tddeangelo
Handloader
- May 18, 2011
- 2,024
- 21
Yesterday was an interesting day. Last day of the PA rifle season, and it was cold (for us) in the morning. 25, damp, and windy. Yuck. And I took a stand high on a hilltop, so I got the full effect of the wind. No one ever accused me of being overly bright.
No deer until a herd of 7 or 8 does came trotting across a hilltop about 375-400 yards away. A few minutes behind them came the buck. THE buck. The one that I hit with my bow and didn't find (that was on Nov. 5). I saw him flip his tail first, which got my attention that another deer was present. Then I saw the rack. Then I brought up the binos. My gosh is he a nice deer. And I know it was him...the one I hit had cracked off a tine and this deer was the same...same tine, broken the same way, in the same spot...same overall size. It was him.
He wasn't limping, but wasn't running. He looked a little thin, but post rut might be all that is.
Anyway, he followed the does out of sight. Glad to see him still around. I hope he survives and I get to meet up with him next fall.
No more deer for the morning, so I came home to warm up.
Took my daughter out (she decided to sleep in for the morning) in the evening. We decided to set up to see if the does and/or buck decided to slink back from where they came. Deer were right at the stand when we got there and the busted out as we were getting settled in. Darn it.
About 10 minutes before quitting time, two does came easing down the field edge at about 120 yards. I wanted Megan to take the shot, but she just didn't feel good about making a clean shot, so I took it, and the doe crumpled in her tracks.
At literally the last very minute of the season, we heard something running, and a big doe came hauling down the field edge we were sitting on...she passed us at about 10 yards and doing Mach 2. She never slowed, and I don't know what kicked her into high gear like that, but she was hauling it.
Here's the doe I took:
All appears good to go.
I opened her up and cracked her sternum to remove heart/lungs. That's when I got concerned. There was a ton of connective tissue between the lungs and ribs. None of it looked like diseased tissue....it remind me of the tissue you have to cut when skinning a hide off an animal. Just lots of it, all around the lungs to the ribs. The lungs didn't look odd to me, and I saw nothing else wrong with her...well...other than the hole my 180gr Partition made.
Just not sure what that was...have her hanging for now. It was in the low to mid 20's last night, won't be over mid-30's today. 46-48 tomorrow for a high, but it won't be at that temp all day, and the deer is good and cold going into that, so I think she'll be fine to hang. After tomorrow, high temps are not supposed to go past 40-41 with lows in the 20's and 30's. She should be fine to hang for now.
I'm going to call the PA Game Commission and see if this rings any bells for anyone there. If not, then I think she'll be fine to eat. I can't find anything anywhere that shows this as a symptom of anything. The symptoms for CWD, EHD, and Bovine TB don't match this.
Anyone ever seen anything like this?
No deer until a herd of 7 or 8 does came trotting across a hilltop about 375-400 yards away. A few minutes behind them came the buck. THE buck. The one that I hit with my bow and didn't find (that was on Nov. 5). I saw him flip his tail first, which got my attention that another deer was present. Then I saw the rack. Then I brought up the binos. My gosh is he a nice deer. And I know it was him...the one I hit had cracked off a tine and this deer was the same...same tine, broken the same way, in the same spot...same overall size. It was him.
He wasn't limping, but wasn't running. He looked a little thin, but post rut might be all that is.
Anyway, he followed the does out of sight. Glad to see him still around. I hope he survives and I get to meet up with him next fall.
No more deer for the morning, so I came home to warm up.
Took my daughter out (she decided to sleep in for the morning) in the evening. We decided to set up to see if the does and/or buck decided to slink back from where they came. Deer were right at the stand when we got there and the busted out as we were getting settled in. Darn it.
About 10 minutes before quitting time, two does came easing down the field edge at about 120 yards. I wanted Megan to take the shot, but she just didn't feel good about making a clean shot, so I took it, and the doe crumpled in her tracks.
At literally the last very minute of the season, we heard something running, and a big doe came hauling down the field edge we were sitting on...she passed us at about 10 yards and doing Mach 2. She never slowed, and I don't know what kicked her into high gear like that, but she was hauling it.
Here's the doe I took:
All appears good to go.
I opened her up and cracked her sternum to remove heart/lungs. That's when I got concerned. There was a ton of connective tissue between the lungs and ribs. None of it looked like diseased tissue....it remind me of the tissue you have to cut when skinning a hide off an animal. Just lots of it, all around the lungs to the ribs. The lungs didn't look odd to me, and I saw nothing else wrong with her...well...other than the hole my 180gr Partition made.
Just not sure what that was...have her hanging for now. It was in the low to mid 20's last night, won't be over mid-30's today. 46-48 tomorrow for a high, but it won't be at that temp all day, and the deer is good and cold going into that, so I think she'll be fine to hang. After tomorrow, high temps are not supposed to go past 40-41 with lows in the 20's and 30's. She should be fine to hang for now.
I'm going to call the PA Game Commission and see if this rings any bells for anyone there. If not, then I think she'll be fine to eat. I can't find anything anywhere that shows this as a symptom of anything. The symptoms for CWD, EHD, and Bovine TB don't match this.
Anyone ever seen anything like this?
