Was working today while Tyler was running the area by the farm looking for sheds. I was hoping he would find sheds to a certain buck we called the Old 4x4. We had a lot of history with him over the last 3 years. We have his sheds from when he was 2.5, 3.5 and one side at 4.5. His bedding area was 100 yards from the shop I work in. We call it the Grove. It is 7-8 acres of a nasty little hell hole of busted down trees and heavy under brush that is almost impossible to get in without busting all the deer out. Alot of does bed in there. Ironically I did manage to sneak in there this fall and had him walk by at 20 yards. I passed on him hoping for better scoring buck and was really in there to shot a doe that afternoon. You know what they say about hind site... especially passing a 5.5 year old buck !!! He scored 138 5/8. Anyways... I look out the shop window about 4:30 and saw Tyler walking across the farm yard carrying some sheds and a nice skull. I had a bad feeling about the skull and headed out the door to meet him. Yep it was the Old 4x4. This was the last trail cam picture we got of him... in velvet... Big neck/rut... Gonna miss him but looking forward to seeing who is the next Ruler of the Grove. Tim
Nice buck, I wonder what happened to him. 5 1/2 isn't really old age. Wounded by a hunter, hit by a car, injured in a fight? What do you think?
Definitely a bummer to lose a buck like that. Your arrow would have likely been much more swift for him.
It sure Is neat Tim that your able to follow so many different bucks through out the years with finding their sheds, etc. I think that Is so cool, I envy you guys on that. Sorry to hear though on the old guy kicking the bucket. Winter kill or a victim of your gun season I'd bet.
I was thinking about this again later in the morning... even though you didn't get to kill him, I think it's very neat that you got to "collect" him. Knowing that you COULD have killed him.... it's almost as good as what transpires under "normal" hunting situations -- if that makes sense.
Not sure what happened to him. I seriously doubt he died from winterkill from conditions as he was in great shape going into winter. We haven't found a fawn yet that would have did from winterkill. Tyler said there wasn't much left... just his skull, hair, back bone and one leg where he found him. He found him a 1/2 mile from his bedding area. He did like corn !! LOL We would sprinkle a 1/2 coffee can every day while he was in velvet. The pictures of a lot of corn were at the end of rifle season when we were checking to see if he made though rifle season and then again through muzzle loading season. If I remember right there was only a day or two left of muzzle loading season when we got the last picture. We don't get too many muzzle loader hunters in this immediate area so we figured he was pretty safe. He could have been hit by a car, shot by a muzzle loader, poached or only God knows what. We probably will never know. We just enjoyed seeing him and hope to get a great history with the next buck that takes over his spot. Tim
Ya I know... I caught grief from Troy and the wife big time. It's not the first time nor will it probably be the last time. Tim
