Arrow wound from a head shot

[Rancid Crabtree]

Hello all. I am from Wisconsin USA. I thought I would share this odd event.

This deer was harvested with a bow on Dec. 30th by Jay Trudell in South Eastern Wisconsin. Jay made a great hit and the deer piled up inside of 50 yards.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/jaybuck4.jpg

On New Years Eve, Jay brought to deer to me for processing. I skinned it for a shoulder mount, stopping right behind the ear.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/jaybuck3.jpg

The buck dressed out at 175 pounds and has a good layer of fat on it’s rump. Every indication was that this was a normal, healthy deer. I returned the head to Jay for mounting. After the taxidermist capped the skull, he cut the skull plate to remove the antlers. As he finished the cut, he hit metal. Jay got the skull and antlers back and cleaned them and brought them to be to show me what was inside the brain of this deer. The hide was completely healed and did not give away that there was an injury. The threaded portion of the head had snapped off.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow8.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow91.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow92.jpg

The deer had been shot in a prior season with a Wasp Hammer broadhead. It entered the brain but did not kill the deer. It also passed through the hinge of the jaw and had grown over with bone and prevented the law from opening all but the smallest amount.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow2.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow4.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow3.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow1.jpg

I placed one of my aging jaws next to the skull to show how the jaw hinge should look.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow6.jpg

Here you can see the opposite healthy side

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow5.jpg

The bone had grown over the broadhead and through the vent in the blade and bridged the gap.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow7.jpg

The upper left arrow shows how much hinge movement was allowed in the jaw, The opening and closing of the mouth had worn a curved area away

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/bow_project/skull_arrow9.jpg

The shot appears to have taken from the ground and not an elevated stand and looks to be nearly perfectly broadside.

[dudeys]

WOW......thats really sad, the poor thing had to put up with that 4 a year ... i don't no y someone would go for a shot like that....

[ricochet]

Wow, very interesting, does no look like the deer was undernourished at all, looks like he was eating ok,great photo of the deer also:)

Cheers,
Rick

[Mullac]

That poor deer must of had one bad jaw/head ache for a while :o

[Antarcher]

Thank you posting this up for us. I think it demonstrates very well why a head shot should not be attempted. I think the deer survived very well and it did not even affect its antler growth. Still arrows and heads are not a good mix, as arrows are designed for shots in the vitals in the chest area and no where else. Great post, pictures and details.

[rudy]

It might have been a case of the hunter looking at the deers rack, and not consentrating on the spot he should have been aiming at.
Very interesting and great photos

[PeterM]

He just needed some more poundage the outcome might have been different, then if he aimed a bit further back might have helped also!;)

[Hoyt_Trykon]

wow that is interesting. Just like what ant said, it goes to show soem other why head shot are definately out of bounds.
Thanks mate.

[Mitch]

good post dude, hard to beleive if you got a perfect broadside shot and are close enough to make a headshot, why not opt for a heartshot. Unless he pulled the shot and hit him there accidentally

[GOLDGT]

Amazing stuff. Talk about having a splitting headache. ;)

[Rancid Crabtree]

This the the femur (thigh bone) from a large buck that was brought to me by my neighbor. He shot it with the bow. As soon as I started to de-bone the hind quarters I notice something was wrong. I removed all the meat from the bone and boiled it out. As I was scraping off the meat. I heard a metallic sound in my sink. I found one blade from a broadhead. This buck had been hit in the hind quarter a year earlier and lived to be shot a year later by another bow hunter. After looking at the bone, it appeared that there might be more of the head still in the leg and that the bone had grown over it so I took it to work and we scanned it. It turned out that there was no other parts of the head within the bone. This tuff deer made it through the remainder of the archery season and then WI's gun deer season and a cold WI winter and did this with a compound fracture. This is a tuff animal.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/bone_A.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/bone_C.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/bone31.jpg

Here is an image a friend sent me of a deer that lived to be shot my a gun hunter who discovered this sight when he was gutting the buck. It just goes to show you that if you do not hit a bleeder. That deer will probably live.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/DeerHipMuzzy3.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/DeerHipMuzzy2.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/DeerHipMuzzy.jpg

And another from what I can only hope was an accidental impact. This deer also lived to be harvested by a gun hunter.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/headshotarrow7.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/headshotarrow2.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/headshotarrow.jpg