# Does a gang green leg mean the whole deer is ruined?



## Cajun83 (Sep 30, 2009)

dhs28 said:


> My brother shot a buck last Monday and while skinning it, one back leg had a wound with green pus coming out of it. We removed that leg and it had a terrible odor.
> 
> We tried calling several different game commission offices several times and never had anyone answer.
> 
> Our question is, is the rest of the meat on this deer ruined?



I personally wouldn't risk it.


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## innate123 (Dec 4, 2006)

Cajun83 said:


> I personally wouldn't risk it.




x2. I have seen guys take the other parts of a deer and be fine, but I couldn't stomach it. Infection is a bodywide problem. 

t


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## boarman1 (Jul 20, 2008)

The infection has infected the rest of the body I would not even think about eating it.


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## Joe W. (Feb 6, 2006)

My bro in law the ver says....cut the leg off and enjoy the rest!


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## deerslayer451 (Sep 11, 2009)

The other meat is fine...Cut a peice and take it away from the other..you can smell if its bad..


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## Yamahog12 (Sep 3, 2007)

dhs28 said:


> My brother shot a buck last Monday and while skinning it, one back leg had a wound with green pus coming out of it. We removed that leg and it had a terrible odor.
> 
> We tried calling several different game commission offices several times and never had anyone answer.
> 
> Our question is, is the rest of the meat on this deer ruined?


I wouldn't do it. Gangrene gives me the willys! 

Gang Green is a nickname for the New York Jets.:wink:


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## Hoosierflogger (Jan 14, 2009)

It would probably be ok, but I wouldn't risk it.
Plenty of deer out there, if you need the meat kill another one.


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## Nightshade400 (Nov 20, 2009)

Eat the leg throw the rest out. 




Hmm better reverse the order on that.


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## 410gage (Dec 14, 2008)

I would not eat any of this particular tainted venison either. Why risk turning off your family or friends to what should be an enjoyable feast of excellent healthy lean red meat? If they get a mental bloc, they will never eat deer meat in the future. If you cook and eat alone, go for it! Otherwise, out back it goes for the coyotes.


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## Stanley (Jan 18, 2005)

If you took it to a processer they wouldn't touch it. You be the judge. I would put it out for the yotes.


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## OneArmArrowSlinger (Jul 25, 2008)

I personally wouldn't risk it, not worth getting sick over & there are plenty more deer out there.


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## NoSecondBest (Jan 18, 2009)

Stanley said:


> If you took it to a processer they wouldn't touch it. You be the judge. I would put it out for the yotes.


Couldn't say it any better than Stanley did.


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## BaxMaine (Oct 27, 2009)

Yamahog12 said:


> I wouldn't do it. Gangrene gives me the willys!
> 
> Gang Green is a nickname for the New York Jets.:wink:


By comparison, they are equal, terrible and smelly(i assume anyway...)


oh, and i wouldnt eat it. its just not worth it.


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## Ray.Klefstad (Oct 7, 2006)

Joe W. said:


> My bro in law the ver says....cut the leg off and enjoy the rest!


He is right. Infection is a local issue. Cut off and discard the offending area (in this case, the hind leg) and enjoy the rest. It will be fine.

Ray


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## twisted1600 (Feb 23, 2007)

*How big of an area?*

I hope that wasn't his only tag.
I've never thought about it 'cuz we've never ran across it....what are the Departments requirements in your state on bad meat? Do you still have to take the rest home or do they consider it waste if you leave the deer?

The whole leg had a terrible odor?
I think...as some have said...the infection(you see)is technically a local issue...but trust if you had a leg that was rotting it would effect the rest of your system!
The effects of the infection are certainly systemic and I'm sure the condition of the rest of the meat will reflect the stress his system was under.....taste.ukey:
I wouldn't eat it.


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

Once again, it's fine. Amazing how many people will waste an entire deer over one small area.


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## smakdown (Dec 9, 2005)

Bad smell is natures way of saying off limits.


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## OpenSeason1 (Jul 2, 2009)

I wouldn't chance it!! I would throw up if someone told me that they had just fed me some deer meat from a deer that had an infected leg like that! I am WAY too weird about food for that nonsense!! 

Throw it out for the yotes, then shoot the yotes!!


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## uncletj (Feb 28, 2004)

worked it packing house common abcess on animals cut off rest ok


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## BaxMaine (Oct 27, 2009)

M.Magis said:


> Once again, it's fine. Amazing how many people will waste an entire deer over one small area.


