Been following this 4.5 year old since he was 2.5. He was an ugly 5pt then but framed up into a 9pt at 3.5, and a 10pt at 4.5. A neighbor found his skeleton close to our fence line and 200yds off the gravel road. He had disappeared off cameras in late august.

Maybe an infection during the shedding process, maybe he got hit by a car, maybe coyotes just got him off guard. Either way, a tough deer to see as a deadhead. That part of the ranch needs some older age class bucks and he was usually daylight active and easy to find. Would have been fun to chase in another year or two.

sad

I think it happens more than we think. Life is very hard for these creatures of God.

We found one like that last year, we were going to give him one more year but he didn’t make it.

Found a dead deer a few weeks ago. Fresh dead, rigor hadn’t even set in yet.

No bullet wound, there was a wound near his hip.

Few hours later I had a real aggressive buck come into the feeder that had blood on one of his G-2’s

Pretty sure I know what happened..

We currently have one hanging around that is limping and looks like he has a soccer ball in his chest. I suppose some kind of tumor.

Nice buck, too bad.

Nice that you found the skull, at least.

Yeah, it's rough out there.

yes, they do and no, this deer was not shot.

Is that a piece of antler stuck in his left eye?

"Is that a piece of antler stuck in his left eye?" Nope, something pulled out by a buzzard.

Sad

Bummer on both deer.

Hudbone, how do you know that buck was not shot?

I have 3 does and 3 bucks with some of my Ibex in about a 20-acre trap here by the house. About a month ago I found one of the does dead. She was not shot. Not killed by coyotes. Just died. Not skinny or sickly. Just dead. Kind of like with people. It was her time to go.

This is why we try not to over harvest does. Sometimes I think we may have a few to many, but between my meat hunting neighbors and mother nature things get worked out.