I wasn't sure where to put this so I'll just put it here for now and the mods can move it to an appropriate location.

Can anyone ID this bone, I think it might be a deer shin bone but I'm not sure. I found it on my property and it's in really good condition except for a crack on the back side, no other bones were found in the area. I didn't have a ruler handy so I used a legal sized envelope for size comparison.

Painthorse, That's a deer leg bone. I'm seen a lot of them and believe that's what I'm looking at. I'm not surprised you didn't find other bones in the area--most hunters cut off the legs and throw them in the woods for the "varmints" to gnaw on.

Thanks Raider! I kind of thought that's what it was, just wasn't sure. This area is loaded with coyotes so it was probably just carried here. No gnaw marks though.

I agree. It sure looks like a deer leg bone. It seems to be about the right size and lenght. The lower joint looks like what I have seen many times.

I just thought about something. As most hunters know..you seldom find antlers of deer laying around. I have found a few in the woods that have been half eaten by squirrels or rats, mice, whatever. The old question about finding bones of a Bigfoot laying around could also be explaned by this to some point. Small animals will eat the bones and antlers of deer and other animals. This along with falling leaves, rain, snow and all other natural brake down of the bones could be the reason bones of alot of animals just vanish. All the material is just recycled by nature.

Mike (watch1)

I just thought about something. As most hunters know..you seldom find antlers of deer laying around. I have found a few in the woods that have been half eaten by squirrels or rats, mice, whatever. The old question about finding bones of a Bigfoot laying around could also be explaned by this to some point. Small animals will eat the bones and antlers of deer and other animals. This along with falling leaves, rain, snow and all other natural brake down of the bones could be the reason bones of alot of animals just vanish. All the material is just recycled by nature.

Mike (watch1)
[/quote]

True Mike.
That's one of the reasons I was surprised to find this bone in such good condition, it's soo perfect except for that one crack it almost looks fake.

Hey Painthorse! I help our local coroner identify bones that are found in the county, so I maintain a nice library on animal (faunal) and human remains. That is a deer bone...the ends being very distinctive. It’s probably not very old or it wouldn’t look so perfect. Another month or so, someone would have made a meal out of it!

HM, helping out the coroner sounds interesting, great opportunity to learn how to distinguish animal vs human skeletal remains. I've been using my (now that I know definately what it is) deer bone as a paper weight on my desk, my son keeps telling me I'm a sicko, LMAO!!!
:laugh:

Great .......... its settled now.

Yea,deer bone.Not much meat on this particular part of the leg.Such a variety of animals feed off of the white tailed deer,whether it is a fresh kill or scavenged carcass.Unless you actually see it in a mouth or beak it is hard to tell what or who delivered it to your property.for example ;a large red coyote crossed in front of me while in my truck one day deep in the flint river corridor and as it left the dirt road it dropped a fawn deer leg from its jaws.Your biggest consumers of horns and bones in my opinion are rodents.