get a couple passes from me as I couldn't believe that she survived what she did. Never saw her after rifle season so I assume one of the neighbors got her.

Those darn deer are tough buggers. I have never had a buck injured that I could identify the next year to see about the rack. We kill them too quickly in PA. LOL.

 

[Mike]

This is part of the leg bone from my buddies buck. It was a young deer, 1 1/2 year old. Looks to be a passthrough with noticable healing. The ball you see is not a joint.

 

[finelyshedded]

Wow Mike! Very interesting! Damn they're tough! Lots of calcification took place there!

 

[OO2]

I put cameras out to see if there was any wounded deer as season comes to close as I still have a doe tag. Luckily there wasn't any on primary location. Don't know about secondary yet. Didn't see any deer on first card pull.

 

[Gordo]

I've only had one run in with a three legged deer and I ended up putting her down. It was gun season years back and her rear leg was barely attached. It had to be a new injury and she was far from learning how to survive with it. Flopping around everywhere.

From what I've seen in the past, it seems certain that injuries will cause some funky-ness in antler development.

 

[giles]

I killed a buck a couple of years ago (last buck I've killed) that had a dangling hoof. He had been waking on the bare bone long enough to wear it down. The injury had to of been a couple of weeks old. He was far from looking close to any real harm from the injury. No doubt in my mind that deer would've been fine had the .50 cal not landing in his chest/neck.

 

[Spencie]

I had a young 8 point take a crossbow bolt in the back during November of 2015. He fed heavily at the feeder after that. He lost a good bit of weight over the winter and dropped his antlers in February. By April he started looking real bad. Those were the last pics I had of him. He lived at least 5 months after the injury. They are very tough creatures but live in a harsher world. If they are at any disadvantage something bad may catch up to them. Perfectly healthy deer can come up missing at any time.

 

[jlane]

I.m hoping he survives as he.s coming to the feeder every night. Still looking rough.
If the coyotes don;t get him and the cold winter, then he liable to make it. went looking his sheds today, nothing, Thinking he was living on another property when he dropped.

 

[trebor69]

Theyre tough! I have actually seen with my own two eyes.... two bucks that when skinned out for mounting had broadheads lodged in their skull from previous attempts on their life. Both wounds looked to be several years old and were completely healed over.

count me in with the crowd who thinks his wound would have killed him a long time ago if it was going to.

Ive seen posts like this before and I think the bucks antler size took a hit the following season.