Had a stray dog get in with some bucks and freaked them out Wednesday morning. One yearling buck hit fence hard enough to crack his skull to where his horn was dangling. The bone around his pedicle approximately 3 inches in diameter is loose. I knocked him out that evening and cut the antler about 2 inches above skin to eliminate the weight of the antler from pulling on the head. I then sprayed him thoroughly with permethrin to eliminate flies, put in an insecticide ear tag to keep flies away, gave him Draxxin because it is long lasting and Banamine. Also before I cut the antler off I put a zip tie as tight as I could under the burr and right below the cut to keep from bleeding. My question is what else can I do? He is up eating and drinking with his pen mates, but his head on the side that is cracked is slightly swollen which is understandable. I am thinking about knocking him down tonight and cutting the zip ties off since there is no bleeding and giving him another round of banamine and antibiotics and hopefully won't have to knock him out again for a while. Any opinions or ideas?
You need to stabilize the pedicle and the piece of skull so that it will not move. I would recommend using a piece of lathe and duct tape the broken antler to the good side. Don't be afraid of using alot of tape. The all weather duct tape works best.
Some one else on here actually screwed a board across both antlers to hold them in place. I remember seeing pictures of it quite some time ago. We also had a yearling hit the fence and do the same thing he is three year old now but we never even tranquilized him to do anything we let his heal on its own. When our buck would wiggle his ear his whole skull around the pedicle would jiggle as well. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in here and help you out.
I knocked him down last night so I could see how everything looked and give him some more meds. His swelling has gone down except for the area on top of his skull plate. I gave him some Banamine, Excede, and Vit B. Sprayed more fly spray and within an hour after reversing he was eating at the trough. I probably will just watch him now and not do anything else unless needed. I am a strong believer in less is more sometimes. Hopefully his skull fuses back strong to support his massive antlers next year
The bone around the base of the pedicle is loose if you apply slight pressure. With the weight of the antler gone I am hoping the bone will fuse.
It will fuse just fine. Your only concern should be infection. I have put several of these type injuries back together and they do great. Antler form and griowth in the future may be affected.
Infection and flies are my main concern at this point. I think it is a great sign that the first thing he wanted to do after getting up from sedation was to get a bite to eat. Luckily he is a calm deer and I can get within 20 feet to keep an eye on him. Another yearling buck with him keeps licking where his antler was cut off and hope this doesn't become a problem.
Actually the licking is a good thing. Moist tissue heals quickest and the licking helps keep the wound clean.
