Sorry for the long post.
This afternoon I was out doing some midday/midseason scouting looking for a primary scrape area that had shifted from last year. I located a nice scrape in a 10 meter diameter clearing amidst some dense cover (licking branch, urine smell and everything). I am standing in the clearing looking around for a tree for my ambush saddle and I notice a large bodied deer walking towards me. I take a knee, knock an arrow and hook up the release. As the deer steps into view, I can see it’s a large bodied, mature doe. Her head is down towards the ground, her ears are folded back and I can see her sides heaving as she pants. Her mouth is gaping open and she pays me no mind as she stops broadside about 15 yards away. I can plainly see her eye so I know she can see me as come to full draw but still pays me no mind. Her legs are widely braced, her head is nearly touching the ground and her mouth is hanging open as she gasps for breath. She was obviously physically distressed. This area is heavily bow hunted and boasts a dense deer population.
I shot her straight through both lungs. Then, she slowly stumbled about 5 steps, braced her legs widely and stood in plain view for about 20 seconds before collapsing. I was pretty sure she was dead but I backed off for half an hour to be sure. The whole time I’m thinking this is the oddest things I have seen in 30 years of deer hunting.
Returning the site, I found her expired and covered in flies with the highest concentration around her anus and my wound. Her upper abdomen was about twice the normal size. I thought this was odd to because it’s pretty cool here (60 deg F) and it had only been 30 minutes. All of the fawns that I have seen here have been born and lost their spots so I don’t think labor/delivery is the answer to this deer mystery.
I won’t feed this deer to my family so don’t waste time posting that suggestion but has anyone seen this?

I havent seen it before at all, i was thinking maybe she was worn out from being chased by a buck until you were talking about the swollen abdomen, did you do your own "autopsy" ?

It sounds like she was about to give birth.

That is odd.

Sounds to me like she was being chased heavily. I have seen doe's belly's swell within 5 minutes of the shot.

I didn't do a complete autopsy for fear of making myself sick/infected.

It may be possible that she was hit by a car and had some internal injury's. Did you notice the abdomen bloat prior to the shot or after
you returned to retrieve her ?
Are you in a state where CWD has been confirmed if so you should have contacted your local DNR officer , that still might be a good idea
they may even be able to tell you if there has been a car deer accident and the deer was never found.
All possibilities.
Bill

Seems very odd to see a deer behave like that. That deer was either severly injured or is infected with some sort of upper respitory disease or possibly CWD. I would have cut off the head and taking in it for testing. Im almost 100% sure this was not labor. And then to have all the flies aroudn the anal ara of the deer and entry and exit wounds something is telling me this deer was plain out sick. But with what? I think you made the right choice by not opening her up, cleaning her out and feeding her to your family. I wouldnt have either. But I would have sent the head in for testing. Lets hope that whatever she has doesnt pass on to the next generation or other animals that come in contact with her corpse. Unless of course its a pack of yotes lol.

weird. Thanks for taking her out though. So many people don't take injured/sick deer out. It's too bad. Weird things happen in the woods some times. I won't make a judgement cause i'm not there to look at her at all. Got any pics?

I carry rubber gloves in my pack. The primary reason is so that I don't need to wash my hands in the cold stream after I've cleaned an animal. I think I would have put some on and opened her up. If it is warm enough for flies to be out, it wouldn't surprise me that they were there in a hurry even on a healthy deer.
It is not likely that she was in labor, but if she was she'd be fine to eat.

I wouldn't eat her, either. I raise sheep and seen them act somewhat like this. It could be pneumonia and it could be caused by a number of things.