A colleague called me up this morning to say there was something wrong with buck he had just shot. I popped up to his larder and he informed me that one of yearling bucks antlers was deformed and had thrown the head away but showed me part skinned carcass. On examination there was a small hole through skin in haunch with pussy swelling attached to inside of skin and into flesh indicating an antler stab wound. There was another scar in skin near by so assumed caused by another buck. On cutting around swelling to remove swelling i saw further large whitish lump deeper inside haunch. I cut into haunch to reveal a a golf ball sized swollen lymph node shown hanging in photo. A second swollen grape size lymph node was found just inside body cavity near anal canal coinciding with location of bigger node, see second photo. A third swollen node was found in fatty tissue on skin near stab hole. Apart from the pussy swelling at location of stab wound the swollen nodes were of a cheesy consistency. The mesenteric, bronchial and portal nodes were not swollen and looked normal. I am wondering whether infection could have caused deformed antler if done when in velvet and why internal lymph nodes were unaffected by what looks like a major infection in haunch. Any views???
