I need some expert opinions on something weird...
 

Hi, everyone. I'm really in need of some expert opinions on this very bizarre finding...

I found this... body part in the middle of my back yard a day ago. I saw it the previous day, but only as a random object I couldn't discern (I thought it was some branch or something). Yesterday, I came up to it and it appears to be a leg from some hoofed animal. It was rained on overnight so it's darker-colored than it was before.

I live in the suburbs (small deserty mountain/canyon region nearby), with my yard adjoining other people's yards. The only animals I've seen in my yard are gophers, hawks, gray foxes, opossums, and skunks. And it's been a couple months since I've even seen the foxes. There's definitely no deer near me, only some miles further east (and only in small numbers), and I don't know of any neighbors of mine that hunt.

This is really creeping me out. I'm female and haven't a clue why this would be in the middle of my back yard. If there's some psycho fixated on me, if it's a threat, if some animal pulled it from some hunters' garbage, or lord knows what...

I'm posting here because I think it looks like a deer or goat leg, but I'm no expert and I figures you folks would know the anatomy and hunting reasons better than anyone. What is this and what happened to it? Why are there two doubled over twist-ties on the foot? For tagging, or did somebody bind/torture the animal or something?

I've got some big images of it (click the pics, then click the magnifying glass on the pic on the next page), so you folks can see the details of the foot, where it was cut off (how was it cut?), etc...

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you very much.

I think your right about it being a butchered deer that a dog dragged off. It looks sawed off to me? I normally cut around the joint tendons to separate from the meaty part of the leg, and throw to my dogs, but people saw that part off also and discard it as theres no meat on there. As far as the zip ties i don't know as we put the tag on the ear or antler in WI. Maybe in your state they zip tie the tag to the leg?

What state are you in?

Chupacabra.










Interestingly, the other morning I noticed something on the lawn; it was a couple days dead rabbit, no blood or wounds, no fur as in a typical kill, just dead in the middle of the lawn. No 'yote sign in the snow, etc; odd.



BTW, deer foreleg.

Yup a cut off front leg from a deer. One of your neighbors must have shot one and butchered it. A dog or some other wildlife scavenger must have found it and dragged it to your yard.

Yep, don't worry about it as a dog or your foxes have found it in a garbage can somewhere near you.

Thanks, all of you, for taking the time to give your opinions. It really helps. :)

I live in California. I just checked and apparently the type of deer in at least one area of the county are mule deer. Before the rain, the leg was a whitish/creamy color from a distance. Can deer be that pale? Is it definitely deer and not a goat?

It couldn't be a dog, since I've never seen dogs run loose in this area (most people have Fifi dogs) and my yard is fenced in anyway. There's only a small gap under the fence that the skunk uses to go back and forth, but nothing bigger than that could get under there. The grey foxes are pretty small (and they like the jump over the fence)... would they or a cat/skunk/opossum be strong enough to carry this leg around? I've never seen my neighbors bring home anything they've hunted, so it probably would've had to have been carried some distance.

Thank you.

Pics
 

Are of a deer's hoof.

The wire ties are to force it into a 90 degree angle so as to create a sort of hook that the person can mount it to a board or a wall.

Usually, hunters will do this to two hooves so as to make a gun rack of sorts.

The person probably had this outdoors to age and allow a natural decomposition of the muscle tissue which is a smelly process.
A raccoon, skunk, opossum or other scavenger probably smelled the decomposing tissue and dragged it off.

Then it probably got scared off from another scavenger or maybe a dog and left it where he dropped it.

Just my $.02

Quote: I'm from California. Wee figured that! Kidding.

Coons and skunks will eat and drag the stuff off. I had coons get in my chicken coop this summer. It was amazing that they got through a very small opening in a chain link fence with the chicken. Skunks will do the same and eat deer any time they can. Here are some trail cam pics of a deer carcass left out. Hope it doesn't gross out a California girl.

whitetail or mule deer ....Scavengers drag stuff off all the time....no one is playing a trick on you...toss it in the trash or into the woods and it won't bother you anymore.