outdoorslover

The weird thing that I forgot to mention was that the deer was not gutted out yet. That's howI know he was only after the backstraps. The meat was pretty fresh, not spoiled yet. The only reason it looked bad to me was because it was thrown in the creek and was covered in mud and stuff. Like I said I could see where the deer was shot only a short ways a way. It had to have been from that morning. I got there at around 10:00.

Phade

One gray area in this whole thingregards deer that cannot be recovered in time to save meat. I've had times where either myself, or another hunter has fatally wounded a deer, and we end up not finding it until the meat has spoiled.

Coyotes are a big problem here, and typically we move the carcass to a dedicated portion of the property out of the way from typical hunting areas. Unfortunately we are forced to not take advantage of the harvest. However, that happens sometimes despite the best intentions and effort.

fetzeriiif

I agree, that has happened to me as well. That wouldn't explain the missing back straps.