Deer with a Facial Tumor

On June 3rd, 2023, I spotted a deer inside the woodshed, less than 40 feet from where I sat inside my camper, typing at my desk as I am WRITE now, lol. :wink:

At first I was tickled that such a wild animal chose such a close resting spot, not fearing little me, heehee. It was delightful to zoom in with the camera on my phone, taking a closer look. But then I started to notice that all was not well with the doe. She was panting, and constantly licking her lips and drooling like crazy. It looked like perhaps she couldn’t quite close her mouth. But the footage was dark, and on my tiny phone screen… I couldn’t really tell what was going on… Perhaps she ate something poisonous? Is she in labor? Dying?

It wasn’t until I zoomed in just right that I saw the huge black SPOT on the right side of her muzzle — about the size of the end of her snout…! What the…??!!

She stayed for close to an hour, then wandered off. My Mate and I did everything we could to NOT disturb her, let her REST as long as she would. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera running when she finally got up and stood in profile with the sun behind her — and I got a clear view of the HUGE bulbous TUMOR on her face! I thought she was a goner, but she came back later, wandering across the field by one of my tiny gardens. Unbelievably, I saw her again briefly the next day… and AGAIN, over 3 WEEKS later…!