Afternoon adventure (warning, couple "gross" photos)

[Turkeygirl]

I went for a hike/hunt this afternoon, driving to some state land about 15 minutes away. I found a couple sheds and got a grouse there last year:

Thought this was neat on the way through the state land:

After you hike through a pine plantation on the state land, you hit some big open hardwoods..may have to try some turkey hunting here:

Then as I'm heading back towards the car, no grouse, no sheds. I'm about 40-45 yards from the road, on the stateland, bordering some private land, I stumble on this dead buck that had shed it's antlers, as you can tell from the photo. I turned the body over the find an area on the shoulder with flesh showing and crushed bone...some hair gone on the neck, I think it must have gotten hit by a car...not a heavily travelled road though that I know of...but didn't look like a gun wound or anything, and it didn't smell that bad, so not an old kill.

I'm heading back again towards the car and not 15 yards from the above deer, I find this buck, a little older kill, really smelly and gross...and as you can see in the photo, someone sawed the antlers off.

What a shame....those two bucks....at least we know there's some sheds somewhere and the bucks are shedding/have shed around here. I was kind of wondering about poaching....but it looked like the state land boarder had been chopped and marked so whoever did that must have found some antlers.

[BamaTrophyHunter]

i dont like people like that it makes me mad to see a dead deer somewhere and somebody just cut his horns and didnt even bother to get the meet or give it someone or nothin

[popgun]

i dont like people like that it makes me mad to see a dead deer somewhere and somebody just cut his horns and didnt even bother to get the meet or give it someone or nothin

If you had found the dead buck and needed a set of rattling antlers, and had a pruning saw; would you have passed it by or would you have taken the antlers?

Just because the antlers were missing doesn't actually mean that the one who killed it took the antlers and left the rest, does it?

It could have been a roadkill or even an unrecovered legal kill by a hunter.

....popgun

[buckee]

Not surprising to see two, three or more road kills in the same area, if it's a well traveled deer crossing.

[Canuck2]

As far as the meat, it could well have been well past edible by the time the antler cutter came across it.

[Turkeygirl]

Yeah, I'm sure the one deer was probably a little too ripe for the eating. It's sad alot of meat was wasted, but it happens. It's keeping other animals fed though so it's not like it's actually wasted.

[wtnhunt]

Seen several roadkill or dumped deer here the past week or so:(.

[Randy]

Not surprising to see two, three or more road kills in the same area, if it's a well traveled deer crossing.

Same here, I'll bet both were Roadkills and someone walking through the woods found the one buck and cut off his horns.

[stevebeilgard]

i see deer on the road every day. most are vehicle hits, some may be poachers. it's illegal in wyoming to take the horns, but they are always gone anyway.