Was cleaning a deer we shot this weekend muzzleloading. At first we thought it was a large doe, but we realized it was a buck t

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Was cleaning a deer we shot this weekend muzzleloading. At first we thought it was a large doe, but we realized it was a buck that had already shed its antlers, which was my first thought that something may be wrong. The back right leg wasn't as developed as the left back leg, and the hip joint appeared to stick out. The rest of the deer seemed normal. Once we began cleaning the deer, we found no other old wounds from hunting. The hip bone that was sticking out did look a little malformed and there was some additional gristle around the joint. What really bothers me is we noticed a brownish looking substance on some of the film on the outside of the muscle, as well as around some of the fat tissue. The meat smelled okay. Has anyone seen this before?

[Sarge01]

Usually if I find a part of a deer that doesn't look right to me I discard that particular piece. In your case I probably wouldn't use that ham.

[bigblackdawgz]

Sounds serious. I wouldn't touch any of it with a 10-foot pole. Instead, I would have contacted The Department of Fish and Wildlife. Cancers can cause all of what you have described. Usually, bacterial infections automatically follow, and they can be quite dangerous.