Strange lung tissue in a deer I shot tonight

tdd said:

I shot a big doe shortly before quitting time. She appears in good health. She is not thin, appears to be well fed. No hair/coat issues, no lumps, bumps, wounds or anything of the like.

When I split her sternum, the lungs had TONS of very fibrous connective tissue. Not the omentum....like spider-webby stuff all over the lungs, top to bottom, connecting to the ribs. It reminds me a lot of the connective tissue between the hide and the muscle....and it was not slippery/wet-feeling like most tissue inside the chest.

I didn't see anything else abnormal about the deer, but I've killed over 80 of these critters and don't ever remember seeing one look like this inside.

Anyone know a good place to get more info?

Click to expand...

I shot a buck last year with the same issue. While it was down I noticed a discharge from it's nose like a little kid with a bad cold. I gutted it and noticed the lungs were exactly as you described and they were adhered to the inside of the chest cavity with those web like strands. I skinned it out and cleaned the carcass well and hung it over night but it still had an off putting smell in the cavity. The next day I called my local GC office and the warden called me back and was interested in checing it out. He thought pneumonia also but also offered to issue me a new tag. I asked him what he would do if it was his deer and he said he would take the the new tag. He did check with a biologist and the biologist agreed it was pneumonia.
I was glad I got a replacement tag because I don't think I could have enjoyed eating that deer, even if the meat was fine, after seeing and smelling it.
You may want to report it and see what the warden suggests.

tdd said:

It's hanging for now. I dressed it and it's chilling in my shed.

I can call the SE Regional office this week I guess. It doesn't smell, saw no discharge, nor anything of the like.

Click to expand...

I am from Schuylkill Co and dealt with the SE office also. Officer Gibble was a pleasure to meet and talk to.

tdd said:

Talked to the SE Regional Biologist today.

He said that they are not supposed to make recommendations on whether a deer is fit for consumption or not, but can issue a replacement tag if there is anything amiss (didn't go into specifics on that).

I described what I saw, and he said there's nothing that he knows of as far as diseases he's aware of that would match with that. His suspicion was it's an abnormality that won't affect the meat, but said to just see what the meat looks like when skinning/butchering and see if it looks/smells/feels like normal deer meat would. I've cut up enough deer to know, so at this point, into the freezer she goes unless I find something not right when I peel the hide.

Click to expand...

Since the lungs filter oxygen into the blood stream and the blood stream courses through the entire muscle mass of the body I was very concerned about eating the meat, especially some medium rare tenderloins and 'straps. Both Warden Gibble and Deptuty Yeusella agreed.
When I initially called the SE office they put me in contact with a/the biologist and he explained what TB would look like compared to pneumonia and felt by my description it was pneumonia, but left the decision to issue a new tag, or not, to the Officer when he got there.
Best wishes.