Any one got an explanation?

Woodsy

Well-Known Member
Chest shot roe doe; bullet performed very well, entering behind shoulder and exiting on opposite shoulder. I unzipped the neck during the gralloch and was amazed to find a large gaping hole in the front of the upper part of the trachea. It was clearly not caused by the shot. Does any one have any idea what might have caused this? Or how she could have survived like this? Presumably there was some tissue/membrane which was enough to allow the trachea to function normally, but it was a strange find...
 

Attachments

  • 77C3E8C5-9C88-4CBC-AD92-8AD11D93A909.jpg
    77C3E8C5-9C88-4CBC-AD92-8AD11D93A909.jpg
    255.4 KB · Views: 356
Previous bullet through trachea, damages cartilage rings which have a poor blood supply so subsequently die off. Manages to maintain a patent airway so survives until you enter stage left!
 
Previous bullet through trachea, damages cartilage rings which have a poor blood supply so subsequently die off. Manages to maintain a patent airway so survives until you enter stage left!

I'm with Señor vet as the most likely explaination

just for argument could it have even been an antler?
 
Previous bullet through trachea, damages cartilage rings which have a poor blood supply so subsequently die off. Manages to maintain a patent airway so survives until you enter stage left!
It’s certainly possible, in which case she would have been breathing in and out of the hole for a good while until the wound healed over.
 
woodsy,yes three times in the last few years,seems the deer run after being spooked/chased by dogs and run into the three standed wire fences used by the farmers,saw one almost decapitate its self on such fencing,have had many other caught up or with broken legs but thats mainly on four/five strand fences .
 
woodsy,yes three times in the last few years,seems the deer run after being spooked/chased by dogs and run into the three standed wire fences used by the farmers,saw one almost decapitate its self on such fencing,have had many other caught up or with broken legs but thats mainly on four/five strand fences .
Interesting; thanks for sharing that. Makes sense. Amazing that they survive such an injury!
 
It looks more like an old fence injury as suggested by Banus. If it were a bullet injury wouldn’t there be more skin and flesh damage visible?
Willie
 
It looks more like an old fence injury as suggested by Banus. If it were a bullet injury wouldn’t there be more skin and flesh damage visible?
Willie
Rim fire perhaps? Poachers are not bothered about their quarries pain or suffering.
 
Last edited:
I had a fallow fawn shot in the throat by some cowboy park shooters, I caught up with it nine days later and shot it myself, the injury was very similar to this one, it was losing condition but still very much alive. I was ashamed to be associated with the episode but glad that I managed to deal with it. Still, chancy neck shots are fine because its either kill or miss, right?
 
Thanks for your thoughts/suggestions. Having read the recent thoughts and looked again, I must say I’m leaning more towards thinking it looks like a bullet injury. Only because I can visualise more easily how a bullet could cause it. I guess we’ll never know for sure. I’d be very interested to see photos from those of you who have seen similar, especially those who have good reason to believe or know for sure that the injury is bullet/fence as that way it might be possible to notice a difference between the two types of injury.
 
As others said a result bad shooting some time back, I shot a roe many years ago in Dorset and found the rear end flank had been shot away the poor thing was left with very little muscle remaining but she showed no sign of a limp and the entry hole could be seen but well recovered , The shooter that failed to end her days many months before had made what it looked like a rash tight quartering on coming chest shot as the bullet entry was in front of the left hind leg exit looked to be next to her anus . The skin was dry and felt like it had been tanned no fur had grown ,as if it was air cured meat but we know this was what had happened over time.
I would hope that the shooter felt it was a clean miss ?
 
Back
Top