Deer muscle damage, looking for an anatomy expert opinion....

Tod osier

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I shot a whitetail that when I was breaking it down noticed that the eye of the bottom round was separated into 2 pieces. I've butchered a lot of deer of several species and never seen this, the eye has always been one piece. Anyone have a comment or learned opinion?

photo of bottom round with eye attached showing where it is split.
XBQAO3w.jpg
 
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Tod osier

Tod osier

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Torn muscle? Does the surface tissue at the split show signs of trauma?

There is absolutely no sign of anything recent or anything that looks like damage (scarring, torn bits, etc...). The one surface is just clean muscle as if cut , the other side had some connective tissue.

The tear, if it is a tear, is exactly down the line where on most deer there is a little vein of fat on the surface of the eye, same spot, same angle.
 
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Interesting. Any chance there was some sort of mechanical injury associated with the shot or fall? My other guess might be it tore while transporting the carcass somehow. A big muscle separation like that would bleed and bruise, unless it was post mortim.
 
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Interesting. Any chance there was some sort of mechanical injury associated with the shot or fall? My other guess might be it tore while transporting the carcass somehow. A big muscle separation like that would bleed and bruise, unless it was post mortim.
I would have to agree with that. If it was torn relatively recently before it died, there would be signs of bleeding. And if it wasn't limping, it must have been after the fact. Perhaps it got bumped somehow on the quarter or something of the sort
 
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I don't see any significant signs of trauma or recent tears. Per pic, the edges appear smooth and not torn (the distal edge in particular [POV]). Smooth edges imply chronic not acute. No blood on the proximal edge of the separation. There is a small amount of blood on the distal edge of the separation in the superficial layer with an air bubble which could imply the fascia recently separated just before death or right after. The muscle itself on both edges does not appear bruised. The visible surface area of the muscle does not appear cut or recently torn.

Could be a congenital anomaly or a complete compromise of the muscle earlier in it's life which has since healed but not reconnected. Plausible congenital defect meaning the eye of round was separated by a fascial layer since birth which had since separated (pre or post mortem). Leaning more congenital defect!

Definitely an interesting find!
 
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Tod osier

Tod osier

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Thanks everyone, further thoughts and info. There looked like zero recent trauma, this was an archery kill and a mature (4.5 years) and healthy deer (180 pounds, which is very large for this area). My thought is it has to be an old injury or congenital, no way you are tearing that muscle post mortem and having it clean like that.

The deer clearly has a broken face from a previous injury. I just got the euro done and noticed both the curve/bend in the face, but also a healed up fracture on the side of the face. Hit by a car at some point causing both injuries?

C3M6Soh.jpg


Here is a shot of the rounds cleaned up. The ones on the side with the injury (especially the top round) were long and thinner than usual, suggesting some compensation for the issue. One thing I wonder about is why isn't the eye of the round atrophied, it was full size.

trcZ4fd.jpg


Deer hanging, pic sucks, but I had gutted and drug the buck out in a thunderstorm and I was just ready to get it skinned and me inside and warmed up.

SLvQOVr.jpg
 
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Very interesting observation. My initial thoughts were that it must have been a long healed injury or birth anomaly.
 
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With that broken face, I would Say old injury. Separated quad along with the face damage sounds like a car to me. Amazing recovery and a cool nice. Nice looking buck too.
 
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