My first 3 legged buck

j-bird

Well-Known Member
I posted about this in my "land tour" but thought I would share here as well, as not everyone follows the land tour threads.

Took a vacation day a few days back now... We have had 2 days of steady rain and it broke over night...I was excited to see what the day would bring. Morning hunt wasn't much to write about... A single antlerless deer (I think it was a button buck) on the edge of my range so it got a pass. The evening hunt was much different...

I actually went to a stand that I was going to move...but once I got there I decided to simply hunt the stand and that I would move it in the dark once I was done hunting...

About 5:30 a small yearling buck shows up but keeps looking over his shoulder. Sure enough a bigger buck shows up. The buck wasn't impressive, but he did meet our "ear width" rule and I needed meat int he freezer. I then noticed he was limping. As he got closer I noticed he was missing the lower portion of one of his rear legs...well that sealed the deal as far as me wanting to take the deer. He gt within 20 yards and I let the X-bow do it's thing...

View from the stand...
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The X-bow did the job. Live weight was 200lbs, dressed at 165. Rack isn't real big, but has decent mass - I suspect the deer it as least 3 years old.
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That bum leg is what did him in... I needed the meat, he fell within our harvest requirements and with a bad leg...THWACK! The leg was entirely healed over so it wasn't a recent wound...the rage was a much bigger issue for him!
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Congrats !
Tough critters indeed!
Yep - I expected the injury to be fairly recent.....I was wrong. Even if I had known...I would have shot this buck. They may be tough and winters here may be fairly mild, but a sever limitation like that...I would have felt bad ignoring it. He may have lived a long time....but I feel I did the right thing. Just means my kids get a crack at "the big one".....
 
They make non typicals and it's surprising how well they do I had a doe that was 3 legged and would get pics of her but never saw her and she had twins every year for 3 that I know of
 
Smart choice I would say. Chances of him making it through a winter, and or escaping the predators would be slim to none I’d imagine. Congrats!
 
Good buck. Another thing about him missing that rear leg is he would never be able to mount a doe for breeding.
 
Good buck. Another thing about him missing that rear leg is he would never be able to mount a doe for breeding.

I don't know about that. True story. My brother's neighbor had a three legged dog, got ran over and they took the bottom of his left leg off. When that dog hiked his leg to pee, he hiked the GOOD leg. He stood on his two front legs and arched his back (in reverse fahion) and ler 'er rip. If I hadn't seen it many times. I wouldn't have believed it. Animals are so much tougher than we are, and in many ways, more resourceful.
 
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