I contacted one of the EnCon officers I work with on occassion. He tells me that if that happened here in NY that you would just need to contact an ECO. He/she would inspect the bucks to determine the validity of the claim and then issue a deer carcass tag if everything is legitimate.

Personally I think the living buck would have died in time. I can't say that I have seen anyone find a set of horns shed that were attached to a dead deer skull. I have seen skulls found that were locked together a whole lot more frequently. IMOH