To give some background on the buck, I was Searching an area I had found a heavy single the day before, trying to locate the other side. I searched the thicker sage then climbed a small hill to glass the area.
I spotted an antler on a fairly open side hill, it was mostly grass with sparse brush and a few trees, about 500 yards away under an old dead tree that really offered little to no shelter. I had originally thought it to be a match to my other side but the longer I scoped it, the more I thought it might be a deadhead, the antler was standing vertical and I could not see it hanging on any brush. I was not able to see the other side because of a some brush until I was about 50 feet away from it. It appeared to be a straight 4x4 I did not see any of the extras until I rolled the head and the left antler fell off.
As for the cause of death I hope that he exhausted himself during the rutt spreading his genes. He was just 1 foot below a well formed bed and his body was positioned of that of a bedded buck so I guess it was either age, disease or maybe one of those storms that hit just as the deer were dropping their antlers. He died in his bed and all his parts were still there so I don't suspect a predator.
Do you think I should go recover the skull?
As for location I am not going to make it public on here but if founder wants to exchange summer and winter general area in a pm, we can do that and give the approximate mileage he travelled.
As for my weekend two days hunting Sunday and Monday I hiked 32 miles found 42 antlers and brought out 39. I think I only had about 5 or six Browns mostly hard whites and chalk. I got one other set that's a year old and probably scores around 180.
