Freaks and oddities - that you've taken
01-09-2008, 10:30 PM
#31
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,716
RE: Freaks and oddities - that you've taken
I killed this buck in West Virginia gun seasonback when I was in college. I didn't have the dough for a shoulder mount, and he was just a little short of wallhanger status, so he was one of thefirst euromounts I ever made...
Looks pretty ordinary, right? That's what I thought too. No reason to think that there's anything wrong with this deer.Gooddouble-lung hit on a bigWV buck.Great looking deer too: big, boxy frame, ears torn up from fighting... Just a nice deer. Always has been one of my favorites. Great hunt too.
This deer had one more story to tell...
Caping the skull, I felt what I thought was a cyst under the skin - just above the teeth on the right-hand side. I didn't think much of it.
The more I boiled, the more it became abundantly clear that there was more to this story. This deer had been living with a copper bullet jacket imbedded in his snout for at least a year. From these pictures, youcan see the entrance wound on the left, as well as the exit wounds on the right.
The bullet traveled right through his sinus cavities, completely decimating them. All of the thin bony and cartilagenous tissues inside the sinuses were nonexistent - replaced with scar tissue and blood clots.
When the bullet passed through his snout from left to right, the trauma caused the roof of his mouth to actually bulge and crack. The bones had fully-healed over, but the hairline fracture lines were still evident. It looks like the lead slug passed out through the hide and healed over. The copper jacket, however remained firmly planted in the splintered bone of this guy's face. He wore it like a badge of courage for at least one full year.
I picked all the soft tissues out of the wound area, cleaned the bullet fragment, and glued it back into place.
Outwardly, he appeared healthy in every possible way- so evidently he was surviving just fine. Big and healthy looking. I couldn't imagine the pain and discomfort of having a high caliber bullet rammed through your sinus cavities, and living with it for god knows how long.
I can only imagine the series of events that led up to him taking a bullet through the snout.
Looks pretty ordinary, right? That's what I thought too. No reason to think that there's anything wrong with this deer.Gooddouble-lung hit on a bigWV buck.Great looking deer too: big, boxy frame, ears torn up from fighting... Just a nice deer. Always has been one of my favorites. Great hunt too.
This deer had one more story to tell...
Caping the skull, I felt what I thought was a cyst under the skin - just above the teeth on the right-hand side. I didn't think much of it.
The more I boiled, the more it became abundantly clear that there was more to this story. This deer had been living with a copper bullet jacket imbedded in his snout for at least a year. From these pictures, youcan see the entrance wound on the left, as well as the exit wounds on the right.
The bullet traveled right through his sinus cavities, completely decimating them. All of the thin bony and cartilagenous tissues inside the sinuses were nonexistent - replaced with scar tissue and blood clots.
When the bullet passed through his snout from left to right, the trauma caused the roof of his mouth to actually bulge and crack. The bones had fully-healed over, but the hairline fracture lines were still evident. It looks like the lead slug passed out through the hide and healed over. The copper jacket, however remained firmly planted in the splintered bone of this guy's face. He wore it like a badge of courage for at least one full year.
I picked all the soft tissues out of the wound area, cleaned the bullet fragment, and glued it back into place.
Outwardly, he appeared healthy in every possible way- so evidently he was surviving just fine. Big and healthy looking. I couldn't imagine the pain and discomfort of having a high caliber bullet rammed through your sinus cavities, and living with it for god knows how long.
I can only imagine the series of events that led up to him taking a bullet through the snout.
01-09-2008, 10:52 PM
#34
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,716
RE: Freaks and oddities - that you've taken
J - Yeah, all I have invested in that mount was a 5-hoursteambath in my mother'selectric turkey roaster and a $1 can ofwhite spraypaint from walmart. LOL Now that I think about it - I might dust him over with a coat of flat-white, so he matches all my other euros.
01-09-2008, 10:56 PM
#35
Site Bouncer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Illinois
Posts: 4,099
RE: Freaks and oddities - that you've taken
I've got an old euro mount (same situation as you...back in my college days) that I think I'll paint like that. I like that gloss look way better than mine. Mine is all white (sun bleached)and I think a little contrast between the skull and antlers, even if it's two shades of white will show it off better.
01-10-2008, 11:36 AM
#39
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Western Massachusetts
Posts: 7,168
RE: Freaks and oddities - that you've taken
http://i19.tinypic.com/7w4i9ah.jpg
My buddy's from last year. Mount wasn't quite finished yet... can still see thread from sew job... not painted yet, etc.
My buddy's from last year. Mount wasn't quite finished yet... can still see thread from sew job... not painted yet, etc.
