I was reading the post about "mercy kill" and it got me thinking about a deer we have on the farm.
On my property we have a deer, her name is "limpy deer". She has an injury to her front left leg. It cannot straighten out all the way and therefore she limps. She is a medium sized doe, and very very pretty, more so than other deer. She appeared with this injury 8 years ago....she was 1.5 at the time (we think) . Well now she is at least 9.5 years old, it is the same deer, she has a distinct personality, and limping habit. My dad archery hunts almost every day on the farm and he has NEVER seen that deer from a tree stand, only have we ever seen her from the house where we don't hunt and where we feed deer. I think when deer get an injury and survive they become a different animal altogether. She is amazing, and to our knowledge has had three fawns. She usually keeps the fawn till they are 2 years old (which is very odd) then discards them to breed again. Heres the good part, we have her (9.5) two of her offspring one is estimated to be 4.5 years old (nice buck whom we cannot kill he is totally noctournal...even in velvet) and a one younger doe. They all travel together and are all smart. I just think its amazing what an injured animal can endure and how they can keep going .