I was just nibbling on some jerky....

[jimbob86]

...... and bit into a piece of lead birdshot.

The meat was from (IIRC) the front shoulder of the mature buck I got last fall, and was of the sliced, whole muscle variety (soy sauce and sriracha flavored!).....

It's pretty small, I'd guess around 7 1/2 shot size .... deformed on one side and nicked by my tooth on another.... is lead. It had kind of been encased in scar tissue, so it had been there awhile.

I've found some different things while butchering deer before, such as healed broadhead wounds, healed impact injuries (possibly from deer/automobile interactions) including healed broken bones .... and of course bullet fragments, including the yellow plastic tips from my brother's Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets.... this same deer had what we are guessing was a pretty fresh puncture wound from an antler, even .... but I've never found birdshot in a deer before.

His hide was pretty thick, and had a good layer of fat under it (there is generally so much more corn than storage where I hunt that it is usually just piled on the ground at the local elevators until they can get it shipped) to penetrate down into the shoulder muscle, he had to be fairly close to the shotgun to get that kind of penetration with that small of shot ..... just about had to be intentional, don't you think?

[979Texas]

Interesting story and I don't know for sure but yeah it sounds pretty intentional.

[tahunua001]

I'm not going to comment on the stupidity or ethics of other hunters. but I will continue the topic of shooting pre-wounded animals. I shot a deer a few years back and as usual I hit a little far forward. it's not a huge deal, I have a stonger chance of hitting the heart and the amount of meat I lose from the front shoulder is pretty much inconsequential. but when I got to the deer I found that earlier that day, another hunter had shot at the deer while it was either walking directly towards them or running away from because a single bullet passed through the front and rear legs on the opposite side from what I had hit. it was a young deer to begin with so naturally I was very upset about having to put a tag on an animal that essentially had no usable meat besides one rear quarter and the backstraps.

my younger brother does a good job of culling out the animals other people have wounded. his first elk had one leg completely atrophied from an old gunshot wound to a front quarter, no telling how long that poor cow was hobbling around on 3 legs. he also got a rather large doe that had a large puss filled sack, about the size of a baseball formed inside the chest cavity attached to the back bone. we surmise since it was shot near tribal land that it was one of the natives hunting with a 22 that hit too high to do anything and didn't bother tracking(most of the Indians out this way are strictly road hunters and almost never get out of their vehicles except to shoot, and collect.

[Mobuck]

Sounds to me like Mr. Bucky had been caught in someone's garden and given notice to stay out.
I had neighbor who had a productive garden-he shot at everything from rabbits to starlings to deer with his old 22 rifle. One of his shots cleared the ridgeline and hit one of my cows in the ribcage-she died a gruesome death 3 days later even though myself and the vet did everything possible to save her.

[BerdanSS]

Mobuck

That doesn't sound too darn "neighborly". I hope he got a visit from County Mounties.

Personally the only gave I've ever taken that had "prior injury" was a big fox squirrel with a badly healed broken leg. (I'm assuming from a fall)

[Old Stony]

I always shoot one deer to give to an elderly neighbor ever year. Last year I shot him a nice fat doe and he did the butchering himself. He came by afterward and gave me the broadhead he found lodged between a couple ribs on it. He said it looked like it had been in there for a while as the skin had healed over pretty good.

[Kreyzhorse]

Very likely intentional but they can really blend into woods.

Either way, I am always a,a zed at how tough deer really are.

[Mobuck]

"I hope he got a visit from County Mounties."
Unfortunately, we were unable to recover the bullet. Vet guessed it got coughed up in some of the blood the old girl was choking on.

[Jo6pak]

The first deer I ever shot had a broadhead in the hindquarter. All the meat in her thigh was nasty and infected. So, I didn't even get a steak out of the first deer that I shot

[tahunua001]

What on earth do you do with the backstrap? that's the best steak part on a deer.

[reynolds357]

Tahunua, you have me a bit confused about "tracking" the deer with the puss pocket. If the shot did not kill the deer, how do you know if they did or did not track it? If they did not kill the deer, what good would tracking it have done? It is hard to find a deer that is running from you.

[tahunua001]

so you don't go looking if you shoot and the animal doesn't immediately drop?

[huntinaz]

Only one piece of shot? Seems like if it was intentional, there'd be more than one pellet.

[buck460XVR]

Yeah, I'd suspect intentional. No telling how long the pellet was there, More of the pattern could have been stopped by the hide, migrated out like slivers, or made it just under the hide. Could be another pellet in the next package of jerky.

I have skinned and butchered my own deer for the last 48 years. Many times I have found pellets just under the hide when skinning. The majority of these were just hard spots stuck to the underside of the hide and looked similar to parasites. Wasn't until they were cut open that a pellet was found. Sometimes the pellets were fused to the muscle just under the skin and were removed when I butchered the animal. Generally I feel that if a bulk processor would have done the animal, I would have ended up with pellets in the meat. I have also found several broadheads and a few bullets encased in gristle, pieces of arrow shafts, sticks imbedded in the brisket/chest(I assume from running thru the woods) broken bones that had healed and deformities that had appeared to be there from birth. I have found infected meat and puss bags as well as tumors inside and outside of the hide. Again, one reason I process my own animals.


As for who would shoot a deer with birdshot knowing full well they couldn't kill the deer? Just another Bubba wantin' to pull the trigger on something. Odds are unlike with a .22 they weren't intentionally poaching, but couldn't keep their finger off the trigger when the animal stood in front of them. Maybe it was from self defense when the rutting buck mistook a birdhunter that smelled like a doe in heat?

[tahunua001]

I hate it when I slip and fall in a big puddle of deer period while bird hunting. I spend the rest of the day fighting off horny bucks.

[Deerhunter]

First deer I ever shot was a buck that had dropped its antlers. Took it to the butcher. Got a call 2 days later to come up to the shop. Turns out that deer had been hit by a car. Full of puss sacks and a mess inside. He was trotting along pretty good and had just jumped a fence before I shot him. Couldn't use any of the meat. Interesting how tough they are.

My guess is with some bird shot in that deer it was intentional. I just don't see a deer getting randomly peppered/rained on with bird shot and having one go in like that. Probably some moron shooting at the deer from 50 yards away while small game / dove hunting