The detail on the head and antlers carries the shot. Although I too am always tempted to capture the entire animal, here further cropping would emphasize such things as the snow on its nose.

I agree that there is a lot going on here. I kept coming back to my first reaction, which was visceral. It made my back hurt to look at it. This made it most effective.

My favorite part of this photo is the blur of people passing in the background. If anything, I would have liked the picture cropped to emphasize this more.

The contrast in the textures between the barn and the clouds is remarkable.

The black and white really worked for me. It really makes the lettering on the bags pop.