Nature is brutal, and I can’t imagine what this deer went through to suffer such a gaping wound on its back.
The video will be tough to watch for some, especially those who normally don’t do well around blood and guts. To be quite frank, the buck was living against all odds as his entire (and I mean the whole thing) back side was cut open and exposed to the elements.
Trail camera footage from Illinois captured this horrific video back in 2020, showing the buck walking by with the massive tear in his skin, revealing his spine, shoulder blades, and various other organs.
Anyone that has viewed the video of the deer has been stumped by two things:
-How did this buck suffer such a gnarly injury?
-How on God’s green Earth is it still walking around, seemingly saying “tis but a scratch” to the gruesome wound on its back?
Some of the more popular theories as to how the buck had his back opened up were as interesting as the video itself. There were some that guessed an errant arrow from a bowhunter perfectly opened up the skin of his back, while others even suggested that the deer could have been struck by a car or (or even messed with by, you guessed it, aliens).
The most popular and likely guesses are that the deer was suffering from an advanced flesh eating disease, or that it was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was severely cut by the swinging blades of a combine.
As for the second question, there’s really no real reason or explanation as to why this deer should still be walking around. Most think that the blood loss alone from the wound would have quickly drained the deer of its life, though it looks to be doing swimmingly (for the most part) in the video as it walked in front of the trail camera.
If you are brave enough, you can view the grisly footage of the “zombie deer” below:
Hunters in the area attempted to track down the buck and “put it out of its misery” after this video surfaced, but had no luck. The body (or at least what was left of it) was discovered about a month after this trail camera footage was taken.
Those who found it near a pond believe that it couldn’t have made it a day or more after this video was taken, and assume that it was probably trying to make it to the water for relief. Coyotes cleaned up what was left of him (or might have even finished him off), as only the skull and spine was recovered.
