Found him dead

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Andy S.

Andy S.

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Atoka, TN
Unfortunately for those who would have had the opportunity to hunt and possibly get a crack at him this fall, this buck met his demise in some other way, no foul play involved best I can tell. I found him today while scouting for muzzleloader season. He was in a deep ravine out of the sun and appears to have been dead for a while. I am glad I found him, but hate the fact that the hunters in the general area will not have an opportunity at him this fall. I will boil his skull in the near future to get a look at his teeth. I figure he will gross mid 130s. I taped his mass and got 36", but did not include the fractions, so it may be a tad more. 14" inside spread. Nice buck no doubt.

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Bshock said:
Hate to see that. But on the bright side at least you know now not to wait on him.
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X2. I had one I held out for all season and passed some good bucks up. Then found him dead last weekend of the season next to a creek. Yotes ate him to pieces but the rack was still intact and you could tell he died in velvet
 
Thats too bad, hate he had to go on his own. But glad you found him. Boil that in 2 or 3 changes of water with plenty of dish soap and borax, it will stink and make the water green. Skull will have a smell for a little while but will fade. Great deer, very unique rack
 
Vermin93 said:
Wonder what happened?
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I really do not know. I put my CSI hat on, surveyed the area for half an hour and tried to piece the puzzle together, to no avail. There just wasn't a lot to go on based on what I could see. As much as I hate it, I think good bucks (3.5+) die from a myriad of sources other than hunters (e.g. natural causes) at a much higher rate than us hunters want to believe.
 
double browtine said:
I think u have to tag him if u bring the rack home. Nice rack for sure.
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Actually I'm pretty sure the rule is deer found dead you leave them be. Reporting them is not neccecary,
 
http://www.tn.gov/twra/biggamehunt.html

All big game found dead should be left where found and need not be reported. Individuals wanting to keep big game found dead must first contact the local Regional TWRA office for authorization. Any vehicle in which an illegally possessed big game animal is found is subject to confiscation. Big game, except bear, accidentally killed by a motor vehicle may be possessed by any person for personal use and consumption if the TWRA or local law enforcement agency is notified within 48 hours. A bear killed by a motor vehicle may be possessed only upon the issuance of a receipt from the TWRA.
 
PillsburyDoughboy said:
double browtine said:
I think u have to tag him if u bring the rack home. Nice rack for sure.
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Actually I'm pretty sure the rule is deer found dead you leave them be. Reporting them is not neccecary,
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I think I remember reading on here last year if the season is open, you have to call twra to get a tag for it. If you find them after the season is closed then you dont have to get a tag.
 
double browtine said:
I think u have to tag him if u bring the rack home.
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I do not think that is the case. With that said, I have reported "county buck was found in, # of points, my name and my phone number" to Region 1 to have on record, and they will be relaying that information to Ty Inmon, our local warden.
 
Carlos Viagra said:
He was probably shot with an arrow.
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Possible, but very unlikely in my opinion for two reasons. First, few folks would bow hunt this area due to the difficulty of accessing it and retrieving a deer once shot, and second, most hunters in our club share information with others on a regular basis and we would have most likely put together an all out search if a good buck, such as this, had been shot and not recovered. Furthermore, he had a tab bit of velvet on the inside of his right main beam which suggests he died shortly after he shed is velvet, which is typically right around mid September. This leads me to believe he could have been dead before bow season opened.
 
Hunt 365 said:
do you have any EHD/blue tongue around?
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Not on a grand scale, but it happens every year to some extent and most of these years it goes unnoticed to hunters. He could have been a victim of EHD, but I could not tell for sure. I inspected his hoofs and even pulled one off, but I think that was due to him decomposing, thus it is not a good indicator for anything really.
 
that just stinks :(

I've picked up several on my properties during hunting season, I just call or leave a voicemail with my county officer with the description of the rack. Most were shot and lost by the neighbors and I ask around and can usually get the rack back to the shooter (if it is one of my 'good' neighbors :) )

But yes, the CO must be notified in order to get permission to retrieve a deer that does not belong to you. Otherwise, there would be a ton of jacklegs poaching WAY beyond their legal limit claiming they just found the racks on carcasses.
 
Healthy looking rack. That's a shame but like you said, I bet there are quite a few more like him laying dead in those thickets and ditches that are never found nor will you ever know just what they died from. I guess I'd rather see them die from whatever mysterious cause than lost from an errant bullet or arrow. At least that way no hunter has to suffer as well from having a hand in such a waste. The upside....we both know there are many more like him wandering around waiting to do battle with us.
 

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