Updated: Found a Carcass with a Decent Set

[jayhawk]

I was walking down a trail during 4th rifle and saw some buzzards freaking out, so I decided to check it out. They were flying in and a lone coyote pup (no adults) was trying to fight them off his kill, which I presumed to be a rabbit or something small. But when I walked over I found this buck.
I called CPW and asked if it was OK to take the head, and they gave me the go ahead, so here it is…

Couple questions:
1. Any idea what killed this deer? No grown coyotes around. No bullet holes. Doesn’t really look like CWD or lion kill
2. What do you think (just ballpark) he would score? 25” inches across at the widest point.

 

[justinspicher]

That is a nice find.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Roadkill maybe? They can make it a long way with a broken leg or other injuries from being hit. I'm going to guess 160's for a score. Cool buck, cool find! Thanks for sharing.

 

[nobody]

I was walking down a trail during 4th rifle and saw some buzzards freaking out, so I decided to check it out. They were flying in and a lone coyote pup (no adults) was trying to fight them off his kill, which I presumed to be a rabbit or something small. But when I walked over I found this buck.
I called CPW and asked if it was OK to take the head, and they gave me the go ahead, so here it is…

Couple questions:
1. Any idea what killed this deer? No grown coyotes around. No bullet holes. Doesn’t really look like CWD or lion kill
2. What do you think (just ballpark) he would score? 25” inches across at the widest point.

Nice buck. I'm sure he was a stanky bugger, but did you move his carcass around at all while getting the head off? My guess is someone made a bad shot on 3rd rifle and hit him in the guts or something and he took awhile to keel over, but unless you saw some kind of ballistic trauma there's no way to know for sure. Maybe he got hit basically right where he's been eaten away at and the reason you didn't see a bullet hole was because coyotes got at the wound and ate around it? Just spitballing here...

But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...

 

[Customweld]

Nice buck. I'm sure he was a stanky bugger, but did you move his carcass around at all while getting the head off? My guess is someone made a bad shot on 3rd rifle and hit him in the guts or something and he took awhile to keel over, but unless you saw some kind of ballistic trauma there's no way to know for sure. Maybe he got hit basically right where he's been eaten away at and the reason you didn't see a bullet hole was because coyotes got at the wound and ate around it? Just spitballing here...

But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...

That would most likely be the cause of his demise. Low, far back gut shot.

 

[Broomd]

Damn shame, happens more than we want to even imagine.

 

[Billy Goat]

I'm going with what was said earlier, the hole is actually the entrance wound, it has just been opened up by scavengers.


Gut shot, went .5-3 miles with hardly a blood trail. Unrecovered.


In my experience without a hole there already, scavengers will start at Anus. When there's a hole present, they will start there.

 

[jayhawk]

Some good points/suggestions made above.
He hadn’t been there long, as he didn’t smell too bad and he wasn’t there the day before when I walked by. I’ve seen it before, and it’s pretty normal for coyotes to start at the guts.
I actually left the area, called CPW, and went back 2 days later to retrieve the skull. It was the only thing left there when I returned. Figured a bear or lion drug the whole carcass off. No bones or anything at the site.

 

[bpurtz]

Looks like a BOAL - have you reached out to ODGL?

 

[Billy_Goat]

dang. thats a shame. nice buck and glad you were able to retain the head.

 

[S-3 ranch]

Lots of folk out hunting nowadays that think they are deadly shots @ long distance, and are risking poor probability shots,

 

[jedi]

my guess too is gut shot and lost. especially since you didnt see him there the day before. could be tiny hole up by his shoulder though. the deer i shot down there this year(stone dead in his tracks) didnt bleed for anything. took us awhile to find out where i had even hit him and even then, it was a pencil sized hole and only started leaking when we were moving him around for pictures. no exit wound on him

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Lots of folk out hunting nowadays that think they are deadly shots @ long distance, and are risking poor probability shots,

It is a pleasure to be in the presence of an omniscient WKR who knows what happened and by whom without being there.

 

[jayhawk]

Got the skull boiled and cleaned up. I’m still working on a good way to mount it, but I think it all turned out well.

 

[Tylsmith33]

I’d say right around 170 gross have you measured him yet?

 

[DeerCatcherUT/CO]

High 170s. Measure it. Nice buck for sure!

 

[jayhawk]

I grabbed a piece of live edge walnut from a local lumber yard and FINALLY made a mount for the dead head I found. I think it turned out ok

 

[mikeafeagin22]

I grabbed a piece of live edge walnut from a local lumber yard and FINALLY made a mount for the dead head I found. I think it turned out ok

Turned out better than ok! That looks great man

 

[mikeafeagin22]

That live edge is a nice touch

 

[MTN Humper]

That turned out real nice.