What's wrong with this doe?

[Bubba Fett]

The last few weeks dad and I have been seeing a doe alone in one of the fields.  She is clumsy when she runs and is almost always alone. 

Finally got a trail camera picture of her today.  Camera faces the setting sun (poor placement, I need to move it) so I cropped out the terrible lens flare effect.  It looks like she has an injury on her head and her eyes are red and watery.

Should we give her a season to see if she recovers, or is she a risk to the other deer (and/or cows!?) on the property?  Should we look for her to get her out of there?  And if we do harvest her, is the meat safe? 

[Omega]

Might of been hit by a car, but I would cull her just in case.  As to the meat, you may be able to tell after you field dress her.  But if you don't want to take a chance, critters got to eat too.

[Wingshooter]

Look for a unicorn shed 

 

Maybe she was running too fast in the dark, got smacked by a car, or another animal hurt her. Looks like something external hurt her to me, but I could be wrong.

 

[dawgdoc]

I can't tell for sure, but my impression is that the red tissue is granulation tissue, which is what fills an open wound.  So I would assume it is a healing wound due to some type of trauma, but I don't actually know if deer typically get any type of infectious dermatological condition that causes ulceration.

[tech54K]

Poor dude!