tractchores
Veteran Member
Strange topic, but thought folks on here may have some ideas. I'm trying to identify what predator killed a deer behind our house a few days ago. Since it's not live stock it doesn't matter much, but I'm curious because its a little different than other deer kills I've seen. I'm mostly curious for my own education. Here is some information about the area and the kill itself. Any tips, tricks or ideas are welcome. I can post some pictures, but they may be gruesome. The property where this happened is in MA for reference.
Here's the scenario: The deer was hanging out with about 9 others (yarded up for the winter). The ground was snow covered, but only a few inches, so no traction issues or crust on the snow. The deer was a 2 year old doe, but was small for its age and we had seen it a few hours before with a very slight limp in a hind leg, but otherwise was healthy and normal weight. From the tracks it appears the deer heard was making its typical loop on the edge of a frozen lake, the predator chased the killed deer out onto the ice probably 50 feet. There was a splash of blood and some fur from the hind quarters, another 50' and the same and then 75' beyond that a large patch of fir / blood and where I assume the kill was made. Given the tracks its unlikely it was a long drawn out chase. The deer itself was wounded mostly in the hind quarters with the rump torn open, tail missing and entrails removed partially through the rear. The front leg was torn with some skin from the chest post mordem (no blood) and the deer was killed relatively quickly through a bite on the front of the neck. Most of the blood was around the neck VS the rear, so I assume it went down and was killed pretty quickly. The deer was small and probably under 100 lbs.
The kill seems consistent with coyote kills I've seen. However the weird part to me is that the kill was largely uneaten. With the exception of the rump area the body cavity was intact and not eaten. When I've seen coyote kills in the past the first thing they do is rip open the body cavity and eat the entrails and usually there are bits scattered all over the place. The kill was very fresh when we saw it, so likely made right around dawn. I've now set up trail cameras around it to see what shows up, but after 4 or 5 days nothing has shown up at all, which to me also seems weird for coyotes as they usually don't let anything go to waste.. I'm wondering if it could have been domestic dogs or something else?
In our area we have the following predators:
- Bobcat (sighted on property), but seems unlikely given the wounds
- Coyotes, a pack of 3 seen regularly and in that same spot on the ice before, have never seen them eat a deer though
- Domestic dogs, have seen some chasing deer and stopped them in the past
I haven't bothered to measure bite marks or anything yet, but given how solidly frozen it is I may this weekend. Anyone have ideas or ways of determining what predator did it?
Here's the scenario: The deer was hanging out with about 9 others (yarded up for the winter). The ground was snow covered, but only a few inches, so no traction issues or crust on the snow. The deer was a 2 year old doe, but was small for its age and we had seen it a few hours before with a very slight limp in a hind leg, but otherwise was healthy and normal weight. From the tracks it appears the deer heard was making its typical loop on the edge of a frozen lake, the predator chased the killed deer out onto the ice probably 50 feet. There was a splash of blood and some fur from the hind quarters, another 50' and the same and then 75' beyond that a large patch of fir / blood and where I assume the kill was made. Given the tracks its unlikely it was a long drawn out chase. The deer itself was wounded mostly in the hind quarters with the rump torn open, tail missing and entrails removed partially through the rear. The front leg was torn with some skin from the chest post mordem (no blood) and the deer was killed relatively quickly through a bite on the front of the neck. Most of the blood was around the neck VS the rear, so I assume it went down and was killed pretty quickly. The deer was small and probably under 100 lbs.
The kill seems consistent with coyote kills I've seen. However the weird part to me is that the kill was largely uneaten. With the exception of the rump area the body cavity was intact and not eaten. When I've seen coyote kills in the past the first thing they do is rip open the body cavity and eat the entrails and usually there are bits scattered all over the place. The kill was very fresh when we saw it, so likely made right around dawn. I've now set up trail cameras around it to see what shows up, but after 4 or 5 days nothing has shown up at all, which to me also seems weird for coyotes as they usually don't let anything go to waste.. I'm wondering if it could have been domestic dogs or something else?
In our area we have the following predators:
- Bobcat (sighted on property), but seems unlikely given the wounds
- Coyotes, a pack of 3 seen regularly and in that same spot on the ice before, have never seen them eat a deer though
- Domestic dogs, have seen some chasing deer and stopped them in the past
I haven't bothered to measure bite marks or anything yet, but given how solidly frozen it is I may this weekend. Anyone have ideas or ways of determining what predator did it?
