A few years ago I was out shed hunting and came across a mule deer buck that had died sometime in the spring but had already lost his antlers. We had had a really bad winter with lots of snow that year and I had found quite a few winterkills. The coyotes had totally eaten the deer, all that was left was the skull and backbone and some leg bones. I had a closer look at the skull and noticed that he was a really old deer. His teeth were worn almost to the gumline. I also noticed that on the left pedicle there was a bump where a piece of bone had come out of the base of the left antler. I didn't really pay to much attention and tossed the skull back on the ground. Later in the day I found a nice non-typical shed that ended up being the right side off of this deer,but I didn't realize this until several months later. That winter I was out coyote hunting in the same coulee and found the matching antler to the non-typical I found in the spring. It was laying on a north facing slope in some thick creeping cedar and was still in really good shape as the sun had not beem shining on it all summer. When I looked at the base I noticed a dent from where a piece of bone had been left on the pedicle . I remembered the skull I had found and went back to this area to look for the skull. It was only about 400 yards from where the antler was. It was still in the same spot after being there all fall and summer but was really bleached by this time. I tried to fit the antler to the base and it matched perfectly. I thought it was pretty cool to have the matching set of antlers plus the skull and pretty lucky to put them all together after almost a year. Here are some photos.

Here is the left pedicle on the skull. You will notice the bump at the top of the photo.

Here is the base of the left antler. You can see the dent in the top of the photo.


Here is a photo with the antlers propped in place on the skull.



Cam's Hunting Page