Fallen old buck

[soap creek]

Found this guy today below my pond. Looks to have been dead at least a couple years. Never seen him before. Wish I could have had a chance at him during bow season. Still, glad I found his rack anyway. We've been losing deer in our area in recent years to blue tongue. Found several nice bucks in the last few years. Haven't seen quite as many on the hoof as usual. Hopefully we're past the worst of it.

[YORNOC]

What you have found is more valuable than buried treasure.
Very BIG medicine!
I have a few old buck skulls like that( actually, that one is pretty impressive), never saw them either. Amazing how they live without ever being seen.

[ron w]

He was a special one that's for sure!!

[soap creek]

He was kind of a narly old buck. 13 total points 5 on one side and 8 on the other. Basically a main frame 10 point with extra brow tines. Pretty common in my area.

[kennym]

Looks like he lived a long life! Pretty cool find...

[soap creek]

Kind of amazing how these bucks live around us and you never see them. I've never owned a trail cam, and all the nicer bucks I've taken I never saw them till I shot them.

[Possum Head]

He sure is impressive.

[shedhunta]

Very nice.  Looks to have dies in velvet.  Most likely an EHD case.

[FlintNSteel]

What a great find!  

Around here if you don't find antlers within a few months, they are usually chewed on pretty good by rodents.

[23feetupandhappy]

Old guy for sure!

We lost a decent 8 this year in late Saptember, he was in the creek so I'm assuming it was blue tongue.....


Cool find, and neat character!!!

[stujay]

great find!

[frank bullitt]

Cool! Animals seem to travel out of their home area to naturally die.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Neat Find.  I wonder what kind of life he lived. Is there any way to age him or do you need the mandible?

[Mudd]

[Paul Cousineau]

Such a cool thing to find is the woods.

That's cool! Life is a cycle and his ended who knows how???

Bisch

[SuperK]

What a shame!    :(   We have had blue tongue in my area for the past several years and it has put a hurt on our deer.  A buddy of mine has found dozens of nice racks attached to skulls near water also.  When he was showing them to another hunter, the hunter stated that it seemed strange that the disease only affected bigger bucks.  My friend told the hunter that there were plenty of doe and smaller buck bones out there but the bigger racks were the only ones he carried out of the woods!
Some of the local guys who gun hunt the fields out of tower stands are stating that they saw only about a third of the deer they were used to seeing.   :eek:   Glad you were able to find him.  I hope the deer herd in your area (and mine too) recovers soon!