Odd One

[Appowner]

I never was what one might call an avid hunter though in my youth especially I did manage to get out a number of times. Life just simply got in the way too much. But the other day I saw something I've never seen before and wondered what you guys experience for such things might be.

A Doe came hot footing it through my back yard the other day and through my picture window I could easily tell that most of her tail was gone. Like it had been bobbed. Be it from an accident, fight or whatever, does this sort of thing happen often?

I did note her tail didn't seem to bother the buck that was in hot pursuit though. He went by too fast but appeared to be an 8 to 10 point.

 

[PghDad]

Strange, never seen a bobtail deer.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

Maybe an attack by a coyote when younger that she survived....

 

[Brokennock]

My first thought would be that she escaped a coyote or other predator as a fawn. Maybe an entanglement with a barbed or razor wire fence?

Piss poor shot by some "hunter"?

Either way, while visible old injuries on deer are not uncommon, this is the 1st bobtail I can recall reading about.

Of course the buck didn't care,,, easier......... never mind

 

[TCMonts]

Probably genetic. I have seen it occasionally, like a severe roman nose or a nose bent to one side. I'll see if I can find some of my old trail cam pics and post them

 

[tenngun]

Well I talked to the buck and he said he was just looking for a little tail

 

[Appowner]

Well I talked to the buck and he said he was just looking for a little tail

Oooh! That's just not right!

 

[Britsmoothy]

Maybe someone put the wrong glasses on that morning of opening day...!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have a friend that has an apple tree about 50 yards from porch, the deer in his neighborhood don't pay much attention to humans unless you get inside their comfort zone. He is 89, when I visit and check on him, we sit on his porch and talk for an hour or so. He may have 6 or more under the apple tree when we are on his porch, one of them is a bobtailed doe that we see often.

 

[Rifleman1776]

don't pay much attention to humans unless you get inside their comfort zone.

I get many in my yard every day. Their "comfort zone" is about 15 feet for does, much further for mature bucks. I have taken many neat photos of deer being able to walk that close to them. Love where I live.

 

[Spikebuck]

All kinds of injuries happen, both nature and "man made." Torn or missing ears, missing limbs, torn tails, injured or missing eyes, noses blown off by errant shots, etc. I would imagine frostbite can happen in really cold climates. And of course, birth defects. Does with antlers. Had a doe on a trail cam with a rather long branch sticking out of the top of her ribcage, yet she seemed to be coping fine after being skewered from a falling limb.

Biggest oddity I know of was a deer I hit with my car on the way to work one morning. When it came out of the ditch in the fog my split second thought, before the massive wallop that sent it all the way over the roof and into the ditch on the other side of the road, was "That's a HUGE doe!" I stopped and saw it struggling in the ditch, unable to get up.

At the next small town I stopped and called the warden (5:30 am) asking him to put it down. He wasn't interested...just let it suffer, I guess. So, I called my father. He drove to the scene and put it down. As he inspected the very large "doe" that was a "slick head"...no pedicles for antlers...he lifted a hind quarter and saw that the animal had a penis but no testicles. I suppose that without testosterone, this buck had never developed pedicles for antlers.

Since there was no evidence of testicles ever being there, I can only assume he was born that way. Without the normal rigors that bucks go through, all his nutrition went to bulk. He was huge.

I told my Dad that the other bucks probably teased him his whole life, like Rudolph, and he finally decided to end it all by jumping out in front of me!

 

[Howard Pippin]

I would like to add maybe some clarity to this discussion, I was born and raised on a sheep Ranch and saw many strange things, one of them was when some ewes, when they slicked off their Buck Lambs, would wind up chewing the testicle sack to the point where they weren't any good and the lamb developed differently from other Buck Lambs. About in those same years, there was a hunter I knew who killed four or five big Mule deer bucks that were in The Velvet in late season and everyone had the same problem, it appeared that their mother had chewed the testicle sack to the point where they didn't develop as a regular buck. The doe must have either got too old or died and just like that there were no more of these bucks that were still in dried-up velvet. I wonder if an over-ambitious mother didn't chew on that tail in the process of slicking them down after birth and destroyed part of that tail.
Squint

 

[SOLANCO]

Most of the south wall of my dining room is made up of 3 big double hung windows. Every now and again I will see a deer on the other side of the glass, nosing around in my wife's ornamentals there. Often no more than 3 or 4 feet from me. I believe they either can not or do not see through glass. Perhaps it is glare/reflections that stop them from seeing me so near. Often note similar behavior in song birds on our window sills. Squirrels not so much so.

 

[Stykbow]

I’m betting it’s from a close call with a dog, coyote, etc. as mentioned earlier. I had it happen to a dog I had years back. She lost the last 4” of her tail after she came home with it skinned to the bone. I doctored on her for a long time, but that skinned part died and fell off. I read up on it and found it’s from being chased and the “chaser” bites the end of the tail and strips it to the bone or bites it slick off.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

I did see an Albino Vulture today though...

 

[Dutch7]

@Brokennock
Of course the buck didn't care,,, easier......... never mind

I was thinking the same thing - and also had to wash the thought away…

 

[Appowner]

Seems things like this is more common than I thought. Wonder if these illnesses have anything to do with it? I don't see mine being a stray dog or Coyote. Seven years here and I've not seen any sign nor heard any stories of Coyotes. And have never seen a stray dog but that's no guarantee. I am literally the last house in the last subdivision on the west side of a smallish (20k) town. Farm fields start on the west edge of my lot and go for miles.

Off to the indoor range soon to play with unmentionables. Today is two lanes for the price of one.

 

[Snooterpup]

All kinds of injuries happen, both nature and "man made." Torn or missing ears, missing limbs, torn tails, injured or missing eyes, noses blown off by errant shots, etc. I would imagine frostbite can happen in really cold climates. And of course, birth defects. Does with antlers. Had a doe on a trail cam with a rather long branch sticking out of the top of her ribcage, yet she seemed to be coping fine after being skewered from a falling limb.

Biggest oddity I know of was a deer I hit with my car on the way to work one morning. When it came out of the ditch in the fog my split second thought, before the massive wallop that sent it all the way over the roof and into the ditch on the other side of the road, was "That's a HUGE doe!" I stopped and saw it struggling in the ditch, unable to get up.

At the next small town I stopped and called the warden (5:30 am) asking him to put it down. He wasn't interested...just let it suffer, I guess. So, I called my father. He drove to the scene and put it down. As he inspected the very large "doe" that was a "slick head"...no pedicles for antlers...he lifted a hind quarter and saw that the animal had a penis but no testicles. I suppose that without testosterone, this buck had never developed pedicles for antlers.

Since there was no evidence of testicles ever being there, I can only assume he was born that way. Without the normal rigors that bucks go through, all his nutrition went to bulk. He was huge.

I told my Dad that the other bucks probably teased him his whole life, like Rudolph, and he finally decided to end it all by jumping out in front of me!

But one can only wonder what (insert pronoun) it identified itself as?