One quick note on "lead" cows, two of them I that have killed were both were missing several teeth, which restricted their ability to eat, hence they were tough. As pointed out earlier, I recommend IF possible shoot one farther back in the herd they eat better. Another thing which i have seen is that a very young animal is the first one out of the timber. I really believe they are also testing to see if it attacked by something.
On teeth.. Not to stray too far, but I got an 8.5 year old mulie that was missing one major front tooth, a central incisor. Maybe no connection, but the very back antler tines were stunted. I wonder if teeth and feeding was a problem with this old deer?
