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OUCH! You ever see something like this?

3 years ago I watched a 3.5 year old buck break his right side in a fight. A couple of days later he bedded down 20 yards from the tree I was hunting. Got some great video. His skull plate was busted and the antler was hanging down just like your photo.

The following year the same buck grew a 14" spike on the damaged side - 4.5 year old.

At 5.5 years old I killed him with a bow - his skull plate was sold as ever but had a lot of calcium built up around the pedical. His pedical was actually tilted out witch made him wider than normal. The right antler is weaker than the left.
 
Had a gentlemen stop by my shop today to show me a 'shed' he had found. He explained to me that he'd never found one 'quite like this one before.' Immediately after looking at it, I recognized it as the right antler off of the broken skull buck that I had filmed back in November.

The amount of skull that had been busted off was incredible. After seeing these new pictures, do you guys really think that this buck has any chance of surviving?
Pics of Broken Skull Buck's Antler
 
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X3. I have seen what a brain infection from an injury does to a deer and I agree its just a matter of time...if he isnt already dead.
 
Holy smokes! Gives you an appreciation for how tough they are though seeing him walking around with a chunk out of his skull.
 
I don't know sureshot, I think there's a chance he might survive. Looking at your photos of the breaks in the skull I don't really see where that much of the brain cavity would be exposed. The top photo that shows the inside break looks like it broke just outside of the brain cavity. It looks like it took the upper half of his eye socket off so if he does live he'll definitely have some vision problems in that eye. The last photo looks like it might have exposed some of the brain cavity though. I've skinned a couple of bucks that had nickel and quarter sized holes in their skulls through to the brain, both had healed over with a cartilage growth and the hunters said they were acting normally. Also watching your video of the buck he appears to be acting normally and feeding. You would think if he had a large amount of brain exposed he wouldn't of been.
 
These animals are incredibly tough as we all have pry witnessed (with botched shots, etc) It's hard to say since it appears that the antler had already been dismantled from his head in your video Chris. Hard to say how long it had been like that for, could have been a month. If the gentleman didn't find the deer dead after he found his "shed" i would say he may have survived. Just never know with how dang tough whitetail seem to be. If he did however make it, wonder what he blows into this yr. Be interesting to see.
 
IF he survived, do you think he will even be able to grow an antler on that side ever again?
 
The 2nd from last picture shows the extent of the calvarium (brain case) that went with the antler leaving the brain exposed to the world. Likely died of septic meningitis shortly after the injury. Surprised he was up & around on your original video. Tough SOBs! But not likely a survivor... :(
 
I'm thinking he is going to be ok. Like mentioned above...they are tough SOB's! I bet the antler that was found had been there for awhile. From the looks of the video and the way the antler was literally dangling and swaying back and forth, it had already broken off completely from the skull plate. Looks like it was hanging by a piece of hide to me. Not to 1 up the story of this buck or anything but a friend of mine has 2 years of sheds from a deer and then found him dead the next shed season. First years shed had a decent chunk of skull and was a normal antler....2nd year shed had A LOT more skull and grew all sorts of crazy stuff....3rd year when he found him dead, you could see on the skull plate how the antler grew weird because of the previous years of taking more and more skull. Pretty cool to see from year to year. If I were to guess, this buck will have a normal left side again but the side that was broken off will grow an odd ball side. Pretty neat story Chris!
 
Wow, this is really a crazy story! No crystal ball here so I'm not going to guess whether he is alive or not...I hope he is, would make for a great story. Does anyone you know of run cameras in the area late season or winter? Just wondering if anyone snapped any photos of him after you filmed him?
 
I really can't say whether that one will live or die, but I did find a shed a few years back on our farm that had what was to me an incredible amount of the skull attached. I thought for sure that he would die from that incident, there had to be a quarter sized hole in his skull.

I don't know whether that one lived or died for sure, but we never found him either and the next year we had a buck that we think may have been him that grew a funky triple spike on one side and a regular antler on the other side.

As bad as that looks, I think there is a fair chance he may live through it. Can you cam that area this spring when they start growing bone again?
 
Hard to say if he'll live or die, but that's a big chunk and I'd say the odds are against him. I just want to know what did that damage. Maybe he ran into the side of a building or something or a car clipped that side of his head speeding by. Who knows, looks painful.
 
I would guess he got hit by a car/truck. If not, I'd like to see the deer that did that to him!!!! No experience here on anything like that so I can't say whether he would make it or not. I would think that if he would grow an antler on that side, it would surely be messed up. What a buck tho! Keep us posted on whether he is ever found.
 
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