Silver dollar pus on deer

[Park ranger]

I filled my tag on doe day. It was a buck that had lost its antlers, not a button buck I’m 99% sure. Hit him in the neck. Get down to him and see a silver dollar size yellow pus and a rip in his hid. It was at the neck and tenderloin junction. I cut the hid away and didn’t see anything odd in the meat. Seemed very localized.

I took it to the butcher. He seemed to think this was common and would just cut away anything that didn’t look good. Now I’m second guessing if this is ok to eat.

Am I a fool or is it ok?

 

[swimster]

I have seen that before. Some puss pockets way worse than you describe. I belive they are festered wounds from sparin during the rut.

 

[troupe]

Seen it in W.Va. this past buck season. A fellow had taken a nice 10pt and it had multiple pus pockets. They did not feel comfortable with the meat. Had also seen a good 8pt on camera that was so boney thin, he needed shot. I don't believe that buck would make it through the winter.

 

[Dave M.]

I have seen that before. Some puss pockets way worse than you describe. I belive they are festered wounds from sparin during the rut.

The only problem with argument is doe don’t spar with bucks….lol. Just messing with ya. I think it’s just a standard abscess caused by an infection and I would just cut the meat away with a few inches from the wound just to be safe.
dave

 

[Rem06]

I filled my tag on doe day. It was a buck that had lost its antlers, not a button buck I’m 99% sure. Hit him in the neck. Get down to him and see a silver dollar size yellow pus and a rip in his hid. It was at the neck and tenderloin junction. I cut the hid away and didn’t see anything odd in the meat. Seemed very localized.

I took it to the butcher. He seemed to think this was common and would just cut away anything that didn’t look good. Now I’m second guessing if this is ok to eat.

Am I a fool or is it ok?

that would certainly be enough for our hunting group to throw away.
we see alot of pus bucks from arrows,car strikes etc and it is an infection that is in all the deer.
my buddys sister is a vet and simply asks, "how hungry are you"?
Maryland has plenty of deer! turn it in to the game commission and get a replacement tag of find a crop damage farm and shoot another one.

 

[Rem06]

that would be a fawn

 

[Park ranger]

Seen it in W.Va. this past buck season. A fellow had taken a nice 10pt and it had multiple pus pockets. They did not feel comfortable with the meat. Had also seen a good 8pt on camera that was so boney thin, he needed shot. I don't believe that buck would make it through the winter.

What county/part of WV?

 

[338 dude]

I filled my tag on doe day. It was a buck that had lost its antlers, not a button buck I’m 99% sure. Hit him in the neck. Get down to him and see a silver dollar size yellow pus and a rip in his hid. It was at the neck and tenderloin junction. I cut the hid away and didn’t see anything odd in the meat. Seemed very localized.

I took it to the butcher. He seemed to think this was common and would just cut away anything that didn’t look good. Now I’m second guessing if this is ok to eat.

Am I a fool or is it ok?

It probably is safe to eat but I would not eat it

 

[drover]

I would not eat it, there is no point in potentially having a health issue. I would be thinking of that pus pocket everytime I started to take a bite and wondering how much of the infection was spread throughout the rest animal.

drover

 

[Tommie]

Several years ago a buddy shot one like that on my property. He wasn’t excited about eating the meat but didn’t want to waste it. My advice was to either turn the carcass in the Game & Fish or donate it to a local charity and, then, to shoot another deer. My parting words were “Every time you eat that meat you’ll be thinking about the pus”

 

[JFrank]

Agreed!
Hard to un see that nasty infection

 

[338 dude]

I mean if you think about it deer is the most expensive meat on the planet we try to harvest an animal to have a purest form of organic meat we can I don’t see how that meat is purest form of anything

 

[JFrank]

I shot a buck this year that was so freaking rank I couldn’t be in the same area without noticing, I had to dump it or think about that every time I opened the freezer. We hit another that was covered in ticks.

 

[Rem06]

only way i would save the meat that the butcher saved is to can it (cold pack) using a pressure canner,

 

[Rem06]

sorry, not a good idea to donate it or give it away!
unless it is to someone who knows about the wound and will pressure can it.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Deer get injuries, I was walking a cornfield with friends hunting pheasant. A doe ran by me and jumped, saw me in mid air and twisted, landed on an old t-post. Awful noise for about 10 seconds, blood everywhere. Festering wounds in a game animal, not my idea of great table fair. But sure cattle show up to be processed with similar wounds, we just aren't told about it.

 

[Park ranger]

sorry, not a good idea to donate it or give it away!
unless it is to someone who knows about the wound and will pressure can it.

Just to be clear, I showed the would to the butcher he didn’t think it was a big deal. He said he’d cut around the wound. Are my pictures showing up? Is the second picture showing gross meat I’m not familiar with?

I’m about sick to my stomach thinking I should have let it lay for the buzzards, but I would have been sick too if I did thinking I wasted a deer. Urggg

 

[338 dude]

As far as cutting around it or anything like that it has been circulating through his bloodstream for a while no way to get around it

 

[Charlie-NY]

My buddy shot a deer that was loaded with tumors. It looked nasty. The deer was brought to the local wildlife biologist who looked surprised when asked if it was safe to eat. He said "just don't eat the tumors".

 

[redrockranger]

Deer get injuries, I was walking a cornfield with friends hunting pheasant. A doe ran by me and jumped, saw me in mid air and twisted, landed on an old t-post. Awful noise for about 10 seconds, blood everywhere. Festering wounds in a game animal, not my idea of great table fair. But sure cattle show up to be processed with similar wounds, we just aren't told about it.

Yes and it is USDA inspected. YUM