Injured 8 point

[WNYBuckHunter]

He looks in pretty good condition other than the leg. Considering the snow falls we have had, etc so far this year, if he were really pathetically stumbling around, Id expect to see him in bad shape, malnourished, etc.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

He looks in pretty good condition other than the leg. Considering the snow falls we have had, etc so far this year, if he were really pathetically stumbling around, Id expect to see him in bad shape, malnourished, etc.

True but if he is in a good food area with no people and no dogs to run him around he will get by great.  This deer would live a somewhat normal life IF left alone. They are some tough birds and will prosper even when put at a huge disadvantage. Just need to be left alone.

 Whats the chances of that?

[genesee_mohican]

He looks in pretty good condition other than the leg. Considering the snow falls we have had, etc so far this year, if he were really pathetically stumbling around, Id expect to see him in bad shape, malnourished, etc.

 

I agree that he looks to be in decent shape. Given the toughness of these critters there's a good chance he can heal up and make it. I've seen more than one deer live a few years on one leg, raising fawns, even twins........and that's with a healthy population of coyotes in the area.

 Let nature take it's course.

[WNYBuckHunter]

True but if he is in a good food area with no people and no dogs to run him around he will get by great.  This deer would live a somewhat normal life IF left alone. They are some tough birds and will prosper even when put at a huge disadvantage. Just need to be left alone.

 Whats the chances of that?

 

Well, the best example I can give is The Gimp. High pressure area, lots of yotes, dogs, similar scale injury. Not exactly easy ground to get around on, but high food availability. He did alright.

[GreeneHunter]

 

 Let nature take it's course.

Fully Agree !

[Fletch]

He still looks to be in good shape. I will put cam back in this weekend while looking for his sheds. The area is about 150 acre piece of woods. No pressure at all now except me and my son squirrel hunting but we do that up top. No dogs ever seen here but plenty of yotes. I do not think they will bug him if it is not bleeding or infected. Unless we get a lot of snow. We have nothing on the ground now and none in the forecast for a bit so he can feed fine.

[Doc]

The three-legged deer that I have seen were generally clean amputees. They can move around such that you have to study them a bit just to see they have a leg missing. That's not the case with this one. That leg flopping around is not going to come off or knit back together. The tendon that controls that leg has obviously been severed. I too would like to imagine that somehow he will survive, and be restored to some sort of normalcy, but I honestly do not see how. Even deer have their limits. Perhaps if there is something about his home area that has a plentiful supply of easy food, and maybe no predators, he might find a way to somehow survive the winter. But honestly, I wouldn't give real good odds that he will make it through. In fact I'm not sure that just making it through the winter would be much of a victory for him. In terms of how he looks, I have seen starving deer in the Honeoye deer yard that looked very plump and fuzzy with their winter coats. It's very hard to tell a recently stressed deer simply by looking at him, especially since a wound of that sort probably hasn't caused much blood loss if any. I don't know, only time will tell.

[growalot]

I have to disagree as said I've seen deer with such injuries and granted it takes time but that lower section will eventually die and just the actions of his trying to get around will "wear it off" leaving the thigh muscle...I honestly think the nerves are dead by now....Fletch I hope you get some pics of him in a couple of months...a lot will depend on the next snow event and also the deers will to survive...looks like he is doing good in that dept. so far...

 

If you go to the deer anatomy post WNYBH posted some excellent 3-D pics of a deers circulatory system...post #4.......I doubt there is much if any blood supply to that area...just because it looks alive doesn't mean it is...I've tossed deer legs out in the woods and found them in the spring looking fairly normal from a distance...

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I dont know about that theory either. I have taken hooves off deer on the farm that have torn them in half and there is a heck of alot of blood down there. Maybe a vein or artery comes around the part of his leg that is hurt. First off before that leg can come off he would have to break the bone first.   Thats a tough bone on a deer!  Blood flow would have to stop all together!

[growalot]

If I'm seeing it correctly and I've gone back 4 times to look and enlarged it...It's at the joint,,,so it is ligaments and skin holding it together if the joint is separated...which in Fletch's 4th picture looks like it is...I think he'll wear it of ...but again only time and more pics will tell...every thing else is speculation...hopefully we'll see the  out come when he survives

[sampotter]

The deer has a severed Achilles tendon, no more, no less. The major blood flow is unaffected as well as the nerves. His handicaps are a useless leg and the possibility of infection. The leg is not going to shrivel up and fall off unless the infection gets too bad. I found a dead buck a few years ago that had been shot in the same spot. He died of gangrene.

[nycredneck]

I would leave him be, but I might try to find find the sheds, they have be around there somewhere.

[Doc]

I suspect it is only a matter of time before that critter is dead. It is not going to end well for this guy no matter how long he manages to continue. I really hate to see any animal in this condition, and I'm sure the sooner he meets his end, the better it will be for him. That leg will not be coming off until some predator chews it off his corpse.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Its only a matter of time before any critter is dead.