I saw this when I went to get him and initially thought that perhaps he had gotten these from fighting. I didn't look at them much because it was getting dark and I needed to get him gutted, back to camp and then to the processors. But when I look at this pic of him right before I shot him I notice that the spots on his back line up like he perhaps was shot in the back. I initially rejected this because I figured a shot that close to his spine would have paralyzed him and thereby killing him but the more I look at it I think he might have been shot and survived. What to you all think?

Can't really glean a lot of info from that picture.

Probably been scratching his back with his tines

Nice deer

I think it's from traveling under fences.

Could have ducked an arrow and not have been quick enough? An arrow would not have clipped the spine and a clean pass through could heal nicely. Deer can be pretty resilant.

That's what I was thinking. Fence, his tines, other buck, tree limb. Pretty doubtful that was a shot, just looking at the pics.

This is one of his other pics, guys.

ducking barbed wire would be my first thought

Whoever skins the deer will know for certain. Looks like an arrow wound if it has a matching wound on the other side.
That would be an easy wound to heal if it's an arrow. An inch or so lower he would have been dropped in his tracks.

my vote is from fighting another buck or perhaps a fence

how old was the buck based on jawbone....4.5?

***I assume the time was never set on the camera...Jan 17 2015 at 1:24am

nah a shot would have left a gouge scar and broken the back most likely

fence/scratching would looks like

Fight or fence, not a bullet or arrow

Nice buck

Yup,
I see that all of the time. I watched a doe swat another doe once and hair went flying. It was like she was hit with a flying razor, it left a similar mark. I have seen bucks after fighting their way through the rut with marks like that all over them. Or maybe they are just really good at dodging bullets.