Deer Organ Identification

What is the organ that is roughly the size and shape of the liver but has a softer texture than the liver?

one of the stomachs?

I should have taken a picture! I had to take a neck shot on this one so no organs were damaged -- which is rare for me since I believe in the lung shot. I was thinking maybe pancreas or spleen. I thought all the stomachs were "together" in some sense. I did see something about the size of a walnut which I believe was the gall bladder. First time I noticed that one. But usually, I'm gutting in the freezing cold and just want to get done. This morning, in the Hill Country it was in the 60s, so I took my time.

Above or below the diaphragm?

Wouldn't be pancreas. The spleen can enlarge and get really big, so that's a possibility. Was the organ dark in color, similar to the liver?

It seems to me it was about even with the liver. I've noticed this organ before and thought "Wow the liver is huge!". It was only today that I noticed the difference in *texture* between it and the liver. Liver=hard, this organ = spongy.

I'm betting spleen. Now, the liver is lobular, and some lobes can look more detached than other lobes. But all the lobes are joined as one at the base, and they're all the same color and texture.

Gotta be spleen. Or maybe a tumor????

Not a tumor, unless several deer I've killed have tumors!

Yeah. I should have read the post more carefully.

Sounds more like the pancreas. The pancreas is larger than the spleen and located below the liver behind the stomach. The spleen is smaller and located beside the liver.

It still would be smaller than the liver. The only organ similar in size to the liver in the abdominal cavity would be the stomach.

Its the spleen

The spleen in a human is only about 3-5 inches long. Maybe deer have abnormally large spleens I've never really noticed.

Well im going to guess it was the caecum. Its soft but "squishy" as well. Located fairly close to the liver and about the same size. Just my guess.

I do not think it would have been one of the chambers of the stomach though.

Take a look at this and see if its one of these...
http://wmrcp.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-killed-this-white-tailed-deer-part_10.html

If you're sure it's not part of the liver itself it's probably the Pancreas.

Okay, I got a little buck this morning and took some photos which I will try to get posted on Monday, when I'm home -- but I did get another look.

There is something large, almost the size of the liver, two lobed, spongy, compared to the liver, and lighter colored. There is also a smaller organ that I had to cut loose from either the stomach wall, or the intestinal wall. It is about 5" across, and the depth dimension is only maybe 3/4" max., tapering to a thin edge, it's roughly circular. It is about the same color and consistency as the larger organ -- both much spongier than the firm liver.

Tentatively, I'm going to say the larger of these two is the pancreas and the smaller one the spleen. Does that sound about right?

I think he is talking about the thoracic diaphragm. It separates the heart, lungs, from the intestines.

These are definitely organs, not the diaphragm.

Okay, I found a photo of what I thought was the spleen identified as the spleen. Here you can see how it is attached to something (seventh photo down):

http://www.skinnymoose.com/outdoorsmorgasbord/2008/07/25/deer-collection-experience/

But that article is wrong about the texture. The liver is *hard*, the spleen is much spongier.

Okay, here are photos:

Liver and kidneys:



Liver:






Spleen?







Pancreas?

Those last pictures look like lungs to me. The pancreas is highly associated with the small intestine, specifically the duodenum. You most likely won't even notice it as you gut the deer unless you specifically look for it.

I'm thinking I need to cut a deer apart and take some pictures. Some guys at the lease had no idea what I was talking about when I said something about rumen last weekend.

Does sort of look like lungs, but I blew them apart with a perfect behind-the-shoulder shot. The deer I shot on Thursday had intact lungs and they were smaller than this and pink colored. But maybe you are right.

I could be wrong, its hard to tell exactly from those pictures. Did the organ in the last photos come from the abdomen or thorax?

I believe the abdomen, but couldn't swear to it.

Very well. I'll try to photograph the next necropsy I do on a sheep, goat, or deer. Those 3 anatomies are very similar

just wondering here. . . . .
what is the ultimate purpose
of these queries?
are you wanting to eat one particular
organ, or make something . . . .?

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

Just scientific curiosity. I like to know what all the organs are.