Yeah the article I posted:
Blood analysis is the golden standard in the field of forensic toxicology. However, when extended decomposition of the remains has occurred, alternati…
www.sciencedirect.com
indicated that toxicology is
possible with skeletal remains, but it's not necessarily easy and it's dependent on numerous circumstantial factors, including the substance in question. To be clear, the study used marrow, which is rich in blood, to conduct the tests. While remains were reportedly scattered, which might indicate scavenging animals, the study states that "Bone marrow has the benefit that it is well protected from any contamination as long as the bone is intact. This makes it very suitable in case of extreme decomposition." It appears the drugs they had the most success with were things like methadone and oral antidepressants/antipsychotics that people take repeatedly, as opposed to recently introduced drugs, like, for example, alcohol or the substances in large animal tranquilizers.
However! They tested for 415 compounds! This is an article abstract that does not list all of them. Earlier today, I researched the most common tranquilizers used in dart guns to immobilize large animals. On a veterinary site, I found common compounds for deer:
Paralytic Drugs or neuromuscular blocking (NMB) drugs were some of the first drugs used for the chemical immobilization of wildlife. Despite their long history of use, NMB drugs are generally inferior to modern drugs and drug formulations. Two major deficiencies as regards NMB drugs exist: 1) NMB drugs have a very low safety margin; dosage errors of only 10% can result in either no effect (underdosing) or death by asphyxia (overdosing). 2) NMB drugs are virtually devoid of central nervous system effects because of their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier.2
Tranquilizers/Sedatives are primarily used in wildlife immobilization as adjuncts to primary anesthetics (e.g., ketamine) to hasten and smooth induction and recovery and to reduce the amount of the primary agent required to achieve immobilization. The α-adrenergic tranquilizers (e.g., xylazine, medetomidine) are potent sedatives and can be completely antagonized. These are often combined with ketamine, Telazol, or carfentanil. As single agents, they are capable of heavily sedating animals to the point of relatively safe handling. However, animals sedated with these tranquilizers generally can be aroused with stimulation and are capable of response or attack.2
Dissociative Anesthetics are characterized by producing a cataleptic state. Ketamine is probably one of the most widely used drugs of this type for wildlife immobilization because of its efficacy and safety. When used singly, ketamine can cause rough inductions and recoveries, and convulsions are not uncommon.2 Due to this aspect, they are usually administered concurrently with tranquilizers or sedatives.
Opioid Anesthetics have been used for animal immobilization since the middle of the last century and are among the most potent drugs available for this purpose. A major advantage of opioids is the availability of specific antagonists. The potency of opioids is both an advantage and disadvantage. An advantage is that the reduced volume of drug required for immobilization makes these the only class of drugs capable of remote immobilization of large animals. A disadvantage is that they are potentially toxic to humans. Death is almost always due to respiratory failure. Opioid immobilizing agents should never be used by clinicians working alone or without having an antagonist immediately on hand.
Nondomestic ruminants such as deer can be encountered in the wild, on exotic animal or cervid ranches on breeding farms, and in zoos or petting farms. In order to handle or treat species of deer, most require manual restraint using a hydraulic squeeze or drop floor chute or immobilization. The...
nexgenvetrx.com
In order to be more sure, what I'd like to do is find the full article on the forensic toxicology study in my university's library, identify all 415 compounds they studied, and figure out if any match or have significant similarities to the common dart-administered veterinary tranqs. And they see if they were able to identify them in marrow from remains with extreme decomp.
It's not a sure shot by any means, but I think there's reason for hope.