There' s NO WAY that I would ever let an animal lie and go to waste. I' ll either eat it or donate it to a needy family or to Hunter' s Feeding the Hungry. I also send the hide away to get it tanned (I don' t have time to do it myself) to later be made into a garment of some sort, when I collect enough. In fact, I cherish the hide now much more than I do the antler' s. I' m having a fundamental shift in my thinking where I' m thinking about shooting the largest bodied deer that I see, if I should have a couple of bucks (or does) pass by at the same time, over the size of the antlers.

When I got my hide back last year, the feel of that soft leather in my hands felt as good as any antlers I' ve ever held.