Deer Battle Wound?

[BoneCrusher20]

Looking for anyone with some advice. Had someone in our hunting party take a buck during gun season here. When I first walked up on it to help them I noticed looked like he had some battle wounds around the base of his antlers as to me like the skin wasn't completely flush but honestly didn't look that out ordinary not like it was missing just maybe little off. So we get deer home and hang it up and 5-6 hrs later we come out to start skinning and this is what we saw ( see photo)

Honestly I'm little nervous to continue processing the deer it is possible this buck had battle wound and there's bacteria build up.

Not sure. Thoughts, I cringe at thought of simply making a deer coyote food but also don't like risking families safety.


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[catscratch]

Not sure what that is. Google "brain abscess in deer". Sometimes they get a bacteria infection that can be transferred between bucks. It will eat through the skull and end up killing the deer. It appears a lot like ehd or cwd as they become emancipated, then head to water to die. Wonder if it's that?

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[KSQ2]

Hmm... haven't seen anything quite like that before. I will say this, a doe I shot last year had been gored in the hindquarter and it had some puss. We removed the hindquarter and processed the rest of the doe and had no issues whatsoever. The meat was in great condition.

 

[cutman]

If the meat looks fine, I would not have any reservations about eating the meat. That is most likely an abscess secondary to trauma. If the buck was acting fine and in good body condition it is very unlikely that the deer was septic.

/veterinarian

 

[Mennoniteman]

If the meat looks fine, I would not have any reservations about eating the meat. That is most likely an abscess secondary to trauma. If the buck was acting fine and in good body condition it is very unlikely that the deer was septic.

/veterinarian

There you have it, an expert opinion.
For my unprofessional opinion, as mentioned above, I'd take special care to isolate it and get rid of it, and eat the rest of the deer. From firsthand experience, deer butchers do this all the time, and the meat is delicious.

 

[cutman]

When I was in vet school, each student had to spend a week in an abattoir. Every carcass that went through was inspected by a food safety vet. When meat has spoiled it will have a slimy texture and “off” odor - every hunter knows this. If an animal looked fine at slaughter but something was found during processing, the affected area was cut out and discarded. If the animal arrived at the facility and looked sick in any way, it was rejected and not processed at all.

 

[Tap]

Not sure what that is. Google "brain abscess in deer". Sometimes they get a bacteria infection that can be transferred between bucks. It will eat through the skull and end up killing the deer. It appears a lot like ehd or cwd as they become emancipated, then head to water to die. Wonder if it's that?

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I believe it's a brain abscess. Several year ago I shot one with a bit of puss oozing from the pedecls, bit not quite as nad ad the OPs buck. That same week a neighbor 2 doors down shot one woth an abscess.
I got a little freaked out thinking it was CWD so I contacted a biologist at the game comm. He assured me that it was an abscess...sometimes fatal, sometimes not. We got the green light to butcher and eat them. Meat was fine.