Toothless Doe

[dadof3upatree]

During this last years muzzleloading season, I shot a very large doe.  It had a huge head and
weighed near 140lbs, which is quite large for my part of the world.  Just for fun I decided to
check the does teeth.  Upon looking in her mouth I discovered she has absolutely no teeth
in her lower jaw.  It didn't appear the were lost or worn down to nothing.  It appeared she
never had them.  The upper teeth were all intacted and showed alot of wear to confirm
she was quite old.  She only had some rough looking gums on the bottom.  Almost like a
huge calus had grown there.  I regret I didn't take pictures on this, I was in a hurry to process
the meat and get back in the tree.  But it has been on my mind ever since.  Has anyone
else ever come across this condition?

[Everyday Hunter]

Dadof3: Welcome to the D&DH forums (and Happy Easter!)

I've never heard of a deer without teeth. It would have been good to have saved the jaws and see what they looked like without flesh. I suppose a deer could have no teeth, but if they were worn completely away I'm sure the gums would eventually cover the roots. This is the kind of question LL Rue delves into in D&DH. Might be good to drop an email and see what he says. It might make the magazine.

Steve

[danesdad]

It sounds like it was a very old doe. Maybe that has something to do with it. That does sound like a question for L.L. Rue.

[sagittarius]

I had heard/read a story about a large/old buck near a residential area.   It was early winter.  The buck had made it a habit to enter peoples yards and eat the soft crap apples off their trees.   The buck was soon hit by a car and killed.   Upon examination, the large old buck had almost no teeth left.   The only sustanance the buck could utilize was by gumming crab apples off what backyard crab apple trees he could find.   Most likely would not have made it through that winter anyway.