snake bite.

In my humble non deer biologist/vetranarian opinion, if he can jump that fence and is still making an efort and coming to food he has a chance to make it. I think when they stop eating is when it is time to wright them off. Wild animals are amazingly tough animals compared to us. Ive seen bucks running on a broken leg chasing a doe, yeah, he looked funky as heck trying to run, but didnt let it bother him just kept after it. I would let him go.

We had a buck 2 years ago that got a bad messed up front shoulder, was one of the nicest bucks we had seen, he made it just fine, but for about 2 months after the season he never missed an easy meal at the protein/corn feeder.

matt

He's messed up for sure. But I'm not so sure I'm on the "shoot him" bandwagon. One of a human's traits (including myself sometimes) is applying our senses and sensibilities to other animals. We don't know if he is hurting. We don't know if he is unhappy. We don't know if he'd rather be dead than alive. Unless we know that he would rather be dead than alive, it's a bit arrogant of us to pass that judgement on him.

I'm not knocking anybody or saying anybody is right, wrong, cruel, empathetic, or anything. I'm just wondering (in print) if we should so freely euthanize an animal because of our human paradigm.

In my humble non deer biologist/vetranarian opinion, if he can jump that fence and is still making an efort and coming to food he has a chance to make it. I think when they stop eating is when it is time to wright them off. Wild animals are amazingly tough animals compared to us. Ive seen bucks running on a broken leg chasing a doe, yeah, he looked funky as heck trying to run, but didnt let it bother him just kept after it. I would let him go.

We had a buck 2 years ago that got a bad messed up front shoulder, was one of the nicest bucks we had seen, he made it just fine, but for about 2 months after the season he never missed an easy meal at the protein/corn feeder.

matt

I agree with you that animals are tough little buggars...just imagine humans living in the wild and you would see over half of us die off the first year...

My point in saying he needed to go was simply that his whole body looked thinned out, like he wasn't making it happen or whatever is causing his hoof/knee/shoulder issue is affecting his whole body, like some infection or something...

I don't think this is an injury to the hoof, based on the swollen knee and wasted shoulder. Had it been an injury to the hoof significant enough to cause that kind of wasting in the shoulder, his knee would be tiny as well. It could have been a whole leg injury, but then you would think it would be more mangled than this and the hoof would not be swollen.

To me, this is either an infected snakebite which he is not recovering well from, or an infection of some sort (hoof rot or fungus or something). Given the shoulder wasting and the rump wasting on that side, it is long standing and his body is not handling it well. If he was healthy, his rump on the affected side would be extra-large to compensate for the leg issue...it is not, and in one of the pics appears quite the opposite.

That is why I said he needed to go...just letting you know what my reasoning was...

Ok, my point is mother nature is a B! and deer are tough critters, he is still making a go of it, let him go. Im not gonna eat that deer if I shot it, so I would let him go and if he died he died and if he made it he made it.

matt

He's messed up for sure. But I'm not so sure I'm on the "shoot him" bandwagon. One of a human's traits (including myself sometimes) is applying our senses and sensibilities to other animals. We don't know if he is hurting. We don't know if he is unhappy. We don't know if he'd rather be dead than alive. Unless we know that he would rather be dead than alive, it's a bit arrogant of us to pass that judgement on him.

I'm not knocking anybody or saying anybody is right, wrong, cruel, empathetic, or anything. I'm just wondering (in print) if we should so freely euthanize an animal because of our human paradigm.

not trying to start a big mess but i am curious as to what your take on "inferior genetics" are? we as humans don't see that as a reason to euthanize someone but in the deer world it is acceptable.

I don't have a take on inferior genetics. I have a take on killing anything just because we think it's best and I believe you can deduce that from my statement.

If not, here it is in a nutshell:
I will kill to feed my family.
I will kill to protect my family.
I will not kill anything simply because I make the judgement that he/she/it is better off dead.

While I believe our Creator (in whatever form you believe) will condone killing as per the first two lines, He will not condone killing as per the third line; however well intentioned we may be.

This buck has hoof or foot rot. It is a bad case at that. He probably got it sometime this summer. It did not effect his antler growth side to side but might have effected his overall rack. Hoof/foot rot starts when a deer gets a cut or skin break around his hoof and a bacteria from the soil gets into his system. Rutting bucks seems to have about 90% of the hoof/foot rot I have seen Once it gets started it can really bad. It gets into the joints and bones. Very rarely seen in does or fawns but they do get it. Hooves can slough off. That hoof or joint will feel like mush. It will smell and if you mash it what comes out of it will gag you. It is not genetic. He can live thru it if he gets enough food and does not get into trouble with other bucks in the rut. I have seen bucks get it in 1,2 or 3 hooves. If they get it in 2 or 3 hooves they usually die. I have seen bucks with it in one grow a great rack the next year. Seen them get it so bad they grow a half rack. Rear legs are worse than front on antler growth. Foot rot bacteria lives in the soil and can appear in wet or dry weather. Also once a buck has had it and gets better he can get it again.