I skinned out a small buck (<1 yr old) last December and found in the connective gut tissue a bunch of brownish-black little bal

[wild rice]

I skinned out a small buck (<1 yr old) last December and found in the connective gut tissue a bunch of brownish-black little balls the size of large BB's. A bunch as in hundreds of them. I have never seen this before. If there is a doc/vet in the house, could you please tell me what these are? Thanks in advance.

[Treestand]

What State and were did you take the Deer, It mite help the Vet or Doc, the more Info...the better...just saying.

[DEER30]

I have seen these same little nodes on many occasions in Maryland and Virginia. The deer were in perfect health and were eaten without incident.
My wife is a vet and once told me that they were Hemal Nodes and are completely normal in ruminants such as deer, elk, and cattle.

no need to worry

[Ga hunter]

I'm no expert at all, but could they of been some type of acorn? Just about every deer I dress is filled with acorns, many of which are water oak acorns. Water oak acorns kind of sound like what you're describing! Again, I could be very wrong!

[wild rice]

Deer30 thanks to you and the Dr. for the explanation of the old hemal node in the connective tissue trick. Sounds plausible and yes, the little buck was healthy and therefore consequently delicious.
Tree and Ga, I was raised in the forks of the Angelina-Neches River aka the deep East Texas area. Skinned many deer and wild hogs as a teen. They feed on abundant river bottom pin oak acorns, which are also called water oaks. In many country folks opinion, some of the best wild game are small pigs called choates, usually weighing 25-40lbs. These are any bbq mans dream pig. Sorry, but I love pin oak trees and it is easy to get off on a tangent.