Lancashire Malform

I've been shooting a bit of ground in Lancashire for a few years now. I'll be honest, it's hard going as there are lots of areas of very heavy undergrowth - self seeded willow and silver birch which is very dense and virtually impossible to walk through quietly. But the deer love it and that's where they can usually be found! However, the Beast from the East in 2018 changed a few woods for good, flattening some large areas of fir and the forestry teams have since been in and replanted with a nice mix of hardwoods. The saplings aren't poking out of the tree tubes yet but the vegetation is starting to grow and give the deer something to browse on.

A couple of years ago, I shot a buck in this are with a strange malform on one side - I put it down to the heavy fluke burden he was carrying:



During last winter I shot a doe out of this particular area and she was with a buck with a strange head - I didn't get a proper look and he was still in velvet but I've not seen him since, although I have seen a doe with twins regularly - I couldn't manage to get all 3 in the picture and not the best photo from and iPhone through the binos!



I went out a couple of evenings back and saw the same doe and twins, but other than that it was unusually quite - there are usually a fair few pheasants and hares about and I didn't see a thing. I hung it out and was rewarded with the same buck I'd previously seen making an appearance. A very unusual head (going to be tricky boiling it out and keeping the antlers out of the boiling water!). Otherwise a nice healthy carcass, plenty of fat and all the nodes were fine. Also, no sign of any fluke or any other issues other than some well formed Aladdin's slippers but the ground is very wet here. It's made me wonder where there is something heredity in the area and has been passed down from the buck I took a couple of years ago. I'll keen an eye on the twins as they grow and see if either are bucks as there's a very strong possibility this fella was the daddy.

 

[finnbear270]

Wonder if would have turned Perruque later in life?

 

[devonair]

Good cull buck, was he normal weight?
I've take photos through binos/phone too and had good results. Yours are crisp, what binos out of interest?

 

[NickJ]

Very interesting (as mentioned in the other post.)

The liver fluke/malform occurrence is an interesting one. There does not seem to be a lot of scientific evidence to back it up (Pavel Sherer is a bit ambiguous about it in his book) but certainly lots of circumstantial evidence. We get very heavy liver fluke burdens on 3 places I stalk (wet ground with lots of sheep in Lancs and Cumbria) but I have not connected a malformed head with a heavy fluke burden yet.

We have an area here at home on the edge of the Forest of Bowland where myself and two stalking neighbours seem to have shot a lot of oddities in a very small area that borders our three bits of ground, basically one river valley with a thin wood. They have included 3 or 4 malform bucks, 2 antlered does (one with huge growth) and a immuno-suppressed case of sever demodex (red mite.)

One neighbour thinks it could be pollutants from an old mill but I would think it's more likely a coincidence or a genetic thing.

 

[75]

Good cull buck, was he normal weight?
I've take photos through binos/phone too and had good results. Yours are crisp, what binos out of interest?

Yep, a very decent weight - 20kg / 44lbs (larder weight).

Pic was through my Leica binos - pretty fiddly and it won't win any nature awards but does the trick for the odd occasion.

 

[243varmint]

Could he of damaged both in velvet. It looks like that to me. Almost 'sliced' in half and bent over.

 

[Magnificent 7]

Is he from where we spoke about as this is perhaps his brother from the land next door

 

[75]

Could he of damaged both in velvet. It looks like that to me. Almost 'sliced' in half and bent over.

Unlikely I’d say - both sides wrap down the side of his head. I’ll try and get him cleaned and boiled out in the next day or two and get a better picture of both sides.

Is he from where we spoke about as this is perhaps his brother from the land next door

it is where we spoke about so could well be a genetic link. 3 from a small area all with various malformed heads.

 

[Magnificent 7]

They are the first I've cone accross tbh I did have a gimpy murder buck last year but other than that they are normally mint inhad a lovely 6 pointer knocking about but he went missing haven't seen him since

 

[Magnificent 7]

This was off same land this season

 

[75]

Just skinning this head out and it did have a couple of abscesses on the head just behind either antler - I wonder if this was a cause? As I say, otherwise all healthy, retropharyngeal nodes perhaps slightly enlarged but nothing to suggest any wider issue. Maybe @srvet or @Buchan could comment? I know there's another malform head thread going in the Diseases section. Pics below

 

[NickJ]

Is he from where we spoke about as this is perhaps his brother from the land next door View attachment 165210

Be interesting to see that head boiled out too. Thanks

 

[NickJ]

Just skinning this head out and it did have a couple of abscesses on the head just behind either antler - I wonder if this was a cause? As I say, otherwise all healthy, retropharyngeal nodes perhaps slightly enlarged but nothing to suggest any wider issue. Maybe @srvet or @Buchan could comment? I know there's another malform head thread going in the Diseases section. Pics below

View attachment 165402

View attachment 165404

Interesting, yes looks like it's then either something internal - possibly causing an hormonal imbalance or its genetic. On the latter option it does look a bit 'melted' like the Cromie heads that occur uniquely in the genetics of the red deer on Jura.

 

[NickJ]

Interesting, yes looks like it's then either something internal - possibly causing an hormonal imbalance or its genetic. On the latter option it does look a bit 'melted' like the Cromie heads that occur uniquely in the genetics of the red deer on Jura.

Sorry, I have only just seen the picture above with the abscesses, I assume that would more likely point to mechanical (injury) damage. I have never seen abscesses there, indeed be interesting to see what the vets make of it.

 

[75]

indeed be interesting to see what the vets make of it.

Yep - definitely. The only observation on skinning him off is that there is a bit of discolouration across one side of his haunches. More in the membranes rather than the meat below. I still pretty confident he’s good to eat but would be interested in the view of our resident vets

 

[Buchan]

Carcass - Mmm mmm, nice fat. I don't think I'd be too worried about that discolouration. If the carcass sets, if it smells OK, if it feels OK, it should be fine. Might take a bit more care boning out the haunch, but I'd be eating that one.
The abscess by the antler is interesting and probably a coincidence - it doesn't look close enough to the pedicle to affect it. But. If this buck was in velvet and fighting a buck in hard antler, that might account for it

 

[75]

Thanks Buchan - really appreciate your comments. Yep, a proper good covering of fat - looks like a cracking carcass otherwise!