Bowshark, you didn't go into details, what if the evidence or a gun or bow kill? Also, what says that it was poached?
It is very disappointing to find dead deer, but we can't just assume that all dead animals are hunter or poacher killed!

Poaching infuriates me, poaching is a criminal act! As Sportsmen/women, we need to fight poaching/poachers religiously! Poaching is NOT hunting, POACHERS ARE NOT HUNTERS!

"Slob Hunters" These folks can barely classify as a "Hunter!" "Legal?" yes!
But these are those that never shoot, or sight in their guns, take very poor shots, and don't follow up on their "considered" misses!


Roadkill, another inevitable fact of life! I'm sure there are not very many people that would intentionally run over a game animal.

Sooner or later though, even good hunter/shooter/trackers are going to wound and lose a deer! This bothers me personally! (if it doesn't bother the shooter, perhaps they need to find another sport! Or start hunting animals that attack back!)

Remember, and I'm not saying this to ease anyone's personal conscious! (Again, I say if you can just shrug off a bad hit and/or lost deer, you probably need to take a look finding another sport) but NOTHING is going to be wasted in nature! Disappointing, saddening, even maddening, but "nature" is very rarely "wasted"!

Well, I just heard my longwinded Sunday sermon and didn't even have to leave the house

LCC, Be sure that you heard it! There will be a test!

id really like to see these pics, lol

The fact that the deer was a piebald buck would instantly make me think that its death was the result of being shot. I could be wrong.

Whether it was poached isn't clear. A piebald buck would surely attract the attention of a poacher. Possibly shot at night with a .22. Was there a road nearby?

I'd think that any muzzleloader hunter having the opportunity to shoot at a piebald buck would surely put great effort into finding it. In PA the late muzzleloader season is with a Flintlock ONLY. This would make the prize of taking a piebald buck something unique. It would make sense to believe that the shooter would try really hard to recover this rare trophy.

Flintlock muzzleloader hunters are a different breed. They hunt when deer are extra, extra cautious, after being chased around all fall. They hunt when weather is less than favorable, especially when it is wet and powder won't ignite. They hunt with open sites. I'd like to think that they are generally good ethical hunters compared to rifle hunters.

I feel that the original poster of this thread is on the right track in believing this animal may have been poached. There are big problems with poachers, here in PA.

I emailed pics out to someone to post.....It was definitly shot in the ass. I rolled the deer over and it had a bullet hole in the ass. It was not shot by bow and the location it's at it would be had to poach also.

here is one,i just got the e-mail,sorry, i'll try to post the others in short order, regardless of how he died it is a shame, the piebalds make very interesting trophys

Looks kind of like a Brittany Spaniel with antlers, shame to hear of such an interesting trophy wasted regardless of poached or not.

If it was poached that's even more infuriating!

it looks like it would be hard to find in the snow...nt trying to make excuses, but if it was ethically taken it looks like itd be hard to find with a snow covered ground....

it also looked like a fairly young deer...