This week's column talks about the Pennsylvania whitetail buck I shot two weeks ago. It's the first time I've shot a deer with a physical deformity (other than a bullet hole in the ear or an odd set of antlers). It raised lots of questions, some of which I asked in this column. I'm hoping to get some of the questions answered and write a magazine article on it.
Aside from his defective jaw, this was a pretty nice deer for the area, He was otherwise healthy but he wasn't heavy (a little under 120 pounds field dressed), and he had a decent rack for his body size and age (estimated at 3½ years old) and a thick neck. Certainly he would have had some challenges eating, at least in nursing when he was a fawn, and possibly he would have had a difficult time finding vegetation long enough for him to nip off. I'm hoping to learn more, so if you have any insights into this, please let me know.