I shot a red stag at a hunting preserve. Double lung shot, dropped in his tracks, never moved except to roll his head. When we got to him, and were waiting for his final gasp, this happened: On his last inhalation the preorbital gland inflated out of the crease like a small balloon, approximately an inch in diameter and in a few seconds, it retracted. Of course, we did not get a photo. If they can do this at will, it should be easy to spread scent from the gland and might explain why stags and elks glands are always full of "crud". Has anybody else seen this? or know anything about it?
As an aside, the preserve owner says we are the ONLY taxidermists to ever take reference photos; so he was REALLY fascinated when we pulled out the alginate and plaster.
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The preorbital (lacrymal or "tear duct") area is connected through a series of skull fizzures and such actions take place during "excitement" (similar to the snood on a turkey or the "flowering of the rump hairs on whitetails. When you remove it, you'll find a "seam" along its underside that is connected to muscle structures around the eye orbit. The "spooge" you find inside the gland is a natural waxy substance created within the glands that is "fed" by the sweat and tear glands of the eyes as well as the vegetable matter it may encounter during sequences of marking their territory or in leaving their scents on communal marking posts visited by many deer. The substance looks like clay to a large degree and has an ammonia smell to it. The actions you describe are seldom seen in whitetails, but is commonly reported by African hunters on antelope species. I've seen it on elk as they expired when I got near. Leonard Lee RueIII talks about it briefly in his book "The Deer of North America".
as glen conley