First shed buck of the year

[Nontypical]

Got this pic this morning of a shed buck on my friends cam. This is the earliest that I’ve seen one in this area. Typically most will hold on until at least the end of January or later. I’ve seen bucks upstate start to drop by the last weekend of gun, and in certain areas locally with a high population density by the end of December. 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Nontypical

[mowin]

7 minutes ago, Nontypical said:

Got this pic this morning of a shed buck on my friends cam. This is the earliest that I’ve seen one in this area. Typically most will hold on until at least the end of January or later. I’ve seen bucks upstate start to drop by the last weekend of gun, and in certain areas locally with a high population density by the end of December. 

Could be he has some sort of injury.  Looks healthy though.   You picked perfect spot for a cam/stand near that hole in the fence. 

[Nontypical]

I’m going with possibly bad nutrition for this guy, but he may have suffered an injury. I’ll request a video to see how he’s walking. This area has a lot of pines, and the acorns were pretty nonexistent this year. This area in particular has a dense population of deer, and most of their food is from peoples landscapes around their homes.
My favorite spots for cams and stands are always in pinch points or bottle necks like this, and I try to take advantage of them when I find them. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Nontypical

[nywaw]

1 hour ago, Nontypical said:

Got this pic this morning of a shed buck on my friends cam. This is the earliest that I’ve seen one in this area. Typically most will hold on until at least the end of January or later. I’ve seen bucks upstate start to drop by the last weekend of gun, and in certain areas locally with a high population density by the end of December. 

There's a perfectly good reason behind this!  He ran through that fence!  Ripped his antlers right off!

Kidding, I've seen bucks drop this early before here in NJ but fairly rare. 

@Rusty what do you see that stands out as him not being healthy?

[G-man]

May have injury ( looks like hes missing his rear left leg below knee) or just stressed from pressure..  usually finding sheds by end of muzzleloader . But seems a couple of weeks early .

Edited December 6, 2022 by G-man

[G-man]

7 minutes ago, nywaw said:

There's a perfectly good reason behind this!  He ran through that fence!  Ripped his antlers right off!

Kidding, I've seen bucks drop this early before here in NJ but fairly rare. 

@Rusty what do you see that stands out as him not being healthy?

Rear left leg below knee is gone...

[Nomad]

Thats a heck,of a funnel ! 

[nywaw]

4 minutes ago, G-man said:

Rear left leg below knee is gone...

Thanks, totally missed it on my phone when I looked earlier!  If it's from this year that would explain it and diminished health for the season, but they are incredibly resilient animals and even with 3 legs get around quite well.

[G-man]

4 minutes ago, nywaw said:

Thanks, totally missed it on my phone when I looked earlier!  If it's from this year that would explain it and diminished health for the season, but they are incredibly resilient animals and even with 3 legs get around quite well.

True. Cant tell from photo how old  but that would be my suspicion as to early antler drop

[Robhuntandfish]

9 minutes ago, G-man said:

Rear left leg below knee is gone...

i think its just where it picked up its leg walking.  If you zoom in rest of leg just looks bent to walk 

[G-man]

Just now, Robhuntandfish said:

i think its just where it picked up its leg walking.  If you zoom in rest of leg just looks bent to walk 

Legs on rear would bend forward.. its not there  

[Robhuntandfish]

1 minute ago, G-man said:

Legs on rear would bend forward.. its not there  

There is def something there lower than the knee. Maybe missing some part of lower leg hard to tell.  Personally I just think it's camera angle.

[nywaw]

I see the ribs showing pretty bad, it looks worse than a run down rutted up buck, so maybe what @Rusty spotted

[Nontypical]

I updated the pic above with an HD pic. Looks like skin and bones to me.  Can see his ribs pretty good. Here’s the video. Definitely still has all 4 legs   

 

 

[Splitear]

That’s the buck FSW was going to have @Chef hunting  Must have been a perilous escape.