I got a phone call to go get a deer from the woods and when I got there this is what I found. I feel sorry for the one who lost this giant. I am sure that I will be able to tell who did from self inflicted black eyes and broken nose! I have my eyes open!
WOW! That is a beautiful buck! Dawg, do you know it was shot? If so, can you tell if it was gun or bow? A buck like that might have died from a fight or old age, I would think also... Sal
Wow, sad way for a true giant to go out. I wish he could of been behind someone with a thread telling their story about him. Glad you found him though
I am guessing a slug but not possitive. He had a very small hole at the very bottom of his rib cage. He was so ate up by the yotes that I really could not tell you to be possitive though. This buck will be honored on my wall. A buddy and I will be skull mounting him for now but I even might cape him over time. I will be scoring him today so I will have a score on him later on. We will see what he scores but I am guessing around 160 or so. Anyone else want to take a stab at the score?
I really wish I could of shot him. He was only a mile from my stand. Where I found him is where my deer come from. I am in the travel route between that timber and another thick timber to the south of me. I am sure I have seen this deer before but in his younger years. I am going to go through my trail cam to see if I have any trail cam pics that show his rack similarities. That would be really cool if I do.
The score is in! I used the Pope & Young scoring system and I came up with 165 2/8 inches. He has a total of 175 3/8 inches with two non-typical points. He is actually a 12 pointer. What a deer! I can not wait to get his head boiled! I am ready to put him in my house where he will look really good on my wall. I will have to find a nice plaque to put him on that I can put a picture of the way he was found under him. Right Antler = 75 4/8 Left Antler = 78 1/8 Spread = 19 2/8 Right Non-T = 2 4/8 Total Inch = 175 3/8
Where he was found there are a bunch of hunters! I am sure that this guy was lost from a hunter. That is why I was saying that the hunter would have two black eyes and a broken nose. I would too from slamming my head in the truck for losing this deer.
If they cared that much they would have put more effort into finding him. Even a trophy hunter would search for him. That's a deer of a lifetime. I'm glad someone like you found him and will appreciate him. Whoever shot him doesn't deserve him. That deer deserves respect.
I'm trying to find somewhere in the original post where "someone shot it for no reason" and "someone shot it and didn't look for it." Glad you found it Steve!
I would of searched till I could not walk any more on that one. I agree fully on the search. He will be fully honored here at my home! I have not heard of anyone who has lost one yet but I am sure if someone has the story will get out here soon due to shed season getting closer. We will see! The only thing I know is that he was dead and I found him to be positive! He was to ate up to be positive on if he was shot. I did find a hole at the bottom of the rib cage but once again he was really ate up bad so I can not say for sure if that was a hole from a hunter. I dont know! That deer has been handled and being honored by myself like he is a king! My friends are also living it up so either way the big fella will get the respect that any monster deserves!
If it's in a area you hunt often and you don't see people walking around it than I doubt the original shooters put a effort into finding it. I may be bitter about this but I have a hard time giving people the benifit of the doubt when it comes to finding animals.
Jay it is wild that you say this because the other guy that hunts my property and I are on the outs right now due to a similar situation you are talking about. There was a doe that was shot in the spine on friday and I did not get back into my stand until Tuesday. When I stepped into the woods not even 5 feet here was a doe 4 yards in the edge of the woods that was a live and looked at me. I drew with my bow and she tried to stand up but could not. I then saw that she was paralized. I called the other guy and he said that his wife shot at a doe and missed. I told him that she did not miss she spine shot it and it was in the woods about 4 yards. My trail cam is set up right there too. I have pics of them walking by on edge of timber but nothing in the timber. So they walked 4 yards from her and did not even see her. So that effort was not there. I lost a lot of respect for the hunting ethics of him and his wife. It just upsets me that she laid there for 4 days still alive but paralized. I do know that things happen in hunting but give the animal your 110 % effort in tracking. The rest of the deer that passed in that 4 days was looking at her, some running away from her and one buck I have pics at three different locations looking towards same spot so with all that I know she was there since Friday. I took her life and she was all infected from the spine shot with puss running out of the wound. I did not take her home because of that. A few guys on this site can verify that I wanted to take her home because I blew up thier phones with texts and calls to find out if she would still be good or not.
Believe me, I doubt the tracking skills of 90% of hunters out there.....but I don't assume that every dead buck laying out there is from someone who didn't put in a full effort tracking. I'll pat myself on the back and say I'm a hell of a tracker.....but I'm not arrogant enough to think that I won't or have not found an animal that didn't later die. (Mine or others)
It is just part of hunting! That is like my shotgun buck this year. I skinned him and got my slug out of him and then another slug fell out. So I have two slugs out of one buck! They are a lot stronger that some people give them credit for!
