tonight after work i took my son deer hunting on 90 acres that i care take like always there is lot of tracks but no deer, anyway we walked out early and found a dog tuging on a dead deer in the creek on my side of the line, huge deer, wicked odd antlers,and very fat and heavy someone gun shot him,called the neibor to ask him if he had lost a big deer and he said no one is hunting his ground this season so bad news is deer was poached and not found or thought there shot was a miss anyway, the deer seemed somewhat fresh i could move the head and neck, body was in fair shape question is what are the stages of regamortise? deer seem to stiffen up pretty fast, guess this deer is maybe going past the point. im going back tomorrow and cut the antlers off and take some pics and ill post them, i was going to call the agent but dont think he would waste his time without any witness to the crime or vehicle info, it's a shame he is real special deer.
First, I would still call the warden. People don't understand they are more than wildlife enforcement. Getting to know then is one of the best things for you to do as an outdoorsman. Second, If it was a gut shot deer, it may have come from miles away. Tracked one over a mile and half this year. So might not have come from your neighbors. Third, I just heard a story of a guy shooting a monster in NE Ohio, tracking it forever then backing out. Went back the next morning to pick up the trail again and found the deer near someones treestand... it was skullcapped and left. That is a scumbag move. Fourth and finally about the rigormortis, it basically has 3 stages. Fresh kill=No rigor Couple hours after death= rigor sets in then after a couple more hours the carcass relaxes again. So its hard to tell whether or not its a fresh kill by the body being limp. You have a general idea of it being somewhat fresh if he HAD rigor. I will tell you this, if he was gutshot and still didn't stink.... it was pretty fresh. Bottom line is there is some guy out there who lost what you say is great deer. If it were me, I would try to find that guy.
Not telling anyone how to run their business and the laws may be different in your state, but in Texas it is against the law to remove the horns of a found deer unless you tag it. If you suspect poaching, call the Game Warden.
No judgement here one way or the other. Only answering your question. To me it sounds like the meat was still untainted. Stiffness, smell, and insects are all good indicators... you had none.
Agree with the earlier suggestion. If the deer was poached once, don't implicate yourself by cutting off the rack without consent of your game warden.
In IL you can get a "found deer tag" for free, like if you hit one w/ your car and want to keep it. Call the warden! He may even know who's deer it is!
here is some pics, has some wicked mass the bases are huge,nice deer it's a shame. the property next to me is 300 acres and the landowner assures me that no one was hunting the ground, borders the hyway on one side, funny thing is if i call the law about the atv's on my ground they wont come out because the atv's will be gone by the time the get here they tell me, also i hit a deer last year in my truck they took my info and told me to make sure it was off the road. anyway thanks for the info.
Just an FYI... in Missouri, when finding a deer in the manner you have, it is required to call an agent within 24hrs. It is then up to the agent to decide what happens to the deer. I hunt Missouri so I thought I'd share the info.
like i said i can get a agent or sheriff here to stop real crimes that happen on my ground and they are not going to come over and walk a mile to see a dead deer. i can see it now in my best jeff foxworty .... yep thats a dead deer! heres your sign.
so after the post i called my agent and told me he has sen enough dead deer but took the info, and is sending me a disposition letter for the horns. thanks to all that posted.
