Saw this guy last year with a knot about the size of a golf ball. Safe to say it's a tad bit bigger this year. Question is should he be given one more year or consider ourselves lucky he made it through to this year and take him? (In the 24 pic you can kind of see a little scar which leads me to believe it was an injury)

PS - high fence and we got him at 5 years old.

Probably an impacted tooth. I've shot 2 like this and the funk that is in there is pretty nasty.

oh no said:

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why is your camera named "Butt Crack"?

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sh*ts and gigs.......just wanted to see how long before my buddies noticed.

What you see is what you get with that buck.

Could be lumpy jaw too. I've watched several deer over the years not recover from stuff like this. I'd take him this season so you can at least salvage the meat.

Probably a parasite. Seen lots of does over the years with it.

I can't see any reason to let him go another season with or without the jaw lump. He's plenty old enough to cull antler wise, and will only continue to suffer the longer he is around.

Could be an infection around a cactus or mesquite thorn. We've taken several over the years with them on the chest, neck and face.

If it was an infection of the mouth of any kind I don't think he'd be looking as fat as the picture shows.

Hard to say as so many things can cause that potentially. We have cattle occasionally with the same symptom and always treat with a strong antibiotic like draxxin, ivomec wormer injection, and a multi min shot.
Not sure on the labeling for deer, but if it could be darted I would treat the same way. 3 shots and done- hopefully.

Pretty sure you cannot legally dart state of Texas deer. Although, I dont think anyone would mind.
Would need a pretty big dart cause draxxin kp is about a 1
Cc/100lbs and he is big. Not to mention you would need soace for the ivermectin. 3cc minimum dart. Wild deer would be hard to dart anyway. You should harvest him and report back what you find. Good luck.

Also, check withdrawal time if darting. Just in case he doesnt recover and you decide to take him anyway.

Agree. He said high fence but I assume that's not a pen raised deer. I'm not familiar with darting deer, but probably legal for a pen raised one to knock it out to doctor it.