That stinks that you found a dead deer. Was there any other type of sign as to why the deer died? Could he have been hit by a car or possibly been shot earlier? I only ask because I recovereda 6 pt rack two octobers ago with an area covered of hair. He would have had to been killed almost a year ago, but there was a large amount of hair around. I think you would be surprised on how long hair can stay near the deer. Also if the bones were cleaned off, that would lead me to believe that he had been laying around a while. Non-the-less, that stinks that he was killed and never recovered and given the respect he deserves.

On another note, did you happen to find your dog yet? I hope you find him soon and he is ok.