I'd believe the hair still being on it. I found a dead buck last january, probably killed during november rifle season, and after the coyotes ate most of him, he got buried under snow. I didnt have a saw so i shot the skull off of the spine and took the head with me. i hung it up on a line fence in a field and the bugs ate out the inside of the head but not the fur still between the antlers. It did have some damage from chickadees/mice/other crap that eats racks. This is just my opinion, so dont go jumping all over me: 1)I find it extremely hard to believe there would be red meat under the skull plate after 5 months, 2) that rack should have some damage from rodents or chickadees(they peck at racks alot) and it shows none from the angle we're given 3)the fur on the deer i found app. 2 1/2 months after the kill was very weathered and you could tell it had been there a while. I recently viewed a rack picked up in iowa with fur still on it and it looked like that shown in the picture. This rack was a 160" type buck with 1 half of the rack sticking above the ice in a creek. That side of the rack had alot of mouse damage, but none to take away from the measuremnts.

Basically, I think this is a load of crap. How you could have 5 months and not find a deer on your own land is beyond belief. Now, i know you could have alot of ground you're hunting, but still, narrow it down to a certain area and go through there with a fine tooth comb and you'd find that baby right away. Also, the rack doesnt show any damage which is consistent with racks that have been in the woods even a month.

slayer