Im sure there are plenty of things you dont eat that other people would find weird. Do you gut your deer, or eat it all like some do in other cultures?


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## cebert07 (Jan 14, 2009)

no problem with the deer cut off the bad part are eat the rest have done this personally on 2 deer with no problems. I personal say make some summer sausage with it do this with all my older meat, tough meat and meat that it scraps. No need to waste the rest of the deer if its good meat.


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## tjandy (Jun 10, 2005)

Stanley said:


> If you took it to a processer they wouldn't touch it. You be the judge. I would put it out for the yotes.


................ and hunt the yotes. :thumb:


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

BaxMaine said:


> Im sure there are plenty of things you dont eat that other people would find weird. Do you gut your deer, or eat it all like some do in other cultures?


To me, there's a big difference between not eating all organs, and throwing an entire deer away because of a wound.
And by the way, processors do* NOT* throw every deer with a wound out. If they did, a large percentage of people would not be getting their meat back, and you can bet they'd be on here complaining about it. Ask any processor how many deer they get in each year with wounds and I bet they can't count them all.


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## BaxMaine (Oct 27, 2009)

M.Magis said:


> To me, there's a big difference between not eating all organs, and throwing an entire deer away because of a wound.
> And by the way, processors do* NOT* throw every deer with a wound out. If they did, a large percentage of people would not be getting their meat back, and you can bet they'd be on here complaining about it. Ask any processor how many deer they get in each year with wounds and I bet they can't count them all.


There is a big difference between a "wound" and green smelly puss pouring out of a deer. The rest may be fine, but like you find eating deer guts gross, some of us find eating an animal that is spewing out green smelly puss gross. Im willing to bet food banks wouldn't even take it if they knew about it.


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## Matt Musto (May 12, 2008)

Yamahog12 said:


> I wouldn't do it. Gangrene gives me the willys!
> 
> *Gang Green is a nickname for the New York Jets*.:wink:


They stole the nickname from the Eagles. Gang Green was the nickname of the Reggie White lead defenses of the late 80's and early 90's


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

BaxMaine said:


> There is a big difference between a "wound" and green smelly puss pouring out of a deer. The rest may be fine, but like you find eating deer guts gross, some of us find eating an animal that is spewing out green smelly puss gross. Im willing to bet food banks wouldn't even take it if they knew about it.


The puss is simply the result of a wound. I've butchered plenty like that, as have many other people. Cut the bad part away and process the rest like normal. It's no big deal, and certainly no reason to waste an entire deer. 
I never said anything about "eating guts being gross", I don't know where you got that from. I've eaten plenty of the internal organs.


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## DB444 (Feb 20, 2009)

*It probably wouldn't hurt you but....*

I'd be thinking of that green pus everytime I took a bite---no thanks!


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## AkNomad (Nov 18, 2008)

I killed a nice bull moose back in 06 and he had a huge chunk of meat missing from his left hindquarter which had scabbed over and nasty looking. I cut the affected piece of meat off and ate the rest and it was delicious. If the meat smells fine I would not hesitate to eat it.


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## PassYoungBucks (Jan 17, 2009)

I wouldnt of even stuck my knife in it.


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## BaxMaine (Oct 27, 2009)

M.Magis said:


> The puss is simply the result of a wound. I've butchered plenty like that, as have many other people. Cut the bad part away and process the rest like normal. It's no big deal, and certainly no reason to waste an entire deer.
> I never said anything about "eating guts being gross", I don't know where you got that from. I've eaten plenty of the internal organs.


There are different levels of infection, as you describe, a small wound, I would probably cut around it. An entire leg smelling terrible with green puss is an obvious sign that infection does spread, if it didn't, why would anything else but what is around the wound be bad? They use to cut off people's legs and arms with gangreen to prevent the spread of infection, not because they thought it was a cool thing to do. Infection spreads.

If you are ok with it, thats cool. But dont look down on others who find it flat out disgusting.


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## twisted1600 (Feb 23, 2007)

BaxMaine said:


> There are different levels of infection, as you describe, a small wound, I would probably cut around it. An entire leg smelling terrible with green puss is an obvious sign that infection does spread, if it didn't, why would anything else but what is around the wound be bad? They use to cut off people's legs and arms with gangreen to prevent the spread of infection, not because they thought it was a cool thing to do. Infection spreads.
> 
> If you are ok with it, thats cool. But dont look down on others who find it flat out disgusting.


