Dead Deer Finds?

[Youngbuck]

Just wondering if any of you have found any dead deer while shed hunting from the earlier season? we found 2 does last spring while turkey hunting. they were from shotgun season.if you have what were they?

[This message has been edited by Youngbuck (edited 03-09-2002).]

[arcblade]

Found two does and one buck this season shed hunting inside city limits. To me they look like road kills but the one buck did have his antlers sawed off. Coyotes have been chewing on them pretty good so I really cant tell how they died. This last six inches of snow will keep me out of the timber again so I will have to wait till the middle of the week to get back out!

[CLB]

I haven't been out looking for sheds much this year yet.(the bucks are just starting to drop here) but I have found two winter kills. The first one was found in late January. It is a 4x4 mule deer and the coyotes were chewing on it when I found it. The second is a small 4X4 whitetail that I found in February. All of our snow was gone then but we have about 4 or 5 inches of it again now. Last year we found six winter kills and two of them were whoppers. Here are a couple of photos of the two from this year.
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/495427/674270/7702010.jpg

http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/495427/674270/7702040.jpg

CLB



[This message has been edited by CLB (edited 03-09-2002).]

[TJF]

Since the end of December, we have found 4 dead fawns and 2 bucks. All were wounded during gun and not found or left. One of the local farmers found another dead buck in one of our shed hunting spots we haven't checked yet this year. The buck was wounded and lost too. We seem to be plagued with poor hunters who can't shoot or track.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p9ff12817a2f956dd1ed1b22cb15603d8/fe06a5ea.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid3/pf36ec854fc2fe58c2e6da9c7b824633f/fdea52b6.jpg

[IAdroptine]

Youngbuck,
Finding dead deer is so common most seasoned shed hunters seldom talk much about it. Some die for natural causes and many die by the hand of man. Anti-hunting organizations love to use this kind of information to further there cause and bash honest and ethical hunters. We all need to support hunter education and do everything in our power to prevent the loss of wounded animals.

The fact remains, some are lost and some are found by honest, hard working and greatful shed hunters. To me, this helps pay some respect to a fallen creature.

IAdroptine

[buckeye buck]

Every year I find a buck or two while shed hunting. I really think natural causes such as fighting during the rut and just general winter stress are the major reasons. Buck

[ISHEDHUNT]

Nicely said Mike! I totally agree.

Chris

[TJF]

IAdroptine
With all due respect, whether we are seasoned shedhunters/hunters or not, we do need to discuss it and condem wounding game and not finding it. This is a hunting forum and the antis are out to get us no matter what we post or reply to. Hiding the facts doesn't make it go away, nor will it make the antis go away. We need to take a strong stand against wounding game and instill it in our kids, friends, and other hunters. We need to preach it to the newbies or seasoned hunter that frequent this site or any hunting site. Besides hunting, I trap, shedhunt and scout. I spend a lot of time in my area all year long and not just during the hunting season. If I find something I don't like I will sound off. I owe it to the critters I enjoy spending so much time with whether it be hunting, trapping, shedhunting or sight seeing.

Tim

[ISHEDHUNT]

Tim you bring up some valid points. I think I spend a fair share of time in the woods and just to drop my 2 cents worth. For me finding just 1 deer in the woods is to many for me, but it has become a fact of life. I have found the remains to at least a dozen deer this year. Now mind you not all of them are from this year or last as a few have been laying there for years. I'm sure the number is actually higher than the dozen I said. It could atually be as high as 20. I guess the thing that really gets my dander up is how others on this forum can determine it seems how each deer died. Usually its blamed on the gun hunter. I'm no expert and don't claim to be but most of the deer that I do find are pretty decomposed or eaten. Its pretty hard to determine how they died. I did find a doe this year that had a arrow sticking out of her hind end. That discovery doesn't mean that bow hunters don't do a good job of tracking deer either. The few that I believe were bucks their heads were missing, I also don't think it means they were poached as some of them were very close to hiways and other roads. I'm sure that even though you are supposed to contact the DNR to get the rack. That doesn't always happen either. I used to take photo's of all the dead deer I found, I don't do that anymore it got to be a waste of my film. I also think that it is a shame that others poach deer, but we can all do something about it. Its called TIP, use it. It does work. I think a lot of people know about little things but let it slide. I'm tired of tresspassers and poachers and will do my part to stop it. If everyone else turely felt this way things would improve for all of us. Sorry for rambling but I too am tired of finding dead deer.

Chris

[SWIABOONER]

I found three dead deer today while out shedhunting. Two of them had there heads cut off and one was a small button buck that had been dead for some time. The two without heads had big bodies, what was left, and one was on public ground. That kind of thing just makes me sick.

[cityhick87]

That really makes me sick. It's like people just carry a saw just to cut the head off. It makes you wonder if people do or how many just go out after season and look for dead deer for that reason. When i was at the classic this year, also to add this was my first time i've gone there. I took time to look at the poatching pictures and then the mount and that just made me sick. one of the heads looked like its head was cut off perfectly with a chain saw. I don't care if u find one thats decayed or something of the sort well shed hunting and take the antlers theres nothing wrong with that. well my 2 cents worth.

