Looks like my target buck showed back up

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Apr 13, 2019
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Went and pulled some cameras that have been out all winter, looks like my target buck showed back up....
So many questions, lol
 

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OP
S
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I've been trying to figure out how to tell the story, I chased that buck most of last season and came extremely close to killing him (its painful). Didn't get it done but he was alive through the end of the season and I lost track of him. I assumed he moved off and was wintering somewhere else and was hoping to see him show up again this summer. Due to a ton of snow I hadn't been in to recover a bunch of cameras I had in there, most cellular that the batteries had died on. We went in there about a week ago and pulled cameras, I had one that wasn't cellular and was operable to the day I picked it up, it took 2000 pictures. 2 weeks before I picked it up it took a string of pictures of 2 people and a dog walking out with that deadhead, its pretty much definitely him, and I'm assuming he must of died shortly after I lost track of him in December. Thats the 2000' view. I was so sure he made it through the season I spent a bunch of time this winter running cameras trying to figure out where he was wintering (he had a distinct double throat patch) . Its all public land and I'm not butt hurt those guys found him, but it garners so many questions and I haven't been able to track down who found him. I doubt people really care about the nuances on how you didn't get your buck, but this one taught me a alot and will be as memorable as if I'd gotten him.PICT0770 (2).JPG
 

Rich M

WKR
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Thats a great photo of him running.

Tough to know what happened. Did someone wound him, hit by car dogs, coyotes, just plain age and bad teeth?
 
OP
S
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We found evidence of 3 winter kills without even looking and wolf sign was everywhere. The blood was still wet and we must of only found it a few hours after it happened on the one. That picture of the pile of hair was 20 yards from my stand in a spot I’ve seen bucks feed and bed, For a little while we thought that might of been him but we found the carcass about 90 yards away and it was a younger buck that had dropped his antlers. When the snow finally drops I’ll be in there seeing if I can find anything else to piece things together a little more
 

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Lil-Rokslider
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Looks like some preditor hunting is in order, sorry about the buck. I would rather see another hunter harvest him, there is a reason settlers eliminated wolves, stinks that some states think reintroduction is a good idea.
 
OP
S
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Wow tough deal. Wolves ? what state?
MN. Really hard to know, there was a pack of 7 running the area pretty hard. Somebody could of clipped him at the end of our muzzle loader season.
The silver lining is at least I won’t be waiting around for him to show up again.
 

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Lil-Rokslider
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MN. Really hard to know, there was a pack of 7 running the area pretty hard. Somebody could of clipped him at the end of our muzzle loader season.
The silver lining is at least I won’t be waiting around for him to show up again.
That is true, last season I was hunting a nice 10pt., hadn't seen him for few days on cam. a neighbor that leases his farm told me that they got a nice 10pt , glad he told me our farms border each other and ghost are really hard to hunt, lol.
 
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