 * I don't care how hungry I get or what anyone says,I'm not eating people meat!*ukey:ukey:ukey:


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## FlyingKO (Oct 7, 2009)

The infection could have moved to the blood already also. It would not be worth taking a chance on. My brother in law shot one in the leg a few years ago and we found it and shot it again a few weeks later and it was exactly as you desribe this one to be and all of the meat had a bad smell to it.


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## Big Country (Apr 25, 2003)

I am usually very open minded about such issues.......but I don`t care if the surgeon general comes on here and says it is OK to eat the unaffected meat.....I ain`t doing it.ukey:


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## BaxMaine (Oct 27, 2009)

Big Country said:


> I am usually very open minded about such issues.......but I don`t care if the surgeon general comes on here and says it is OK to eat the unaffected meat.....I ain`t doing it.ukey:


Im bookmarking this post, we finally agree on something.


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## AintNoGriz (Sep 28, 2006)

I shot a buck 2 years ago late season that was handicapped in the back end. My father-in law has been bowhunting since they started here in Kansas. He knew something wasn't right w/ the buck just looking at it. He told me not to eat it. I argued w/ him. I hung it in his barn and when I pulled the skin down past one of the hips, all this nasty puss came oozing out. It was the worst smellin stuff ever. The buck had a hole the size of a tennis ball above his hip and it ran along his spine, one huge empty cavity. Needless to say I gave the yotes a good mealukey:


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## kx90 (Sep 10, 2009)

Big Country said:


> I am usually very open minded about such issues.......but I don`t care if the surgeon general comes on here and says it is OK to eat the unaffected meat.....I ain`t doing it.ukey:


I agree. I mean if it were just a small wound that you could cut out and all was good, fine but when you have to cut off the entire leg of the deer, no way. 

I will not run the risk of getting sick over it. I would just go back out and fill another tag since I started with 5.


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## Big Country (Apr 25, 2003)

BaxMaine said:


> Im bookmarking this post, we finally agree on something.


As you grow older, I am confident we will agree on more and more subjects.:wink:

This is a start......


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## buckeyboy (Feb 6, 2007)

M.Magis said:


> Once again, it's fine. Amazing how many people will waste an entire deer over one small area.


If the infection was throughout the entire deer the deer would have been dead.
cut off the leg the rest will be fine. when a person gets gangreen do we kill the person ? No we cut the leg off. dont waste the meat it will be fine.
if you die then we know I was wrong. just kidding. 
any infection that spresds gangreen obviously did not spread or the deer would have died. besides when you cook the meat the tempeature will kill any bacteria . all meat even super market meat contains bacteria.
do some research before the animal is wasted.


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## junglerooster1 (Jul 23, 2009)

hutning coyotes is way more fun that puking infected deer meat. sacrafice that one for the sake of predator control and kill another


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## herTHINGarchery (Oct 12, 2009)

we all want to respect the animal and not waste meat....but this sort of infection seems to be pretty bad...odds are the rest of the meat is prolly good....but its not really worth eating it and getting sick over it...since there are so many that seem to disagree on the matter and no one really KNOWS if its okay or not...i wouldnt be willing to take the risk.


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## OklahomaArchery (Jan 8, 2009)

buckeyboy said:


> If the infection was throughout the entire deer the deer would have been dead.
> cut off the leg the rest will be fine. when a person gets gangreen do we kill the person ? No we cut the leg off. dont waste the meat it will be fine.
> if you die then we know I was wrong. just kidding.
> any infection that spresds gangreen obviously did not spread or the deer would have died. besides when you cook the meat the tempeature will kill any bacteria . all meat even super market meat contains bacteria.
> do some research before the animal is wasted.



Gangrene is the death of tissue in a particular body part. The problem you have with gangrene in wild game is you don't know how long the animal has had the infected appendage. As for death being an issue, yes death will generally occur eventually, but not quickly. As the dead tissue begins to rot on the live animal sepsis (blood poisoning) will set in, which is where the bacteria begins to spread throughout the body and the blood will flow with this inflammatory bacteria. That being said, the whole animal will have the infection throughout it's body within short time. 

When you shot this deer did it seem slow, disoriented or sick?

