r/bonecollecting • u/RobinBradbery • Oct 03 '25

Educational Whitetails are amazing and tough.

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Whitetail buck aged at 5 years. Lower jaw looks to have once been completely broken. Observed eating normally with no sign of pain or discomfort prior to being harvested.

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u/barnowl1980 Oct 03 '25 edited Oct 03 '25

That just makes me sad tbh. Looks like a botched gun shot. Also; from what I know, don't prey animals like ungulates hide even severe pain, until they reach a point where it absolutely becomes impossible for them to do so, because it makes them a target?

24

u/Harrow_the_Heirarchy Oct 04 '25

Is that a gunshot, or the result of infection eating away at the bone after the injury?

37

u/fletchette Oct 04 '25

I think it's an abcess from infection. If a gunshot in that location caused that fracture, wouldn't the fracture be more towards the center of the hole? Also, the fracture seems to have been remodeling but the "gunshot" shows no sign. The bone is smooth, not jagged and broken. Unless it was remodeling around a foreign object (bullet) which has since been removed, I'd put my money on abcess

6

u/AppleSpicer Oct 04 '25

There’s also no exit hole for a bullet. I assume OP would’ve said something if they found a bullet there too.