What happened to this deer?

[LightningBG]

So I was able to harvest a decent doe the other day, but I cant for the life of me figure out exactly what happened to it.

I shot the deer a little higher and a little further back than I wanted to, but still a decent shot. The deer went 10ft or so and crashed into a fallen log, went 5 more feet then crashed again. When I finally went to track it a couple hours later, the blood trail ended after about 30 ft. I combed the area, did circles, etc. Nothing. After an hour or so of randomly wandering after that, I found it in some tall grass around a dried up pond. When I found it I could see exactly where my arrow hit, BUT, behind that there was a giant hole in the side of the deer. The size of a basketball or so. guts were hanging out and about 4 ribs were snapped in half. Didn't look like any animals had gotten to it, so I'm not sure what caused this catastrophic blowout. The only thing I can imagine is it broke the ribs when it crashed, but it surprises me it was able to run as well as it did after that. Even once I found the deer, I tried to trace blood backwards and only made it back about 15 ft before it was clean. I thought maybe it caught a tree and tore itself open, but there weren't any trees within 40yds. Any ideas? I have pictures of it as it laid when I found it, but they are a little graphic. Here is a diagram of what I saw. The red dot is where I hit, the green is the hole in the side. Both on the left side of the deer.

[student]

Was it a fresh wound? Was the skin torn or cut?

[reinhard1]

was the arrow broken and if not could the arrow have been pushed to the side slashing open the wound [assuming the arrow did not go through all the way]. since you say there was no sharp rocks or brocken wood in the trail area i would say it was done by your broadhead is some way while the deer fell as you say a couple of times. good luck.

[LightningBG]

Was it a fresh wound? Was the skin torn or cut?

Very fresh.

Torn or cut... hmmm. tough call, I just there were a couple flaps that seemed torn. Overall it looked just gone. There was just a big hole in the side. Not a lot of skin hanging anywhere or anything like that. Sure would be easier if I could put a picture up.

The arrow did break in half when it fell initially. Not sure what ever happened to the broadhead, never found it. There were some possible exit wounds, but I dont know if they were from the broadhead or what happened.

[lichen fox]

Sounds to me like a carnivore,(timber, coyote, bobcat, etc.), was getting after it and you probably spooked whatever it was off when you got close in your search....heck it could have even been an eagle that ripped open the guts....

[B. Amish]

was she quartering away? broadside?

[LightningBG]

Broadside. I'll try to clean up the picture some and hopefully it will pass for a clean pic.

[LightningBG]

The black portion on this picture is covering what you would normally see inside. No signs of tearing, biting, picking, etc. There is also no skin covered by black. There just wasn't any there. Upon processing the animal we did notice she had a broken back let too (but I didn't notice anything while she was running away.

The portion covering the back leg is just some insides that spilled out. (the bad kinda insides)

Those 3 white things stick through the black are broken ribs. I suppose they could have torn it open, but there wasn't any skin. This is in the Metro zone, so I'm kinda doubting wolfs or anything too exotic. I guess there are crows and eagles around as well as coyotes, but again, no signs of animals. and it wasn't out there for very long (under 3 hours).

[1eyeReD]

Sounds like a scene from the X-Files...

[JigginGopher]

I would bet a scavenger tore into it. A couple of hours is more than enough time to do the damage you describe. They always seem to go after the guts first. That fact that the skin was gone and some of the intestines were pulled out points to a scavenger all the way.

[LightningBG]

The intestines were out, but completely intact except for the stomach which there was a trail of that contents going back about 10 yds (in piles)

[96trigger]

Quote:

The intestines were out, but completely intact except for the stomach which there was a trail of that contents going back about 10 yds (in piles)

Some scavenger got at it. Most definitely. If she was dragging guts for that long, you would have seen more blood. Could have been a dog also. Hard to say, but it definitely doesn't sound normal.

[gurkster]

+1 with JigginGopher something got a snack.

[LightningBG]

I guess its possible something got into it.

She must have busted open before she fell though, given there was a trail of contents.

Sure would have been nice if that something would have led me to it a little quicker.

