cjsportsman

To make a long story short my buddy shot a doe the other night and decided to get her the next morning. The next morning he went to where he heard her crash and found her buried. He called me because he thought I played a joke on him and buried his deer. Isaid it wasn't me. He dug up the deer and a big chunk of her shoulder was missing(eaten). When he walked in he saw something black take off. He thought it might have been a dog but couldn't tell through the thicket. Anyway I said it sounds like a bear got your doe. Is it safe to assume that a bear is in the area? Thanks

njbuck22

Sounds like it to me.

Campo

I would say you are pretty accurate in your assumption that it was a bear.
Bears like to bury their food, as to keep their arch enemies the coyotes away from it.

John Deer

Cats will bury their kills also. A couple of years ago, I was hunting a very secluded area and I came upon a pile of leaves that something had raked up. The pile of leaves was about 3 feet high. As I got closer I noticed a deers leg sticking out of the leaves. It was a doe, and she was completely covered. In the dirt around the pile of leaves I found cat tracks. They looked to be bobcat tracks. I set up about 40 yards away from the doe and waited to see if the cat would come back. About a half hour before dark the bobcat came in to feed on the deer. Now it's mounted on my wall. So, it could have been a bobcat, mountain lion, or bear.