This deer was harvested with a bow on Dec. 30th by Jay Trudell in South Eastern Wisconsin. Jay made a great hit and the deer piled up inside of 50 yards.
On New Years Eve, Jay brought to deer to me for processing. I skinned it for a shoulder mount, stopping right behind the ear.
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/jaybuck3.jpg)
The buck dressed out at 175 pounds and has a good layer of fat on it's rump. Every indication was that this was a normal, healthy deer. I returned the head to Jay for mounting. After the taxidermist capped the skull, he cut the skull plate to remove the antlers. As he finished the cut, he hit metal. Jay got the skull and antlers back and cleaned them and brought them to be to show me what was inside the brain of this deer. The hide was completely healed and did not give away that there was an injury. The threaded portion of the head had snapped off.
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow8.jpg)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow91.jpg)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow92.jpg)
The deer had been shot in a prior season with a Wasp Hammer broadhead. It entered the brain but did not kill the deer. It also passed through the hinge of the jaw and had grown over with bone and prevented the law from opening all but the smallest amount.
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow2.jpg)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow4.jpg)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow3.jpg)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow1.jpg)
I placed one of my aging jaws next to the skull to show how the jaw hinge should look.
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow6.jpg)
Here you can see the opposite healthy side
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow5.jpg)
The bone had grown over the broadhead and through the vent in the blade and bridged the gap.
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow7.jpg)
The upper left arrow shows how much hinge movement was allowed in the jaw, The opening and closing of the mouth had worn a curved area away
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow9.jpg)
The shot appears to have taken from the ground and not an elevated stand and looks to be nearly perfectly broadside. I can't understand why someone would aim there unless they were taking a neck shot. I think that would have been a poor choice as well.
WOW! I pulled one from an eye socket one time on a deer that had vision out of one eye. How did he ever get enough calories to live with that amount of jaw clearance. ONE TOUGH HOMBRE!
Amazing.
Thats a nice deer. Amazing how well they can heal, their determination to live just astounds me.
I would like to hope a shot like that was a kid that was shaking, not just an unethical hunter. Either way, Im sure that deer felt some pain, glad your buddy got him.
One thought. Those antlers look pretty similar(each side), I would think if it was from last year the one opposite would be deformed somehow? Could it be older than a year?
Thats incredible! Thanks for taking the time to take photos and posting! It proves alot of things to me. One, deer and or God's animals are one tuff surviving son of guns! Their will to live is amazing. Second I'll not even go there. Again thanks for posting.
RGK, So what you are telling us is that Jay outwitted a brain damaged deer. :p
That is the kind of advantage I need also.
Whitetails are truly amazing!
Yes, I have already began giving him grief about shooting a mentally defective deer that suffered a lobotomy. :knothead:
QuoteOriginally posted by Tree man:
RGK, So what you are telling us is that Jay outwitted a brain damaged deer. :p
That is the kind of advantage I need also.
RGK, thanks for posting. They were some great pictures, and it goes to prove how amazing these animals truly are. Tim
RGK
Thanks for sharing with us.
Wow it is amazing that he lived. The pain he must have been in... dang. Its not as though he could have taken a few days off and given the injury a rest, he was in a lot of pain.
Amazing!
Anybody what to guess where the shooter was looking?
WOW! thats incredible
Thanks for sharing the info.
Wow, the poor bugger must have being in some serious pain for quite some times.
I wonder if it was a shot that just didn't hit where it was meant to ? Few people try head shots on deer, its more believable to me it was maybe a running shot went bad, or at least thats what I'd like to believe :(
Very interesting, thanks for the pictures
I can't believe that I am the only one that has at the moment of releasing the arrow- looked at the rack; and have seen their arrow fly right through the rack.
:confused:
Either that; or the shooter looked at the eye of the deer when he shot.
In the olden days; people used to brag about how they shot a deer in the head with a bow; thinking that was a good shot; and an even better story... but I thought we were past that idiocy.
I would lean more towards either the deer moving; or the person looking at the deers head in the last second before releasing the arrow...
:rolleyes:
Nice photo job- I am hoping it ends up in some bowhunter ed classes.. :archer:
Amazing story and amazing pics, thanks for taking the time and effort to tell us about it.
Nature really is amazing in it's determination to survive against all the odds.
That's amazing! Really interesting to see how animals can adapt and heal with things like this.
A good two blade would have killed it.
could have been a deflected arrow or any number of things ! don't judge!you could be next!!any thing can happen when you drop that string!!
