Any guesses on what caused this? (gross pic)

[Schu72]

http://i32.tinypic.com/23shdao.jpg

I wish I had taken a before picture. This deer had a knot the size of a grapefruit on his outer leg. The boys that helped me drag the deer to the field begged me to slice the knot open, and this was the result. This was the first deer I had ever harvested that had anything like this.

I'll add a little more to the story after a few responses.

[Kaiser878]

Broken leg either due to a car or had a broadhead in its leg!

[Hawgleg]

Dude,that is nasty. Looks like a bad infection. Was the deer healthy looking? Limping or any signs sickness? Did you butcher and eat this deer?

[ohiosam]

An abscess. Could be from any kind of injury, even minor like a scratch or a splinter. I had a goat a few years ago that had one on the back of his head. We lanced it, results were similar to your photo.

Couple years ago I killed a buck that had an infected lower front leg from bird shot. Wasn't that bad but did have some puss.

[riverdude]

Ewwwwwwwwwww!! :yikes: A cyst or a tummor? :confused:

Did you keep the deer?? Tell us more. :(

[redcloud102]

I have to go with Ohiosam on this one and say it is an abscess. The last buck I seen that had a bad leg like that was years ago. We skinned it and found that gangrene had set in all the way up the leg and into the hindquarter (nasty green color to the meat and boy did it stink) so, needless to say the meat was a loss. Since deer walk through God only knows what out there it could be like ohiosam said in the fact just about anything could cause it from a small scratch to a thorn from a tree (you know the ones that are about 3" long) all kinds of things. Can't wait to read the rest of the story :D.

[antiqucycle]

Remember when you are gutting a deer, to watchout for broadheads, especially if you see any sign of a wound or a healed up wound. For all the roadkilled deer you see, there are probably just as many deer that survived a hit, not to mention slug hits arrow hits.

[dannmann801]

An abscess. Could be from any kind of injury, even minor like a scratch or a splinter. I had a goat a few years ago that had one on the back of his head. We lanced it, results were similar to your photo.

Couple years ago I killed a buck that had an infected lower front leg from bird shot. Wasn't that bad but did have some puss.

When does goat season open?:mischeif: What did ya bag him with sam?:biggrin:

Seriously, after you lanced him, was he ok?
Do you think the rest of the meat from the absessed deer would be ok?

[Schu72]

As you see in the picture he was shot on Nov 10th, so this was prior to gun season and in the heart of the rut. When he approached my stand, he was on a mission. He cut through a mature stand of white pines and paused for a moment before jumping a barbwire fence and then trotted to 12 yards from my stand. His movements did not seem to be limited in any way.

[Buckmaster]

Infection of somekind, pretty gross outcome.

[ohiosam]

When does goat season open?:mischeif: What did ya bag him with sam?:biggrin:

Seriously, after you lanced him, was he ok?
Do you think the rest of the meat from the absessed deer would be ok?

Yes, he was OK. We rinsed it with alcohol or peroxide(don't exactly remember) for a few days. It was gross when I cut it though!

As far as the meat, if care was used during skinning I probably would throw that hind 1/4 away and keep the rest if there was no sign of problems on the rest of the carcass. That's what I did (on the advise of a retired butcher)with the one I got with an infected front leg. The meat was fine. But each case is different.

If I had to guess Schu's deer probably would have ended up accidentally opening the wound and it would have drained and recovered.

[uglykat26]

whatcha shooting deer in aug for anyway :)

["J"]

Crop damage permits lol.

[Schu72]

whatcha shooting deer in aug for anyway :)

Where was August mentioned?

[TheCream]

A DNR biologist ID'd the "extra baggage" between this deer's hind legs as a hydrocyst. I bet he scared the ladies. :D:whistle:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/creamernator/CDY_0014.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/creamernator/CDY_0008.jpg

[sc832]

First deer I shot had that. Not as bad though. I didn't recognize any limp when I seen it coming towards me. When I picked it up the butcher told me there was a peice of braodhead stuck in it leg bone. I'm guessing what was left of someones broadhead after a not so perfect shot.Pretty sickening and doesn't smell that great.

[Hoytmania]

I had a deer that had a big pouch like that on his chest right in between his two frot legs. It was the size of a softball. The butcer said it was puss pck that probably resulted from fighting with another buck.It didn't ruin any of the meat.

[Schu72]

Well there's not that much left to the story. After taking the buck home, I washed out the area where the puss had collected. There was no notable injury, nor did the muscle seem to be infected. So I decided to go ahead and take the deer to the processor. Since this was a bow harvest, the processor that I use was not particularly busy. I spent some time explaining what it had looked like and told him to pitch anything he wouldn't eat himself. The next afternoon he called to say the deer was done, except for the smoked products, and that he had found a fresh broadhead in the deer's spine and a fractured rear leg. The processor gave me the broadhead as a souvenir.

After sharing this story with the land owner and showing him the broadhead and piece of carbon shaft, he informed another hunter he gives permission to had stuck a buck exactly 1 week earlier and identified the braodhead as his. So the broadhead was likely just a coincidence and the broken leg, as Kaiser guessed, was the likely culprit.
http://i28.tinypic.com/34rc3ub.jpg