Very odd deer injury (with pics)

[Rancid Crabtree]

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.



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.







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.









I placed one of my aging jaws next to the skull to show how the jaw hinge should look.



Here you can see the opposite healthy side



The bone had grown over the broadhead and through the vent in the blade and bridged the gap.



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



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.