Serious deer question

[jmiller676]

Alright, so I shot this buck and it looks like he was injured on his left front leg right below the knee. This caused the right side of his rack to be messed up. The question I have though is this... As I was skinning it today I was cutting away some fat. Inside the fat there was a pocket of this soft tissue like stuff. I found some by the rear left leg and front right shoulder. This was just in the fat on several places on the deer. Just was wondering if anybody has seen anything like this because I haven't seen anything like this and it just doesn't look normal. Also, we called the biologist and were getting it looked at on Monday.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Hard to tell from a picture but it doesn't remind me of anything I've ever seen.

Just to blather on...

I don't usually worry much about this kind of stuff. They get injuries and thorns and infections and stuff all the time. When in doubt thow it out. Cut it out and everything in 6 inches of it, that's all dog food. When you are butchering you want every speck of fat off it any way, so if it's just in the fat, it's a non-issue.

 

[firstrock]

That deer ate well!! I have never seen that much fat on a deer! As for your question, I don't know what it is but as Mr. Ryan said earlier, just cut it out and eat the rest.

I once skinned a deer that had a pocket of pus around the rump roast. Upon further inspection I found a single .22 round inside the decaying area of meat so I just cut it out and ate the rest. As long as the meat looks good and doesn't smell bad it should be fit for the dinner table.

Not a bad idea to have a biologist take a look at it with the TB and CWD concerns. What area of the state did you harvest this deer?

 

[Mgderf]

That deer ate well!! I have never seen that much fat on a deer!

As for your question, I don't know what it is but as Mr. Ryan said earlier, just cut it out and eat the rest.
What area of the state did you harvest this deer?

Grab your coveralls and long underwear! That thick layer of fat signifies the oncoming of a hard winter!

Nature knows haw to take care of itself. That much fat tells more about what's to come, than it tells what that deer had to eat!

 

[jmiller676]

Grab your coveralls and long underwear! That thick layer of fat signifies the oncoming of a hard winter!

Nature knows haw to take care of itself. That much fat tells more about what's to come, than it tells what that deer had to eat!

I've never seen so much fat on a deer before. It's gonna be cold.

 

[Mrmonte]

Please let us know what the biologist has to say about it. Ive never seen anything like that either.

 

[redneckmedic]

What did the liver look like? Tongue? Kidneys? Lungs? Heart? Eyes? You have to look at the entire animal, as living bodies work as a whole not individual systems. Doesn't sound like a s/s of wastings to me, but could be Whitetail-Swine Flu.

 

[bm9mm]

Just a guess but it looks like a cyst of some kind likely caused by a previous injury or infection. He was a fat boy though don't see slabs of fat like that on a deer everyday.

 

[Field King]

I am gonna take a guees here as I have seen something close to that before, I believe it may be where that deer has had a wound in that area before, may have been an arrow or lead or?

 

[public servant]

It appears to be nothing more than a lymph node...which can become swollen or enlarged if the deer has an infection. As long as there is no pus or gritty substance in the node it shouldn't be a problem.

Is this fat from around the kidneys?

 

[XFCTR]

I always trust in my nose when it comes to raw meat. Course, I have a purty sensitive schnoz.

 

[jmiller676]

The cyst on its leg doesn't really worry me it's the fat that I found around the left rear leg and right front shoulder. All spots were about an 1" in dia. and maybe 1/4" thick in the fat. There were no scars or anything near the spots in the fat.

 

[Field King]

The cyst on its leg doesn't really worry me it's the fat that I found around the left rear leg and right front shoulder. All spots were about an 1" in dia. and maybe 1/4" thick in the fat. There were no scars or anything near the spots in the fat.

1" in diameter and etc. May be old wounds!

 

[Shep79]

WOW...that was either an old lazy buck or we're in for a nasty few months!

 

[jmiller676]

1" in diameter and etc. May be old wounds!

In the fat? But don't they burn that fat off in the summer? So, it would make them recent wounds right and there wasn't anything wrong with the hide.

 

[Jack Ryan]

In the fat? But don't they burn that fat off in the summer? So, it would make them recent wounds right and there wasn't anything wrong with the hide.

No they build up fat when food is plentiful in the spring, summer and fall then starve it off in the winter.

 

[teknickle]

That fat, and everything else, sure is pointing to a nasty, nasty winter.

Kind of off-topic:
Where is a good place to hunt deer around Elkhart County?
We just moved, so don't have the benefit of woods behind our house anymore (only thing in my yard now is rabbits and squirrels).
And then our friends 132 acre farm doesn't seem to have the deer there this year.

I got a .357 lever I got last winter and wanted to take a deer down with this year.
I would hate to go all the way down to tri-county (which I love to go to for duck) or some other area likely to be stepping over other hunters.

 

[jrich2125]

Cold winter maybe, I got a mule deer in Texas last year that had a large amount of fat as well! We'll see maybe we will get some good ice fishing in as well!

 

[DHolder]

Those are lymph nodes, I belive there are seven in a deer, and as long as they are not all nasty, the deer is fine. It is a good idea to cut out as much excess fat and silver skin when processing a deer to help reduce gamey taste. Those looked fine, butterfly those backstraps and throw on the grill, ummmm.

 

[Cornbread]

Eat that deer and you will die. Better let me take it off your handsJK. You got some very good advice here.