Bullet in femur bone

• Sep 21, 2004

• #1

Al33

Senior Member

This bone came from a large doe I killed about 1986. While deboning the meat, discovered I was not the first hunter to shoot it. Amazingly enough, this doe had survived a completely busted rear leg caused by a very large bullet. I have kept the bone all these years and just rediscovered it in some of my junk. Initially, only fragments of the lead were visible where the biggest part of the bullet remained, so I used my dremel and ground away the surrounding thin covering of bone to expose it. The large spurs visible are bone fragments that adhered and healed in place. In one of the pic's you can see pieces of the bullet on both sides. The small piece is apparently where it entered and the large piece is where it nearly came all the way through.

Hard to believe she made it through such trauma. She was running when I shot her and gave no indication she had ever been hurt.

Al

 

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• Sep 21, 2004

• #2

BROWNING7WSM

GONetwork Member

Ouch.. ...Neet pic Al.. Hard to believe what these animals can withstand, they are truly amazing.

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #3

short stop

Senior Member

Thats amazing coming from a high power rifle . A good friend of mine was cleaning a buck he shot and found a broad head completely embedded in his shoulder . he also said his deer never gave any signs of being hurt at all . Deer are tough critters. SS

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #4

huntnnut

GONetwork Member

Deer certainly have a will to live!

Good pic's Al, thanks for sharing.

Btw, as Randy Travis might say "are we throwing away bones" now or is that "Picking up Bones"...

 

Last edited: Sep 21, 2004

• Sep 21, 2004

• #5

N

nchunter

Senior Member

cool pic al thanks for sharing

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #6

Tom Borck

Banned

It is amazing what deer can live through!!

I killed a buck that had dove shoot #8 peppered all in its neck!

Guy in one club killed a doe in December that he stuck with an arrow in Sept., the arrow was still in the deer! :speechles

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #7

roadkill

Senior Member

Years ago we had this guy in our club that shot a deer right up the rear. They finally killed it in rifle season with the arrow still there! :speechles

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #8

Sandman619

Senior Member

Neat picture , thats wild!

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #9

Woody

Founder - Gone but not forgotten.

Great photos Al.

It's amazing what we find in the Deer we cape. -- Took a 22 cal. out of a face today. --- They're tough.

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #10

Mrbowdeadly

Senior Member

Yeah man,
Bowbender opened one up and reached in the chest cavity to find a broadhead. Watch yer hands fellas.

MBD

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #11

Jeff Phillips

Senior Member

Al - That big Alabama buck in my den had a broad head, a shogun slug, and some buckshot in him when I killed him. All the wounds were healed up. Al Holmes, a taxidermist in Wetumka Ala, aged the deer at 7 1/2+.

They are tough!

Cool pic

 

• Sep 21, 2004

• #12

Woodsong

Senior Member

I bet she did NOT like that happening to her leg! Tough little critters!!

 

• Sep 22, 2004

• #13

Jeff Raines

Senior Member

It's amazing the shock of the bullet didn't bust the femoral artery.

 

• Sep 22, 2004

• #14

S

Scouter

Senior Member

Wow

Amazing the bone did not shatter into pieces. :speechles

 

• Sep 22, 2004

• #15

T

Trizey

Senior Member

Hard to believe, thanks for sharing!

 

• Sep 22, 2004

• #16

DSGB

Senior Member

It is amazing what them critters can survive. I killed a small buck a few years back while hunting on Ft. Benning. The area was right behind an M-16 range. There were five or six M-16 rounds in the hind quarter just barely under the skin.

 

• Sep 22, 2004

• #17

Al33

Senior Member

I found no traces of copper casing, which makes me suspect that it was some sort of slug or buckshot. Of course I will never know exactly how the round got into the bone, so I would not be surprized about the damage or lack there of. Yes, it is hard to imagine that a high powered rifle round wouldn't go through it, but we do not know what the round went through before it got to the deer, if in fact it was a high powered round. : Who knows. maybe the bullet hit a limb first or another deer. Just know way of knowing.

All I do know is that like many of you, I am amazed that it survived. What is obvious is the trauma it endured.

Thanks for relating the many other cases of deer with previous objects found. I will add that on this same club, another hunter killed a large doe that had a 6" long piece of pine limb embedded in iher flesh alongside her back bone. This wound had also completely healed over.

Al

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2004

• Sep 22, 2004

• #18

Mac

Senior Member

Thanks for sharing

Very neat. I got trail pictures of a three legged doe and I saw a doe last year (her front leg would not bend)

results of wounds I'm sure.

 

• Sep 23, 2004

• #19

Dog Hunter

Senior Member

It is truly amazing what they can survive from. Makes you wondering when you people say they lost a deer they made a good shot on and can not find, Is the deer really going to die?? I think a lot of the times when deer are not recovered they some how find a way to survive. Not all the time, but a good bit of the time.

 

• Sep 23, 2004

• #20

RThomas

Senior Member

Looks like a sabot from a muzzleloader.