Zombie Bambi: part 2 of 2

[wraithfodder]

 Please note disclaimers in part 1. Not for small children or sensitive eyes.

Dawn of the Deer, or My Own Private Body Farm…

 

Part 2

 

DAY 6 - Sunday, March 16, 2008

 

7:30 a.m.  Body slightly rearranged, and something has gnawed all the flesh and hair off the lower leg, and gnawed a bit on the hoof, exposing the reddish interior.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-16-08.jpg

Skull

 

DAY 7 - Monday, March 17, 2008

 

7:30 a.m.  Looks about the same, but something futzed about with the clump of fur/skin.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-17-08.jpg

View as seen through ribs.

 

DAY 8 - Tuesday, March 18, 2008

 

7:30 a.m.  No real change from previous evening.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-19-08.jpg

Reminds me of remains of some prehistoric reptile/fish…

 

6:00 p.m.  The two legs in ‘grave’ were disturbed, and obviously moved around. The dirt around the area seemed to have been dug or kicked up. The mound of hair was disturbed and I’m pretty sure the ears are gone.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-2108.jpg

A shot at night. CSI deer crime ;)

 

DAY 9 - Wednesday, March 19, 2008

 

2:00 a.m. or so.  A deer showed up in the back yard and made some distressed noises.

 

7:30 a.m.  The perverse ‘mink stole’ flesh/fur has vanished from the front yard. I check the back and find a bunch of hair scattered in the same area where I’d found a leg. I’m guessing that the hair/flesh remains were de-furred there and the flesh eaten. The legs in the ‘grave’ are gone, as are the ears from the hair pile. I took a look around but can’t find them

 

DAY 10 - Thursday, March 20, 2008

 

It’s been raining on and off the last day, so now the remains of flesh on the deer are turning ucky and gray.

 

DAY 11 - Friday, March 21, 2008

 

Hmm, nothing has changed. Maybe it’s time to bury it.

 

DAY 12 – Saturday, March 22, 2008

 

7:30 a.m.  Or not. Something flipped Bambi over on the other side. I’ve decided to let nature take its course and the bones can stay until we have to mow the lawn.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-22-08.jpg

 

DAY 15 - Tuesday, March 25, 2008

 

6:00 p.m.  Skull and spine remain basically the same. As I took close-up photos, I detected a whiff of purification w hen I was just inches away. Temps were in the 40s today.

 

And the missing legs, I discovered, did quite a walkabout - to the far backyard, which is overgrown woodsy/vine area, which the deer love to traipse through. Both legs are in the same condition for the most part – from knee down is untouched but the hip joint has been gnawed off. Both were dragged far from the ‘grave’ in the back. I’d just decided to wander the back and never would have found them otherwise.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-24-08.jpg

A piece of fur/flesh found in a tree branch over 50 yards away…

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-24-08a.jpg

Nighttime shot of skeleton.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-25-08.jpg

Close-up of lower jaw and skull

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-25-08a.jpg

Hoof from one leg

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-25-08b.jpg

Second leg chewn down to bone.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/03-27-08.jpg

Nighttime shot.

 

DAY 19 - Saturday, March 29, 2008

 

For the past few days, Bambi has remained static, with no visible signs of change. However, today (or rather, last night) Bambi moved 10 feet back toward the initial attack scene, and was totally flipped, head to toe, and on the other side. She’s bleaching out now from the sun, and there’s really nothing edible left, so I’m assuming some critter came by looking and turned her over trying find something. The stench of purification is a little stronger, probably due to warmer temps and well, nobody has cracked open the skull and there are no bugs around to dine on the brain.

 

So, the bones will stay until a) it remains static for one entire week, or b) the grass starts to grow and we have to move it…

 

Day 20 – Sun, Mar 30 – had been moved about 7 feet back, flipped over on side; ground gouged where it once lay. Otherwise, nothing appears missing.

 

Day 22 – Tue, Apr 1 – It got warm enough to see bugs! Bugs, like midges, crawling and flitting around the bones.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/04-01-08.jpg

 

Day 23 – Wed, Apr 2 – Got cold. No bugs today. Darn.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/04-02-08.jpg

View through the ribs. Remaining skin(?) connective tissue now browning out.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/04-02-08a.jpg

Underside of top of skull.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/04-07-08.jpg

Bottom of hoof.

 

Day 30 – Wed, Apr 9 – Found the 4^th leg in the back. Sorta misplaced amongst all the leaves and branches. A severed deer leg looks just like a dead tree branch. The flesh has been gnawed down practically to the hoof.

 

Day 31 – Thur, Apr 10 – Warmer, so black beetles with orange on the sides of their heads were crawling over the bones.

 

Day 35 – Apr 14 – Turned over bones, which are still pretty stiff but light. A dollop of something that looked like gray gravy leaked out of the skull, which was now swarming with those black beetles with little half-orange heads. I guess the brains liquefied. Eeeuuuuu.

 

Day, er, oh, 61! - Sat, May 10 - It’s been rainy, in the 60s and such with the occasional day in the 70s. Just hours shy of two months since Bambi got nailed by the coyotes, and the grass is growing. Too much. So, must mow the lawn and Bambi must move on to new quarters.  The last time I picked up Bambi, she was pretty light and still in one piece. Today, the skull pulled off the grown, and the jaw fell off, and tons of little black beetles just dropped out of the skull like black rain. Same thing happened when I picked up the spine/rib cage, which is still in one piece and one incredibly strong ligament keeps the remaining leg bone attached. And it stinks. Yup, despite being virtually just bone remaining, some remaining, well, whatever, in the brain, on the spine, stinks.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/05-10-08.jpg

Grass is growing!

