Fibromatosis Mule Deer

N

ntodwild

Guest
Came across a Mule deer buck this past weekend that looked as if he may have been attacked by a cat. His neck looked as if he was scabbed up, ? skin tags and tumors hanging from his chest. I have never seen a deer with fibromatosis. After doing some research I realize that this buck had the disease. Unfortunately I was not able to get a photos of the deer as he was 200 yards or so away and on the move with another buck.

Anyone else run across this or even taken a deer with this disease?
 
I’ve seen a number of deer over the years with it, and my husband killed a mule deer with Fibromas on his face. It’s usually pretty harmless though and the growths will regress eventually. In some cases if growths occur in areas that impede feeding or vision they can cause the animal serious problems, but typically it looks worse than it is.
 
Well after looking over one of my camera photos that was near where I spotted this buck I did happen to find a single photo from June 8 with what I believe is the same buck.

fullsizeoutput_3af.jpeg
 
Wonder what happened to his back leg? It looks like it is either missing or has a very strange growth compared to his face.
 
We took this buck October 2018. Awesome velvet 4x4. Nasty fibro all over his neck and lower jaw, a little on his legs, and some on his belly. There was no difference between this one and the other buck we got once the hide was off them. We couldn't even tell where the growths were by looking at the inside of the hide, they were literally only skin deep.

We had a long chat with the gal at the game check station. She called him a 'Cactus' buck because he still had his velvet in Oct, probably due to some sort of trauma to his junk in years past messing with his hormones. She also said that the growths typically freeze off and drop away come winter time and the animal will not grow them again, likening the virus to chicken pox for deer. Anyway, she convinced me there was nothing wrong with the meat. I ate every bit of that thing. Delicious. Still haven't found any suspect fibro growths on me, yet.
 

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