Sunday morning while walking the piece of ground that I lost a buck on last fall, out of the corner of my eye around 80 yards away I saw what appeared to be a large mat of hair off in the distance. I stood there and looked at it for a moment then decided that I did not think it was because I couldn't see a carcass. I then started to walk away, after a few yards I decided that I better go look, you never know. Sure enough it was a mat of hair and a few yards away lay a carcass. Not just any carcass but that of the buck I lost last September. It was a tremendous feeling of bittersweetness (not sure if that is even a word), the feeling of regret of losing an animal and the satisfaction of closure from all the hours I have put in this winter looking for an animal that I did not know was alive or dead. Here is a link to the thread from last fall. http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?t=16120 I want to thank you guys for all of the support that you showed me last year, as losing an animal is rather rough to go through. Here he was as I found him.
Kudos on continuing to look for the buck, I know it's not a "good" feeling to find one like this, but at least it brings some closure for you. How far was he from the area you hit him? Were you in the right general area while looking during the recovery?
Sorry you didn't find him then but at least you did get closure. Congrats on the find, he looks like a great buck. Can you keep the dead head in Ohio?
Bittersweet for sure, but the sure thing is the closure helps. How far was he from where you guys were looking?? You guessed him at 138 in that thread...how close were you?
that'll still make a great european mount, and a story to boot. congrats on finding hime and putting it to rest.
Basically, we jumped him from his bed went a couple hundered yards and died. We knew the general area he went to and walked it and walked it. We were within 250 feet of him according to the tracks I recorded while tracking with My Tracks GPS. Yes. We were within 250 feet of him at one time. 136 and change.
Scott, I suspect he didn't die right when you shot him, I know that the carcasses around here don't last that long, one I found back during gun season was totally pieced out with bones scattered about when I came back by it a couple weeks ago, I suspect he survived you shooting him and died of something else altogether..... Just my thoughts, but I'd have expected him to be more decomposed and pulled apart in these parts....
I generally find 6-12 dead heads per year, I am confident in my assessment of the situation. He is totally decomposed except for a small amount of hide on his skull that was very tough, leather like.. His hind end as well as his other front leg was no where to be found and the other half of the one front leg was 15 yards away.
Scott - glad to hear you got some closure on this buck. I shot and lost a nice one a few years back and never found him that spring - no sheds, no trail cam pics, nothing. He just disappeared. As much as it sucks to know how close you were it's definitely better than not knowing.
Well if it had to be dead, I'm glad you found it! Mine could have easily went that way last season with no blood trail.
To add to this, the mat of hair was half in and half out of a small creek runoff. Where he died he was half in and half out of the small drainage creek. I believe that is why there is the leather like hyde on one half of the skull, half the head laid frozen in that water over the winter the other side of the head and rest of the body was picked clean.
guess i can say im glad you found him.... wish it were under better circumstances but i would love nothing more than to find a deer that i was looking for and i knew was hit bad. of course i would love for it to live. glad you got some closure.
I too am glad you found him Scott and not someone else. Closure is important. European mount possibly? Or are you in one of those states that doesn't allow you to pick up dead heads?
Congrats Scott. It's got to beat the alternative. I've lost two bucks, one I'm sure is dead. I'd have loved to find him for the closure. Congrats.
