PreacherTony

Published: January 21, 2007 03:37 pm
Hunter finds arrow, broadhead in skull of healthy 8-point buck
Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Somewhere there is a bowhunter who a year or two ago shot at a buck in the Christie Road area east of Cumberland and watched it walk away with an arrow sticking out of its head.

The hunter was likely shaking his own head, wondering how a deer could take such a hit and escape.

Jonathan Leith has the answer. In fact, he had the deer.

On the last day of the recent Maryland firearms season, Leith was hunting on his parents’ property when a bunch of deer, including an 8-point, came running into range.

“For a second I considered letting the deer go so it would get bigger, but then I thought that if I did that someone else would shoot it anyway so I shot,” said Leith, a former Cumberlander who now lives in Carroll County.

The buck was heavy. Leith estimated it field dressed at 150 pounds. The antlers have a spread of about 14 inches.

“It wasn’t the kind of buck I wanted to have mounted so I decided to make a European mount,” Leith said. The European mount is one in which the top part of the skull is kept intact and cleaned of all hide and flesh.

Had Leith decided to simply saw the antlers from the skull, as is often done, he would not have made an amazing discovery.

Inside the skull, having penetrated just below the right eye socket and into the honey-combed nasal sinus area, was a portion of an aluminum arrow.

An X-ray of the animal’s head revealed that the three-blade broadhead remained intact.

“When I first got to it, there was no physical evidence that the deer had an arrow in it,” Leith said. “The skin wasn’t broken, there was no pus pocket. The eye appeared to be normal.”

The arrow appears to have the markings of an Easton XX75 arrow with that company’s camouflage pattern.

Jim Mullan, a wildlife biologist for the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service, used the lower jaw of the deer, which Leith had kept, to determine that the buck was 2.5 years old, which means that the buck was exposed to three bow seasons before it was harvested by Leith.

A nick mark on the antlers, which are lost and regrown annually, could mean that the buck was shot in 2006. Mullan said, though, that it could not be determined precisely in which season the arrow struck.

In spite of the intrusion, the buck had been able to prosper physically. Obviously the arrow had not impaired normal operation of the chewing or swallowing functions.

Leith said he’ll make up a wooden wall mount for his buck of a lifetime.

Mike Sawyers is outdoor editor of the Cumberland Times-News. If the hunter who launched the arrow at the buck will contact him at (301) 784-2520 he will put that person in touch with Leith.

mert_04

That's pretty wild. Ihad a broadhead in the back of the deer I shot last year during rifle season.

Ky Boy

wow thats crazy. i bet that was one uncomfortable deer. its amazing how many animals you see on tv with an arrow stickin out of em'

gzg38b

That is unbelievable he survived. My only concern is that I've seen several threads like this on this forum and others, as well as in the news media. This is the kind of thing that weas bowhunters should not be proud of. I understand that mistakes happen to all of us,and I hope that shot was a mistake and not intentional. However, when these mistakes happen, I think we should think twice about putting it out there for the wholenon-hunting world to see. Nothing good can come from that. This is the kind of thing that turns non-hunters into anti-hunters.

PreacherTony

gzg ..... I hear what your saying, I just worry about hunters being afraid to be hunters ..... I really don't feel like running from the anti's. Then again, I sure don't want to put anything out there that may be detrimental to our sport.....

anyway, this is a hunting forum, so I didn't even think that non-hunters would come on here unless thay were interested in becoming a hunter .... if the anti's are looking for material to justify their beliefs, in today's informational world .... they will find it .... yaknow?

gzg38b

Preachertony - I have no problem with you posting it here. I just cringe when I see it on the six oclock news and on the front page of the newspaper.Why turn non - hunters into anti-hunters?

Raxxmaster

amazing.

Washington Hunter

A good friend of my dad's shot a buck with an arrow in his head almost identical to that 10 or so years back. It seemed the deer he shot was affected quite a bit more by it though as our friend described the deer's behavior before the shot to seem "mildly retarded."

In other words, the buck was walking right next to a road without a care in the world, head bobbing, tongue hanging out of its mouth.

jhalfhill

I shot a seven pointer three years back in rifle season that had an arrow in its head. It walked right through the woods to where I was hunting with no trouble at all and showed no signs of anything being wrong. When i went up to him, i noticed an arrow broken off even with the hide and it had entered between his nostrils and his left eye. It exited through his lower jaw and was broke off there also. You could look right down the hollow shaft and see the whole way through his head. He had a little gang green started in the back of his mouth, which I'm sure would have killed him in the winter, but had that not set in he would have went on like nothing was wrong.

Western MA Hunter

They are amazing tough animals...
I just don't know why some would take that shot intentionally...
Not fair to the animal