[GOT 2 HUNT]

I have been out shed hunting for awhile now and if I had a shed for every carcuss I found ,I would have a pile of antlers. 23 so far. Found 6 this weekend in a state park -4 Does, 2 Bucks. The head was cut off one buck- other a nice 9 pointer. Could not tell the cause, I would guess vehicles. mostly just bones left.

[TJF]

Chris
I know the difference between winterkill and wounded/lost. Trust me, none have died from winterkill this year and they weren't hit by cars. It shouldn't bother me so bad as I found 50-200 winterkilled deer a year in years past when winter gets extreme here. The few I find that are lost by wounding every year is very small compared to that. Without hunting, winterkill would be horrible. Even an anti living in apparently another world should be able to figure that one out.

I generally leave any dead buck I find alone except for taking a picture. I did cut the rack off the one buck as I know who shot it and lost it. When he comes back next year to hunt, I'll remind him of his bad shot when he sees the rack and how far it went until it died. I hope he sees the light. This guy is a friend, but it has happened a few times before and I'm getting tired of it. Once hunting season is over, he is gone till the next year, but I am not. He will share my find so to speak. Something has to change, I just hope it isn't the friendship. It's probably the reason this subject bothers me more this year then others. Just gonna have to find some more sheds to put me in a better mood. http://www.iowawhitetail.com/ubb/images/icons/smile.gif

[ISHEDHUNT]

Tim I also know the difference between winterkill and lost/wounded. I wasn't implying you didn't! The point I was making is most deer I find are just bones, and when they are close to roads its pretty tough to determine the cause of death. Its unfortunate that you are losing deer to bad shots made by hunters. It happens all the time and we need to police ourselves. Like you said once you let him know, hopefully he will understand your concern. It happens everywhere.

Chris

I found a dead buck last night with both horns still on. I assumed all the bucks had shed b/c I hadn't seen one in awhile. It was a 5x4 and I'm sure it was a coyote kill b/c the winter has been good and I had been in the area I found it many times and it wasn't there. I know this b/c it was in the wide open field so I'm sure that predators got him before I could pick his sheds up.

[shedmanpyro]

So far this year my sons and I have found 10 whole racks.Two of them have really deformed antlers.I have a picture of the bigger of the 2 but I dont know how to post it.

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[Thefrgt10]

Last year was the first year I ever went out shedding and i found a dead 5 point in a field. I imagine it just died because of hard winter but im not sure. We also found a dead buck that day that had already shed his antlers. I tell you what with the size of the spots where his antlers where and the size of his body, my guess was he was a dandy.

Numba1

[Travis Becker]

Last weekend me and my brother were shed hunting and found a dead 10 point also we each found a shed, my first ever.

[Youngbuck]

We went shed hunting today for about 2 hours with no sheds. but I found a real nice what would be a 8 point but the main beam was chewed to the third point so it only now had 7 points. if it had all it's points and main beams it would score about 125.It had a spread of 21 inches

[This message has been edited by Youngbuck (edited 03-21-2002).]

[16point]

i went out to day and found 7 dead deer, all doe's and one buck with rack caught off. and this is ground that know one hunts on. well, thats what i thought!

i found a deer yesterday ripped all up, but no bones??? i think it was someones shotgun deer, they took it home caped it out, and threw it back in the woods?? i dont know anyone else have any ideas? oh yea the head was never found.

[TallTines]

Earlier in the year i found a real nice 10 pointer that my hunting group was after during 2nd season. We were driving the timber he was in and jumped him. My friend shot twice. He could have swore he hit him but we searched and searched for him and found no blood. I was in the same area shed hunting and I saw deer hair everywhere by a thicket. I clawed my way into the thicket and entered almost like a big room where my buddies buck was lying w/ nothing but bones and his rack. My buddy was ecstatic to say the least when i brought the 153" rack to his house. It turned out he wasn't lying to me about getting one into him.

[MadisonB&C]

My dad and I were walking one of my uncle's farms for sheds when we found a dead buck that had it's antlers sawed off. We knew it was somewhat fresh, because my dad and his buddy had been out a week earlier and hadn't seen anything (and they couldn't have missed it in

[MadisonB&C]

My dad and I were walking one of my uncle's farms for sheds when we found a dead buck that had it's antlers sawed off. We knew it was somewhat fresh, because my dad and his buddy had been out a week earlier and hadn't seen anything (and they couldn't have missed it in

[16point]

we have found 9 dead deer this year 2 bucks all the rest were does.

[buckeye buck]

Found 3 more dead ones today. I was looking on public land that I usually save till later in the season. Two were bucks with their racks sawed off. I not only hurts being beat to them but whoever cut them off sawed right through the antlers instead of the skull. Guess I'll have to hit that spot sooner next year. It's still slow here in Ohio the deer are spread out all over the place. Well good luck , Buck

[shedmanpyro]

This is one of many deformed racks and sheds that my sons and I have found this year. It has 4 points on each side but I have no idea on how to score it.
http://www.iowawhitetail.com/upics/uploadedCRAZYSKULL1b.jpg

[This message has been edited by shedmanpyro (edited 03-31-2002).]