I took a friend out last year on our place, he shot at a deer but claimed he never hit it. The following weekend I went out and jumped this same deer. The deer slowly came to his feet and just stared at me from 20 yards away. It never attempted to run and I put it down. One of the hind legs had a nasty wound from the week prior and this deer smelled awful. We left it for the coyotes.

Unless you in desperate need of the meat and this is the only way to feed your family then I would probably go to a food bank before I would subject my family to consuming this deer. If you have another tag then go out and try and harvest another one.


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## buzzb8 (Dec 7, 2009)

I don't think I would eat it!


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## z79outlaw (Oct 5, 2009)

Shot a rifle buck a few years back that had gang green in the front like from a arrow hit. Threw away the bad leg, the rest was fine.


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## shilo (May 16, 2006)

i shot a deer one time that had big nasty green puss pocket from a shotgun slug in his neck. the whole deer had a funky smell to it and didn't look right. no way was i going to eat it. and its another reason i process my own deer; i don't want someone else deciding that its ok for me to eat it - even if they wouldn't.


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## buckeyboy (Feb 6, 2007)

well hers what I mean when I say research. just as I said.
www.best-venison.com
its quite common. processors se this alot especially during the rut or post rut. they say cut out the bad and the rest is fine... 
dont listen to folks who have the balls to kill. yet will say. no way without even doing research? Hunters ethical??? for once everybody take five minuites and find somthing that experts say the whole deer is bad.


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## MGB (Dec 21, 2008)

*Hate to do this but...*

the word is *gangrene*. As mentioned before, infections vary from local to systemic. I'd trust my nose. If the meat away from the obvious infection smells o.k., it's probably o.k. If this gives you the willies, no matter what, just feed your dogs or the local coyotes. It's not worth the stress.


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## dmason390 (Jun 30, 2008)

The associated bacterial infection would release cocktail of systemic toxins. In my opinion, I would consider the meat spoiled. Not worth the risk. Even if the rest of the deer is "fine" or doesn't smell, the meat will be spoiled upon butchering. Definitely not worth the risk/effort.


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## shadetree (Dec 24, 2008)

I would knowingly eat any animal that has fever.


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## dmason390 (Jun 30, 2008)

buckeyboy said:


> well hers what I mean when I say research. just as I said.
> www.best-venison.com
> its quite common. processors se this alot especially during the rut or post rut. they say cut out the bad and the rest is fine...
> dont listen to folks who have the balls to kill. yet will say. no way without even doing research? Hunters ethical??? for once everybody take five minuites and find somthing that experts say the whole deer is bad.



I have enough understanding of toxicology and microbial biology to say with full confidence that I can render and "expert" opinion....... you CAN eat the meat, but you could also do all sorts of risky things and get away with it. I would strongly advise against it and would not have my family eat it. One thing about science, there is always more than one answer, just consider the source.


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## prairieboy (Aug 19, 2009)

I wouldn't eat it.every time you make a meal with it you'll be thinking about the green and you will never enjoy eating it..


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## copterdoc (Oct 9, 2005)

There is a huge difference between an abscess and gangrene.

An abscess is a pocket of pus contained in a local site and isolated by the animal's immune system. A pimple is an abscessed sweat gland.

Gangrene is a systemic infection. That means the animal's immune system failed to contain the infection and it has taken over all of the tissues and vascular system.

If it was an abscess, it is safe to eat the deer. If was out of control gangrene, it isn't safe to eat any part of the deer.


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## Afree (Sep 20, 2007)

no:zip:


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## twiant (Mar 3, 2009)

The game commision should give you another tag, Iv herd of it before and it indeed infected the whole dear I wouldnt risk your life over some meet.


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## hauntedbyelk (May 3, 2009)

*A large infected wound like that*

May have gone systemic. I wouldn't have any problem trimming out a minor wound but a hind leg oozing "smelly green pus!" No thanks. Not worth the risk and would conjure up a pretty unpleasant image every time I pulled a package out of the freezer. Reminds me of ol Gus in Lonesome Dove when he got gangrene from that arrow in his leg.


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## Texun (Oct 3, 2007)

As long as you cook it it will be fine. If that deer was a cow farmer brown would take it to the market and then it would end up on your table.


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## saskguy (Aug 25, 2007)

> To me, there's a big difference between not eating all organs, and throwing an entire deer away because of a wound.
> And by the way, processors do NOT throw every deer with a wound out. If they did, a large percentage of people would not be getting their meat back


I assure you most aren't getting "THEIR" meat back.


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