Birth defect? Headshot gone wrong?

[flufster]

I shot a doe this weekend and she went about 50 yards and fell in site. I flip her over and am shocked to find she has this huge hole in the side of her head (bigger that a quarter), right in front of her eye. My first thought was that it was a rifle head shot gone wrong. I have head shot many a deer back in the day and don't have anything against it but I do realize that a mess up could happen. Anyhow, the last day at the lease I pitch the cooler in the truck along with the head and I notice something else about the head. It has nubs? I felt of the skull and sure enough there are distinct nubs under the fur. So now I am leaning towards a birth defect of some kind? The deer was very healthy other than the hole in her head and the hole looked like it had been there for a long time. The deer had a hoochiekoo and milk producing teets. Anyone else ever see something like this?

[scooter1982]

looks like a chupacabra was feeding on her.... ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

J/K.

Are you going to eat her?

[flufster]

looks like a chupacabra was feeding on her.... ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

J/K.

Are you going to eat her?

i was...my brother asked me the same thing...the meat seemed fine? i guess i will see how this discussion goes

edit: the hole in the head was clean...the fresh blood was from the double lung and the hole was right into the nasal cavity....if the hole looked fresh or something i would worry more...i guess

[Richard]

Not sure about the hole. I once shot a doe at Richland Creek WMA that had the same nubs on top but you could tell it was just a sharp pointed bone it also had clumps of brown hair where yours does. Biologist aged her and didn't mention anything about the head being that way but it definitaly was a doe.

[Richard]

do you think a buck did this with his antler?

[bsills]

Never seen that before but the hole looks fresh

[jlptexashunter]

my bet is she had a pretty bad infection in her nasal cavity

[Mac...]

Snake bite!

[Aggiehuntress]

I would say she had an abcess that ate thru the bone. You can see the scars right below it from some sort of trauma. That and I would think a bullet big enough to make that size of hole would have gone all the way thru. Not just thru one side. Imho

[ckuehl]

The hole is pretty nasty, but I would not worry about the meat.

[coachk43]

Serious Coke addiction is my guess...

[flufster]

the hole didnt look fresh at all, there was blood but it was cuz she was blowing blood from the double lung (thank goodness)....the inside of the hole was clean and smooth just like looking up her nose or something...lol....the fur was grown over the edges of the hole

anyone think the meat could be bad? hate to feed it to my rugrats...i am thinking its fine?

snakebite, infection and abcess all make sense....guess i will never know

[justincorbell]

i think the meat would be fine......like you said she was healthy lookin when you shot her.........i honestly wouldnt think to much abt it. i bet if you contacted a local or state biologist they could give you a better idea as to what caused that hole.

[flywise]

I'm a horrible shot with a gun, I shot a doe last year and she dropped right there so I just went to get the truck. When I got to her I noticed I had hit her I just about the same place as that hole in your deer. The hole my muzzle loader bullet looked just like that hole. So it could be a bullet hole

[Landrover]

Serious Coke addiction is my guess...

LOL.........that ain't right!!!