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/05-10-08a.jpg

Legs together.

 

I also found the legs still in the same place behind the old garden, barely touched. They too are wafting that dead deer stench. The grass and plants were growing around them, but, did see some beetle activity.

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/05-10-08b.jpg

Skeleton in growing grass

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/05-10-08c.jpg

Bugs on ground; fell out of skull.

 

So today, I picked up all the pieces and moved them atop a log pile. When I picked up the skull, liquid and bugs poured out as apparently it filled up during the rains. Eeeuuu…

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/wraithfodder/Zombie%20Bambi/05-10-98-the_end.jpg

Final resting place.

 

Hopefully, now Zombie Bambi can desiccate in peace. The end.

 

Disclaimer: Of course, this isn’t something you should try at home. It hadn’t been intentional, but with various more urgent matters to attend to, we just let nature take its course.

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Turkey vultures:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Turkey_Vulture_dtl.html

 

Whitetail deer age:

http://www.whitetails.com/deer_info/age_determination.cfm

And that's it!

Comments

[libra-traveller.livejournal.com]

Though I was absolutely fascinated when you described this in words back in March, you'll forgive me if I decline to look at the photographic proof. At least not before I go to bed. Possibly tomorrow my curiousity will overwhelm me and that night I will have nightmares. But it's nice that you like to share.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

;) Yeah, figured leave the vivid photography under links just in case somebody is eating breakfast or whatever. Thing is, I'm so used to roadkill - some of it pretty messy - and I've watched too much CSI, that it's sorta, well, fascinating.

[pisces227.livejournal.com]

Poor Bambi. Nothing like living in Animal Kingdom. I didn't have the stomach to look at many pics but thanks for your story. It's interesting and sad.

[abracah.livejournal.com]

That was amazing. I don't know that I could have documented nature in that way, but wow. It is just amazing how it cleans up after itself. I think when you first started talking about this I pictured a deer the size of the deer that live around here. They get big! I had one staring at me from the side of the road the other night. Luckily she was smart enough to run into the cornfield, not at my headlights.

Brave you for cleaning it up too!

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was fascinating, thanks for sharing! I think it's just amazing how little time it actually took to get the deer to point where it was mostly just bone. Also, I loved that photo of the grass and flowers growing around the bones. Something very beautiful and creepy about it.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Well, I did wear glove when picking up the bones. The deer here about about 80-100 pounds I think. Hopefully this won't happen in the yard again!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought that picture was sorta bizzarre but neat. And I too was very surprised how quickly the carcass was down to bones, although puzzled that the eyes remained for a couple days. Usually they're the first things to go on roadkill but then I guess the buzzards were all busy crusing the local roads for squirrels and whatnot.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I looked at all the pictures. It was a teensy bit icky but I watched my Uncle skin rabbits when I was little. He didn't like that because little girls weren't supposed to be ghoulish :D

[negolith2.livejournal.com]

That was cool to see how quickly Bambi broke down. And having taken a pathology class right before lunch in college, the pics didn't bother me in the slightest. :)

I remember one summer when I was in high school our family went fishing one Saturday at Kipp Lake, and there, not even thirty feet from our favorite spot, was a dead cow. She had blown from the heat probably a day before, but since it was such a good fishing spot my dad and brother refused to move upwind. Men. I can still see my brother gagging as he was casting....

[reiko-afterglow.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was interesting. Not sure if you were intending this, or it's just me being the morbid photographer I am, but some of the pictures were particulary artistic.

What did your neighbours think of your little, erm, escapade with the zombie deer?

[vspun.livejournal.com]

Actually loved some of the photos for their artistic look. Being a hiker, camper and wife of a hunter, I had no problem looking at the photos. I've seen remains out in the wild and the bones can take years to degrade.

I love how nature takes care of things, birth, life, death, food, clean-up. It is an amazing process when left on it's own.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Wow, I hope whatever fish they caught was worth the stench! Haven't seen a cow 'blow' before, but saw a deer very ripe for it. Luckily, the state came by and picked it up before it splattered the highway...

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I sorta tried for an artistic look, especially with the inside ribcage. With the sun coming through, I couldn't NOT take the photo ;) Neighbors were unaware of what was going on as trees and growth obscured it. It was also cold so there was no stench. If it had been summer, well, we would have had to bury it or something.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Yup, and while we have lots of roadkill (Squirrels being #1) they're gone in a flash as vultures and crows and whatnot (even hawks and eagles) are looking for an easy meal.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Probably no ickier than an episode of CSI ;)

[negolith2.livejournal.com]

Ya know, I honestly don't remember if they caught anything that day, besides a green tan.

A few years back we were helping a friend move back from Yakima, and we were coming across the desert there by Ritzville, 120 degrees, and I see a very bloated deer on the side of the road, legs sticking straight up in the air.

This really evil part of me wanted to hide in the sage brush about a 100 feet upwind with a pellet gun and wait for a convertible to drive by....

I've noticed as I've gotten older, that evil part of me speaks up a lot more than it used to.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

You know, now if you had the time and equipment, you could set up a video camera and let it run. Somehow, I figure someone must have done it; after all, one guy tossed a steak on his lawn and videotaped it getting all scuzzy...

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Great, CSI: Wildlife

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

Holy Moly - they really stripped it fast!!

Kinda gory and yet at the same time, so fascinating!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I dare say not much goes to waste in the animal kingdom!

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

okay... I get the 1/2 of rabbits (mice, lizards, birds, bats) the cats leave on the porch and I gotta step over.. but this.. ugh, you have me beat there.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Hopefully this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime things as I don't want to deal with another dead deer in the yard.