[CO1978]

Could have something drug the "contents" away from the deer while it was trying to feed on it? I find it weird that a deer would get that torn open without a little help.

[deerminator]

I would put my money on a scavenger. I shot a nice doe two years ago in the woods behind our house in the country where I hunt sometimes. I climbed down, headed back to the house to get the handtruck and five minutes later walked up to the neighbor's snow white german shepherd tearing into my doe. Got mostly ribs and guts so no real harm done but I bet the neighbor must have wondered what in the world his dog got into when he got back home. Yet one more reason people need to keep their dogs in their own freakin' yards, even if you live in the country.

[leech~~]

I would put my money on a scavenger. I shot a nice doe two years ago in the woods behind our house in the country where I hunt sometimes. I climbed down, headed back to the house to get the handtruck and five minutes later walked up to the neighbor's snow white german shepherd tearing into my doe. Got mostly ribs and guts so no real harm done but I bet the neighbor must have wondered what in the world his dog got into when he got back home. Yet one more reason people need to keep their dogs in their own freakin' yards, even if you live in the country.

If it would have been me the neighbor wouldn't have wondered what their dog got into, but where it went!

[motley man]

Predator for sure, arrow didn't do that. I shot a mule deer in Montana one year and walked back to camp to get help. Was gone 1 hour and eagles and ravens had eaten the whole back quarter. They b

[deerminator]

The neighbor was terminally ill at the time and no longer with us. I tried to see the humor in it and didnt want to bug his family then. Nowadays, a neighbor dog visits us and he gets a ride to the humane society if he keeps doing so. And then the neighbor gets to go pay $$$ to get him.

[jnorm1984]

looks like critters eatin critters

[shortfatguy]

If it would have been me the neighbor wouldn't have wondered what their dog got into, but where it went!

I can tell you this much, if it was my dog, and you killed it, and I found out, Your family would be wondering where you went.

[pulleye16]

dido

[deerminator]

I say you guys take this offline and have a cage match instead. : ) I was just trying to provide what I still feel is a humorous example of how scavengers can show up almost anywhere, anytime. Back to the original post now, hopefully.So LightningBG, did you save and process the doe? I would think so but just asking.

[LightningBG]

Yes, I did save it. Wrapped it up and put it on ice until I could process it on Sunday morning with EBiz. The only meat that was affected was one of the backstraps. Ended up getting about 7-8 gallon sized bags of meat off of her. Good start to the year. Now I have to hurry up an finish whats left from last years harvest.

As far as the contents trail... The trail consisted of piles of green mush. Nothing that could have been moved by an animal.

If anyone wants to see the full picture I can email it to them.

[LightningBG]

BTW - if the neighbors dog had gotten into it (not sure if they even have one), there isn't much I could or would do about it, being that I was on their property when I found her and cleaned her out.

[leech~~]

BTW - if the neighbors dog had gotten into it (not sure if they even have one), there isn't much I could or would do about it, being that I was on their property when I found her and cleaned her out.

LB, That was a pretty big detail to leave out on us! If the dog was on his owners land that does make it a little different! There now no one has to go after anyones family over a dog!

[Surface Tension]

A small puncture by a broken rib in the abdomen isn't unheard of.

If I read correctly the recovery took a few hours.

In that amount of time the stomach would have bloated a lot.

A small hole in the abdomen + the extreme pressure from bloating = well something has to give.

Yes that will tear a small hole into big hole.

The green trail is stomach contents that flew after the gut broke.

[InTheNorthwoods]

I am inclined to say that a coyote or other scavenger got to the animal first. They will usually go for the stomach/guts first and they (especially coyotes) will open up a hole like you described in the animal.

I don't think it was bloating and "exploding" as the time for this to have occurred doesn't seem likely in the temperatures we were having over opener. Bloating to the stage of "exploding" would take more than a couple hours in my experience.

The end result is that a lot of weird things could have happened leading to this situation, and you'll probably never know exactly what caused it.

[LightningBG]

how about I'll just put the picture up and see what everyone thinks. There was a picture of a scavenged bear on here, so this may be ok. If it doesn't fly, the admin can take it down.

[DonBo]

Coyotes, no question.