Hate to see them like this...

[WNY Bowhunter]

I was bummed yesterday to discover that my target buck for gun season has sustained a severe injury to his front leg. I'm not certain if it's a rifle wound or if he was hit by a car as the left side of his body looks all scuffed up? I'm definitely more motivated that ever to put a tag one him. These pics were from a week and a half ago. It's possible that he could have died already or shed his antlers by now. I think i will try to end his suffering should the opportunity present itself even if his headgear is gone. If I have no sightings or no additional cam pics before season closes I will try do some stomping around in the adjacent brush lot looking for his remains as soon as season ends in early January.  They are resilient animals no doubt, but I don't have much hope for a post rut recovery like this. A sad ending to a nice buck I have 3 yrs of history with...

[nywaw]

Dang that sucks.  They're tough animals though, he will get around OK but hopefully you can get a shot at him before the season ends.  Good he's showing in daylight!

[fletchny11]

Nice buck, hate seeing them injured. The deer looks pretty fat and healthy. The injury looks contained to knee and I doubt that would kill him. The messed hair could be just from bedding?

Keep us posted if you get more pics or sight him.

 

 

[Wildcat]

He looks like he is browsing/eating...   that is always a good sign that it might be something he can deal with longer term..   If he was all busted up inside from a car hit, food would likely not be a priority any longer.

[LET EM GROW]

He definitely doesn't look like he's enjoying it. The jaw, the body, that leg.. ugh.. I'm guessing he has cast that rack somewhere. 

[WNY Bowhunter]

24 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

He definitely doesn't look like he's enjoying it. The jaw, the body, that leg.. ugh.. I'm guessing he has cast that rack somewhere. 

I was scanning the hayfield with my binos from the stand last night looking for tines sticking up...haha.

[dbHunterNY]

hopefully it heals and he doesn't get dogged by a pack of coyotes. deer are pretty tough. maybe hole up with a next to decent late season food and make it through without getting to far worn down. hopefully he heals up. could get smaller antlers for recovering or could get something non-typical going on. we had one with a messed up ankle from the neighbor getting buck fever with a jumpy trigger finger.

[WNY Bowhunter]

57 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

hopefully it heals and he doesn't get dogged by a pack of coyotes. deer are pretty tough. maybe hole up with a next to decent late season food and make it through without getting to far worn down. hopefully he heals up. could get smaller antlers for recovering or could get something non-typical going on. we had one with a messed up ankle from the neighbor getting buck fever with a jumpy trigger finger.

This buck that I'm also hunting at another property down the road had a similar injury. My dad hit him low with a muzzleloader during late season in '21. With the amount of blood he lost we thought for certain he was laying somewhere dead. I had taken down most of my cams by then so I don't know if his leg looked as bad as this other buck's does. He recovered but showed up last yr with a funky antler on his right side, the same side he was hit on which is typical for a deer with a traumatic injury to the front quarters. He grew two normal antler this yr and was still alive as of a few days ago. You can see the bullet wound above his knee...

[dbHunterNY]

2 hours ago, WNY Bowhunter said:

This buck that I'm also hunting at another property down the road had a similar injury. My dad hit him low with a muzzleloader during late season in '21. With the amount of blood he lost we thought for certain he was laying somewhere dead. I had taken down most of my cams by then so I don't know if his leg looked as bad as this other buck's does. He recovered but showed up last yr with a funky antler on his right side, the same side he was hit on which is typical for a deer with a traumatic injury to the front quarters. He grew two normal antler this yr and was still alive as of a few days ago. You can see the bullet wound above his knee...

not sure what he looked like in '21. 3.5 last year and 4.5 this yr you think? buck i mentioned was injured same side as the stunted non-typical side too. wounded at 3.5 and taken at 4.5 but i've known of others that eventually go back to normal and catch up growth wise on the weak side. other buck i'm thinking of made it to 2.5 and by 4.5 he was back to a full growth typical. don't remember if he was taken at 4.5 or 5.5 but he was 150's class deer when he died. bigger than typically seen in this area.

[WNY Bowhunter]

He was 3.5 when injured in '21, making him 5.5 this year. I guess he's just one of those non-growing type bucks...

[E J]

The buck I got during bow season was missing a rear foot. They really are amazing what they can go through and still make out ok. He would walk with a limp but ran just fine. I first saw him last season and passed him a couple times. I think he was 2.5 then. This year I had a few close encounters with him before was able to get him into range and make a shot.

[lucky118]

On 12/11/2023 at 10:17 AM, WNY Bowhunter said:

I was bummed yesterday to discover that my target buck for gun season has sustained a severe injury to his front leg. I'm not certain if it's a rifle wound or if he was hit by a car as the left side of his body looks all scuffed up? I'm definitely more motivated that ever to put a tag one him. These pics were from a week and a half ago. It's possible that he could have died already or shed his antlers by now. I think i will try to end his suffering should the opportunity present itself even if his headgear is gone. If I have no sightings or no additional cam pics before season closes I will try do some stomping around in the adjacent brush lot looking for his remains as soon as season ends in early January.  They are resilient animals no doubt, but I don't have much hope for a post rut recovery like this. A sad ending to a nice buck I have 3 yrs of history with...

Man that sucks. I was really hopeing you would get him!

[cervidchasers]

Every roadkill or unrecovered deer that fed the coyotes hurts me.

Here is one I found, gut shot and never recovered. Prior to that must have injured its foot and had shed its antlers also. 

 

[lucky118]

39 minutes ago, cervidchasers said:

Every roadkill or unrecovered deer that fed the coyotes hurts me.

Here is one I found, gut shot and never recovered. Prior to that must have injured its foot and had shed its antlers also. 

 

Liver shot maybe. That's to far forward to be gut shot. 

[LET EM GROW]

20 hours ago, lucky118 said:

Liver shot maybe. That's to far forward to be gut shot. 

Thats Rumen right there, full of food they chew(cud) part of the digestive tract. It Will kill them,  but takes days if not weeks. terrible way to go. Seen it first hand a couple times.