I've been lucky enough to find some nice skulls and a truckload of shed antlers during my years of managing
some large ranches. Anyone else ever found a big ol good un that died of old age?

Found a couple after someone said they missed, never found a deer that died of old age.

I have found 1000's of sheds and several skulls off of bucks over the last 30 yrs now. Found a few locked and dead sets also. Found this one down a ranch in South Texas this past month. Tank level had dropped a bunch and it showed up. This buck was in the upper 190's.


Found these a few years ago now. Both bucks had disappeared 5 yrs before and thought they may have been poached but then I found them. Both had broken points but one would have scored in the 190 range and the other in the low 200's before they broke up.


Found these 2 locked up and fresh dead(less than 5 days) the first week of March one year. Late rutting with doe fawns coming into heat got them I guess.

Here is a 5 to 6 yr collection of rut and post rut mortalities along with some that died of hoof rot off a ranch I managed. One or two of these could have died of old age.

I have found lots of skull caps with nub left from coyotes and other varmints chewing them down to nothing...a few had enough top teeth left to see their age and they were old but could not say they died of old age, post rut mortality or just predators go them.

Impressive collection

The 10 point was a buck I shot in the shoulder with my bow in 2015 and never recovered. I found the skull in 2017 in an area of the lease my brother had moved into. Had he not gotten that spot I would have never recovered them.