Great photos and story telling thaks for taking the time to share. bamboo, I'm with you all the way we do our best to kill clean but things happpen, I've been on blood trails with very experienced hunters have had shots go terribly bad (myself included), archery will always come back around to knock us to our knees and keep us humble. Joe
Man, I'd leave that as a European mount just for the artifact value.
Dan
It's amazing how much trauma a deer can recover from. I once shot nice 7pt. on opening day of gun season as he was chasing a doe. When I was trying to remove a hind quarter I kept hitting something hard where there should only have been meat. I found 3 blade expandable attached to 5" of alluminum shaft penetrating the spine. This deer was perfectly healthy and showed no outward sign of the injury.
That piece of spine was a great artifact for my IBEP classes until my dog found it one day. He managed to eat that bone around the BH and never cut himself. Guess that's why I call him BoneHead so often.
Howard.
This portion of the skull will be mounted.
I think that we should all stand back and salute that deer for its toughness and abilitie to keep on surviving.
wow just amazing what a deer can survive. dr ashby would like to see the penetration on that with the chisel tip it has on it!!
not much penetration so much for speed and light arrow weight!!
QuoteOriginally posted by robslifts:
wow just amazing what a deer can survive. dr ashby would like to see the penetration on that with the chisel tip it has on it!!
not much penetration so much for speed and light arrow weight!!
From a probability standpoint, you may be correct, however, it is also feasible that head was the forefront of a 600gr shaft from a stickbow...there is no way to tell.
Nice photos and post, by the way...!
Take Care,
Marc
Don't know why you would automatically assume that someone would make a shot like that on purpose. There are a number of explanations for that. It could happen to best of us.
Brett
I shot a 3 legged buck several years ago,lower foreleg, don't know how he lost it but was healed and walked fine. A buddy killed a bear with a 2 blade BH in it forehead, bone healed around it. Amazing that animals can survive the trauma they do sometimes.
I wonder how much pain the poor thing was in?
WOW that is crazy!! that it did kill him. i figured that it would of killed him being in his brain!! :)
Geez, that makes me cringe just thinking about what that critter must have felt like for, oh, about a year or so, or maybe more.
From the angle of the broadhead it looks like a treestand shot. Either a bad shot or bad shot selection, but whichever it was...DANG, thats nasty!
Thanks for sharing the pics. Can always use a good reminder to shoot well and shoot smart.
Geez...
That seriously is truly Amazing, One thing to remember about the brain: Different portions of it control Different functions. Just because the Cranium was penetrated Doesnt always mean necessary DEATH, I'm more suprised the deer didnt die of infection Or SWELLING which would cause pressure. the deer would be in pain become disoriented and eventually die. Ore Starvation, due to the inability of the TM Joint to function. If the Brain Was completely Destroyed thats one thing. But this is just one for the keeping...WOW!
QuoteOriginally posted by TSP:
Geez, that makes me cringe just thinking about what that critter must have felt like for, oh, about a year or so, or maybe more.
From the angle of the broadhead it looks like a treestand shot. Either a bad shot or bad shot selection, but whichever it was...DANG, thats nasty!
Thanks for sharing the pics. Can always use a good reminder to shoot well and shoot smart.
Geez...
I'll have to disagree on the treestand shot - unless the deer was bedded with his chin on his chest.
Bad shots happen in hunting. It's an ethical hunter who feels bad about them.
Thanks for sharing the pics.
Nothing short of amazing.
I agree with Killinstuff, a two blade would have made it in far enough to disrupt brain function, and down he would have went.
I'd say there are three likely possibilities: First, that it was an intentional head shot (in which case the shooter was a moron), second, the hunter was looking at those antlers, or, third, the deer was alert and whirled either to get away or to face the sound.
In a related story, when I was a little kid I accidentally made the same shot on my first archery buck. I'd killed a couple of does with a bow, perfect shots, but I just couldn't quit looking at those antlers. I was luckier, though, my old Bear Razorhead greenie did a better job than that Wasp, even off an old Bear Polar II compound set at 40# that I shot fingers w/o sights. What is really amazing is that I made that terrible of a shot from just four yards.
Brannon
Those are amazing pictures but I wouldn't just think that the archer who shot that arrow was aiming for a head shot.
I have, on two occasions, been so focused on picking a spot that I failed to see the twig that was directly in the way. The first time the arrow caromed off the buck's left antler. The second time, at less than ten yards, I managed to bank shot an arrow right into a buck's right flank. I saw that buck chasing another doe three days later and he may still be carrying that Zwickey.
Dennis