Dead Bucks You Have Found

[ICMDEER]

It's that slack time of the year. I was wondering about recently killed bucks others have found during the season while hunting. I have found three in my life. All have been in Western Wyoming. The first was in the Grey's River in the mid 80's. The G&F had a 4 point restriction on and I found a big 3 point dead, drug off into some brush.

In the mid 90's, I was in the Hoback and found a 22-23" nice 4X4 that was still in the velvet. I saw magpies from over a mile away and walked over. Someone had shot him and drug him into the thick brush.

In 2005, I found a young 6X8 in the Hoback while helping a friend chase moose. He had been wounded (shot in the guts/liver) and had run into the timber. The hunter apparently did not find him.

Both of the first two bucks were obviously shot, checked, moved and then hidden. The last buck was likley wounded and escaped.

I'm just curious how common this is. I'm not talking about finding old winter or lion kills. I'm wondering if many of you have also stumbled upon other recently killed dead deer while hunting during the season.

 

[manny15]

found a fat fork horn once in a 3 point zone, clean thru the heart, I knew this buck, you could get to within 50 yards of him, so somebody was having a bad case of bucky fever and shot him inspected and ran off...

 

[AHT]

When I think about it, I don't think I've found any bucks other than "Winter" kill. Now one year elk hunting, many years ago during rifle season, my dad found a real nice 6 point bull that was shot in the ML or archery season and he had radio collar. The same day, my uncle found a small 6 point that had been shot only few days prior. Both bulls weren't more that 500 yards apart. We turned the radio collar in to the CDOW and they did send us a letter back with the info on that bull. He was tagged as a spike 4 or 5 years earlier about 30-40 miles away.

 

[DidIDraw]

In 1998 my step dad had a ML tag for deer on the Pansaugant. While helping him with his hunt I found a 3x3 that someone had shot and left - it was out in the open so I don't think it was wounded and not found. During that same hunt I found two small 4x4 racks and skulls stashed in juniper trees - I can only presume that someone shot them and hid the antlers to pick up at a later time. I've heard that on that unit there are more bucks killed illegally than legally. Of course I have no proof of that other than what I found on that one hunt.

 

[TripleK]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-23-07 AT 10:21AM (MST)[p]I've actually found quite a few...nothing too big though. Roy and I were kids when the Bookscliffs went to a 3 point or better unit and we would go out every weekend after the deer hunt and on through Thanksgiving to get wood and we hiked around and hunted rabbits out there alot. We found quite a few dead two points. One day we saw a bunch of ravens and crows circling so we went towards that and found a dead 3 point...not sure how it died, but it was kind of hidden on this ridge, like it had been hit and found a good hiding spot and died there. Roy and our cousin who is his same age ended up shooting the antlers off the skull and we used them on a snowman later.

One time Roy was setting point on the edge of a big canyon when he saw a deer come running across that some guy was popping shots at. The guy had hit it and it died near Roy's point but it was barely a 3 point on the one side. I don't know if it would've qualified as a legal 3 point. All we heard from those hunters was, "Hey Russell! Did you get him?" and Russell, as he was coming across the canyon, hollered back that he had hit him and then Roy told him where the deer was. Russel got there, saw that dinky 3rd point and took off and was never seen again. Roy and my dad cleaned the deer out and propped him up in a tree thinking the guys would be back, but they never returned. We went back for those antlers and skull a couple years later. Too bad the meat was wasted. As a landmark, we call that "Russell's Point" now.

We found alot of dead cows out there too and we always used them as landmarks..."You know....that ridge up there by that dead black cow..." lol

 

[Muleyslyr]

When Washington state went to 3pt. or better it was not uncommon to find dead 2pts. layin' around. Sad, but true.

I actually had a 3x4 drop dead while in my scope. He walked up over a little knoll, and was just kinda walking in my direction. Opening morning, decent buck, wasn't more than 100yds. away, as I throw my rifle up and find him in my scope, the thing drops. No shots, nothin'.

