This is the story as told to me from the owner of the shop near my house. Dan shot this buck on Nov.3-7 (I forget the day) He could not find him. He looked for 2-3 days and even rented an airplane/pilot to help search.Dan contacted DNR and told them his delima. I believe last week thursday he found him 75 yards from the last blood sign, under some brush in a draw.

That sucks.....so close but so far away, 75 yards!

BHFool I have family and inlaws in Milwaukee!

I live literally less than 15 miles from Pike County. We haven't had enough snow to preserve a mouse, let alone a deer of that size. I agree with what DeerSlayer said.

Ok, after seeing some racks that were picked up in the last week, I'm even more sure that this is fishy. a guy hunting sheds on our land in iowa picked up a rack that had been shot during shotgun season. I'll have to post a pic of it. It's a 2 1/2 year old 8 point, 17" inside, maybe 110" gross? Either way, it had snow cover on it (North hillside) and it was all chewed up. the main beams were eaten in alot of spots, the tips off 2 tines, the bases, all that. The hair was all just (i honestly can think of a word here), matted maybe? rotten, the skull had flesh on it but it was all a rotting brown. I"m hanging it out on a fence so the bugs can get at it and clean it up to be displayed.

The more i think about this the more i think its a fake. I mean, if you had wounded a deer this big on your own land, you gotta be out there. 75 yards from last blood is fairly close, even under brush(if that story is correct). just my .02. if im wrong, so be it i guess. I'm not trying to anger anyone here, just giving my take.

slayer

Everyone's an expert on the net aren't they? You guys act like every situation is the same from coast to coast hunter to hunter and deer to deer. There's lots of variables that can affect decomposition. And in my experience, for some reason, critters don't chew on dead deer racks as much as they do the sheds. Don't know why though. And how dare you question his tracking job. You guys know NOTHING of the situation and are ready to cast stones. Could he not have trailed that deer for a couple days while the deer may have still been alive? It could have lived for a week or so and he may have assumed it was still alive after a few days of combing his land and not finding him. God forbid I ever have anything worth posting a picture of. I'll have to hire an attorney and have my story authenticated for anybody to believe it.

I'm With Ya !!

If it seems too good to be true - it normally is

I don't think anyone is giving a definitive answer on what took place...it's quite obvious that we weren't there and don't know the truth behind the rack. Just some hunters on a forum talking about what they think might have happened.

In my opinion, the condition of the rack is not typical (after laying around for several months) for this part of the country...but, anything is possible I guess.

The orange check station tag still kills me. Didn't know county check stations were open past the deer season. If he did have special provisions from the IDNR, I find it odd that they would have given him an orange tag...but again, I don't know for sure and it may be for taxidermy reasons. Has anyone in IL ever turned in a deer that they hit along side of the road? And if so, did the state police or IDNR issue you an orange "check-in" tag?

Am I jealous.. hell yeah. That is a hell of a deer. I would not see the motive behind a spring recovery on an archery kill from the fall. Unless it was shot with a shotgun and wanted to be ranked heigher as a bow kill.


Of the sheds I have the last three years since seriously looking... none found in timber in March were pristine. The only not chewed sheds I have found have been in watersheds or 100 yards away from any timber. Every timber shed has been chewed on. The first week in March I walked through an area that was all grassy following an well traveled game trail. I found a small 4 pt shed that day not to far off that trail. Next day had more time at lunch break and went to look the down hill side of that same timber. Right on that path and laying where I had traveled the lunch before was a really nice 5 point shed. It had already been chewed sometime between noon Saturday and noon Sunday. It would be a miracle if that buck went all winter without being chewed up. My humble opinion of course, purely based on experience and tiny bits of intelligence.