Any ideas on this and would you not shoot him because of it? This is a nice pacific blacktail and a nice set of forks like this is about as big as they get. I would guess him about 4-5years old and 130pounds. The worst part is he lives on the rifle range with 5 other bucks, all about the same size. The photos were taken as he was wandering through the 3-gun barriers to get some shade.

If it was a whitetail, I would say that it is an infectious fibropapilloma. This is a viral infection that is common to rabbits, and not uncommon in whitetails. They grow and eventually drop off, and other animals are infected when they eat the discarded tissue.

It could also be some sort of nonmalignant fibrous tumor--they are fairly common as skin disorders. In either case, I would not hesitate to take the deer for venison--just don't cut into the mass and discard it along with the rest of the hide.

I would suggest that you try a google search with the keywords "infectious fibropapilloma" and "mule deer" and "black-tailed deer", and see what pops up.

Hope this helps...

I have seen a few Michigan deer with that kind of a groth, most in the neck near the head. And have known 1 guy to shoot a doe with a groth in the neck, Im sure it was the same deer I had seen, and he did just what mudhen said, toss it with the cape and chow down. I see the guy every fall, owns the property next to me and never said a word about there being an issue.

Not a bad forky.

But I don't go for the metrosexual look with the accessory handbag.

Thanks for the info guys. Mac thats about as big as they get over here on the coast, nothing like your sierra bucks.

You've got me wrong. Never hunted the Sierras in my life!

My deer could trot down to take in a Sharks game any evening.
I know well the Pacific Fork Syndrome. Until my big'un of last year ( see thread ), our most impressive rack was a 116-inch fork I took back in the early '90s. Our widest is a 24" fork I nailed some ten years ago. (For you celebrity watchers, the star of all of these shows was a .257 with 100gr Hornadys.)
Any third point gets our blood singing!

So I'm serious-- not a bad forky! (But still, one with a necklace?!?)

Mac,
Did not realize you were that close, thought you were out in the valley. That buck is even more impressive coming from an Azone, I would have guessed somewhere in the D's. I guess this is what you are used to seeing as well. This is my partner getting getting ready to pop a coyote, thats downtown San Jose in the background. The buck in the photo came from the Lake Chabot Rifle range in Castro Valley. I definetly know the feeling about getting excited about anything with more than big forks.

Now, that's the wilderness experience at its best!


Popping a coyote, or sniping for the TSA at Mineta Airport?

Between, heat, poison oak and a herd getting their butts kick by mountain lions I have about given up on A zone, heading to the Yolla Bolly in Sept.