Deer health question

[GSP4EVER]

Yesterday I shot a small doe. Not a deer I usually would have shot, but when I seen her walking, I noticed she wasn't using one of her back legs. When I looked at her through the bioncs, I noticed she had an injury to her foot and it was basically gone. Im not sure how an knjury like that could happen but I am thinking she may have been shot, but I dont know for sure. When I got up to her, I did notices that the injury was not fresh but maybe 4-5 days old. It did have the smell of being rotten or posibly infected. I probably did her a favor and actually surprised she wasnt coyote food yet. My question, have any of you ever experienced this? Is there anything I should be concerend about with eating the meat? When I field dressed her and split the chest cavity, nothing smelled any different. I am going to ask these questions to my vet and try to contact somebody in the DNR. Thanks

[Cheetah]

Only the foot? Don't worry about it...

Possibly was hit by a car, or someone made a very bad shot.

[GSP4EVER]

Yep only the foot. I didnt see any other injuries that would indicate that she was hit by a car. I was thinking either a bad shot or she was possibly caught in a trap and somebody let her go, but I am leaning towards bad shot. Somebody up in a tree shot low low and she got hit. I was hunting on public land, so there could be a few different possiblities of what happened.

[erikwells]

GSP4EVER, I say nice job. I had a doe come by me at about 10 yards on opener and she was gut shot and grazed on her flank. I do not have anterless so I let go but I felt bad that she was suffering. I hope somebody else with a tag was able to finish the job. I know it's not possible but I really wish there was an option to put an animal down in that condition rather than having to let her go on struggling. I get it that eventually she might be food for other animals out there but the point is I hate to think of the animal suffering.

[fr0sty]

I see deer every year on my trail cameras during the winter that have some pretty messed up back legs. I assume from being hit by cars. For the most part, deer can pull through a lot of trauma. More than I would expect.

Nothing wrong with putting her down though.

[CANOPY SAM]

Thanks for putting the animal down. It's the best decision if you can clearly see the animal is suffering.

The only concern I would have is if the animal was septic because of the infected foot. Septicemia is an infection that makes its way thru the entire blood stream, and henceforth would infect the entire deer if the bacterium was indeed that virulent.

If the wound was smelling very foul it was likely infected with a strain of Clostridium, a micro-organism that's caused countless gangrene infections since the beginning of time.

Be careful. I think you're on the right track with talking to a vet, or perhaps even a locker plant, about whether or not any part of this animal can be safely ingested. Don't eat any part of her until you find out concrete information from a professional. Please report back what you find out. Thanks.

[gurkster]

I wouldn't hesitate to eat it if the only concern is a foot injury.

[GSP4EVER]

I talked to a Wildlife Specialist at the MN DNR and my vet and both said that as long as it is cooked thourghly it should pose no threat to me or my family. Which is good, I dont regret taking and registering her but it would have been a bummer to dispose of her due to possible health concerns because of an infection. Thanks everyone for the input. Time to start the processing.