Doe left overnight..total annihilation by coyotes...or was it hogs

I shot a doe Monday evening and was afraid I was a little too forward by the sound of the arrow hitting and the lack of penetration on my arrow.

I am always one to err on the side of caution when it comes to questionable hits, so I backed out and waited for morning seeing as though we were going to be in 30's all night.

I got back to POI about an hour after daylight and picked up a fairly good blood trail for about 100 yards and found what little was left of the doe.

I couldn't believe it. If someone reading this wants to call BS, I can't blaim them for it is hard for me to believe and I witnessed it first hand. My inititial reaction when I saw the carcass was this is no way my deer. Yet the blood trail clearly led to it and the eyes were still fresh.

The pic does no justice as I took it later and in a differnt spot.(I didn't have a camera with me but picked the carcass up to take the jaw bone out for our Depredation program)

But I am telling you, in about 12 hours time, they (either coyotes or hogs) devoured every piece of flesh and organs this animal had to offer. The pic makes the deer look small but it was an average size doe for us which I am guessing would have grossed weighed around 130#.

While I didn't notice any sign around the carcass, the fact that it was not strung around and was picked so clean, makes me think hogs.

Anybody else have one demolished this bad this quickly?

 

I believe you whole heartily Jack. There's no question that coyotes could do that but I never heard of hogs doing it. Of course I believe they would but there are none in here thus, never hearing of it.

I've written, in my HNI recovery thread that if coyotes area concern, or hogs for that matter that one could sit on the trail and listen, they will give the where abouts of a downed animal. Sometimes it makes for a long night but it is also worth it. I've done it and the yotes led us to our quarry.

 

That's amazing. Whatever did it, certainly didn't waste any time!

 

My dad shot this little bucky in 07 late in the afternoon. Came back at first light the following morning to find this. When he walked up on the carcass 4-5 yotes took off running. So yes, I believe your story!

 

I hate them buggers.

 

Chupacabra!

 

That actually happens alot around here JF.

Yotes get on them quick.

I hate those things.

 

Certainly believable. A friend of mine shot a deer earlier this season and had to wait 'til the next morning. Found it late morning and between fox and vultures there was nothing to salvage.

 

something is sleeping with a full stomach.

 

[hijack]
i gotta admit, a small part of me doesn't feel ~terribly~ bad if the deer isn't recovered cuz not an ounce of it will go to waste feeding the animals... in all likelihood, we 'waste' more of the deer recovering it than what is wasted by the animals... sometimes I think a lot of people believe a 'lost' deer just sits in a pile and rots for months... not really the case...

[/hijack]

*dons flame retardant clothing

 

wow.....i have seen them "nibbled" on....but never stripped clean!!! That is amazing!

 

Not surprised in the least of that. Had a neighbors cow at my place in WV get out and turned up the next day on my property looking the exact same way.

 

There is likely a bit of truth there but you can process your own deer and I take all of the parts that we or the dogs don't eat, and the dogs don't really mind what parts they get :D, and put them about 75 yards out back in the "bone pile". When the fox and other critters get done with it, nothing but a few bones left.

 

The wolves up here don't even leave bones :D

 

i was up in UP a few weeks ago and the local were tellin me that deer up there and in the far north woods of WI are being devastated by the growing wolf population...

 

Yotes for sure, hogs wouldn't leave a trace. I had feral hogs swipe a desert muley I shot Jan 3rd this year. There wasn't hide nor hair left.-just up rooted ground, pig tracks, and pig poop. I was hunting in the southeast corner of New Mexico (sort of near you).

 

I bet it was this; http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?t=8996

 

Nature lets nothing go to waste. If another animal doesn't get to it, and a deer does just rot in place, it only goes back into the acorns that feed the herd next year.

(cue Elton John)

It's the circle of life

 

That's unbelievable, and scary actually. Might make me think twice about leaving a buck overnight, especially here.

 

My best friend shot a doe a couple years ago and called me right after. I was getting off the highway on the way to the hunting club. I got there, met up with him and we went to get his deer. He double lunged her and heard her go down. We smelled the deer before we got on it and actually heard the yotes take off. There was 1 backstrap and 1 front shoulder left. They had actually eaten all the meat around his arrow that was haging out of her. From his phone call to the time we got on her was no more than 45 minutes to and hour. Needless to say, S Alabama has a very bad yote population...only thing good about em is getting to shoot the heck out of them.