Yesterday was the end of 6-day firearms season. I was hunting my archery stand till 11am, no deer. This morning I needed to move the stand a few yards. So I figured I would go up and take care of it before football. As I walked up to my stand I found this, not 20 yards from my stand:







If you look close at his right base he has a little sticker growing. It made me sick. Had I hunted this stand in the afternoon he might have come up to me to die. I could have finished him with an arrow. Instead I hunted a different stand. And he became coyote food.

I hunted a deer this season that looked just like him......good you found him though.

A mature buck.

Was he wounded by a firearms hunter perhaps?

Less than 24 hours if it was cool i think I owuld add him to my freezer!

What a sad waste.

The rut stress kills alot of them, especially if the area is doe deprived and they have to fight alot and travel alot with very little eating along the way.

He was definitely there less than 24 hours.  But he was missing his back half, critters got to him last night.  There was not wounds in his chest cavity, but gut area eaten out.  So I can not say for sure what caused his death.

He could have also caught an arrow in the gut before the gun portion ever started?
But, it does appear that it could have been a bad shot with a gun? Couldn't really say without seeing the actual wound if there was one?
Pearl Drums made a good point, some of them die from stress or fighting.....the rigors of the rut.

I'm sure you saved the rack....didn't you?
I would have, no sense letting that go to waste too.

What a waste is right r u going to take the head or anything

What a shame.    :(    He would've made a unique trophy.

hate to see a animal in that shape!

Reckon he got tired of waiting on you.

what a waste of good meat

that sucks , but id be goin after the sinew , some bone , and some antler.


even thought about using teeth for rabbit blunts...theres a half a deer up where i fish , that is now probably covered by a foot of water , but it was pretty rotted.


-hov

It's unfortunate that this buck didn't fall to your arrow.  However, if it was a natural death (e.g. stress from the rut) it's not a waste of meat. Other critters are eating it and nothing was wasted.  That's natures way.  

If it was gut shot, then shame on the hunter who made a poor shot, gave this deer an untimely death, and failed to recover it.  But even that happens to the best of us if you hunt long enough.

I have a question about this situation,Not to steal this thread away but I have a friend that had wounded a deer( a huge one at that) a few years ago, he did not recover this deer but later found its remains and kept the skull. I told him that it is illegal to posses those anlters without a tag on them. Correct me if im wrong?

Know the feeling.  This was my view from the stand I was in yesterday morning.

wow I havent found a dead deer ever I'm 17 and have been in the woods since 4 always in the woods I always look for sheds and all that you guys find heads and all i have found one she'd my whole life LOL but everything happens for a reason maybe the passing of these bucks will lead to somthing positive

QuoteOriginally posted by buckeyebowhunter:
I have a question about this situation,Not to steal this thread away but I have a friend that had wounded a deer( a huge one at that) a few years ago, he did not recover this deer but later found its remains and kept the skull. I told him that it is illegal to posses those anlters without a tag on them. Correct me if im wrong?

several years ago. i came across a dead buck. i was going to go back with a saw and take the antlers. on my way i ran into a game warden and told him what i had found and what i wanted to do. his reply was "fine, as long as you tag the antlers, it's ok" i left the antlers right where they were. i wasn't going to use my tag for a set of antlers. this waas in erie county,newyork.