I looked around and saw no one or heard no one. I waited maybe 10 minutes before walking over to it. It was then I noticed that it had been shot earlier and somehow staggered his way into this little draw I was in.

Don't find em' much fresher than that.

 

[crimedog]

Just one small two point. Barley a fork on both sides that had been shot and was out in the open in a meadow.

 

[nripepi]

Found a dead yearling male moose shot through the heart. Cow elk season was open, so I think someone made a major mistake.

 

[fletch]

I found a five pt bull elk once during rifle season that had apparently been hit and lost probably in the ml season preceding the rifle hunt. Found a dead 4 pt muley only about 150 yds off the rd a couple yrs back that I think was shot just prior to opening day...found a 3 pt bull elk dead on a steep rock slide once that didnt appear to be shot. Maybe he had bad footing and it was natural selection?

 

[lone_hunter]

I have found a few during the rifle hunt. They were small bucks but in areas with antler restrictions. Obviously hunters that did not follow up good enough. Same with archery. I have found two bucks with arrows still in them in rugged areas. My brother and I, well mostly my brother tracked down a cow elk that had been dead for a few days. A sidestory to this animal is the ability my brother had to track bloodtrails. We were walking back to the truck on a logging road. He stopped suddenly, took about 2 steps back where he had pickup up a small blood spot. we followed the trail about another 400 yards until we found her.

The worst however was a decent 6x bull elk near a road in a spike only area. No sign of effort to take meat or antlers, probably just shot and left.

 

[legendsguide]

Here a few years back I found several deer that had killed and their heads taken. This was in unit 2B of new mexico. I was scouting for bucks in January trying to get patterns on them for antler shed time.
I always find several real good sets of deer sheds, but that year all I could find were dinks and big bodied deer with no heads. I reported all of the deer to the game and fish. I am not sure what happened but after that year, i started finding larger sheds again. I hope they caught the bad guys!

 

[patience]

i have found one 3 point and a small forky after being shot.

the 3 point ran down the mtn from where it had been shot, the hunter couldnt find it or didnt want to go after it.

the forky was killed by a father/son hunt just north of Boise. they were on a doe only hunt and didnt see the antlers hidden behind the ears. i sat across the canyon and watched the whole thing go down. when i noticed they didnt take the deer they shot i walked over later and found why. i assumed it was a doe only hunt, maybe the body was too small for their liking. hell of a way to teach those new hunters.

 

[fin little]

I Found a huge six point bull elk(370 class) during the archery deer hunt in Arizona one year. Took the warden to it. He found a 30 caliber bullet in the skull. Its tough to figure people out.

 

[pinenut]

I have found a bunch of dead bucks or bulls while hunting.

Several years ago I was hunting Monroe Mtn Utah on the second weekend of the bowhunt and found 3 dead yearling bucks from the weekend before. One was about a 1/2 mile from a road with a dead-center gut shot wound, one was about 200 yards from a road with a heart/lung wound and the third I spotted from the road (dead about 50 yards from it) with a lung shot. I don't know how they didnt find the 2nd and 3rd deer.

I found a 315 class bull dead on Monroe about 10 years ago, he had been there a year so i couldnt tell how he died, but he was smack in the middle of where a lot of hunters hunt (and where elk do not winter). I hope somebody didnt knock him down and walk away after realizing he was "only" 315.

This last year in CO I found a dead 24" 3x4 with a front chest wound on the fifth day of the hunt. He had been shot several days earlier...opening day was rainy I hope that is why he wasnt recovered.

I also have found numerous rag bulls and bucks in Utah that I have left behind, but most of those were probably winter kills (either weather or cat).

-RPinenut

 

[Randy11]

This last year in my cow only area i found 4 dead spikes and 6 dead cows. a herd of roughly 200 head wandered into the area off private land and all hell broke loose. all the elk had ivories removed of course and 3 of the cows and one of the spikes were within a hundred yards of roads. im assuming road hunters just started shooting at will into the herd.