KoBear

since i am now in post-deerseason-depression, i decided to look for sheds. i drove to this one bedding area on my quad and walked in. i was poking around and found a little 6 pointer shed. lying right next to it (within 5 feet) was a dead deer skeleton. i took the buck skull and it matched up perfectly with the shed. it fit like a jigsaw puzzle. closer evaluation showed that the back legs were broken (probably from a car) and it had probably spent some time there dying slowly, dropping his sheds before he died. he was 1 and a 1/2. this is the 1st time it has ever happened to me. have any of u ever have this happen?

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huntinfool14

This year while squirrel hunting with my friend we found a buck skull with the antlers still attached. The antlers were pretty ate up but you could still tell it was a 8. About 12 inch spread with 8 inch g2s. Would of been a nice first bowkill!

RAKTRAKR

good story...did you keep the skull?

Saskman

A few years ago I was out shed hunting and came across a mule deer buck that had died sometime in the spring but had already lost his antlers. We had had a really bad winter with lots of snow that year and I had found quite a few winterkills. The coyotes had totally eaten the deer, all that was left was the skull and backbone and some leg bones. I had a closer look at the skull and noticed that he was a really old deer. His teeth were worn almost to the gumline. I also noticed that on the left pedicle there was a bump where a piece of bone had come out of the base of the left antler. I didn't really pay to much attention and tossed the skull back on the ground. Later in the day I found a nice non-typical shed that ended up being the right side off of this deer,but I didn't realize this until several months later. That winter I was out coyote hunting in the same coulee and found the matching antler to the non-typical I found in the spring. It was laying on a north facing slope in some thick creeping cedar and was still in really good shape as the sun had not beem shining on it all summer. When I looked at the base I noticed a dent from where a piece of bone had been left on the pedicle . I remembered the skull I had found and went back to this area to look for the skull. It was only about 400 yards from where the antler was. It was still in the same spot after being there all fall and summer but was really bleached by this time. I tried to fit the antler to the base and it matched perfectly. I thought it was pretty cool to have the matching set of antlers plus the skull and pretty lucky to put them all together after almost a year. Here are some photos.

Here is the left pedicle on the skull. You will notice the bump at the top of the photo.

Here is the base of the left antler. You can see the dent in the top of the photo.


Here is a photo with the antlers propped in place on the skull.



Cam's Hunting Page

Scent Seeker

W O W ! ! That is one big mulie. Have you ever had it scored? I bet it's pretty close to being a boonie.
</img>Hunt to live and live to hunt.

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farm hunter

2 times I've found where a buck had died, and the antlers were laying next to the deer. I do not know for sure, but I'd guess that when a deer dies near when its time to shed, or if the deer had been wounded or sick for a while, the antlers detatch postmortum, as decaying begins.

KoBear

saskman: very nice. the largest shed i have ever found was a large 8 pointer with nice mass. i wish i lived in a place with more types of deer. here in jersey we have whitetails only. i have only been shed hunting for 1 year. most of the deer here still have their antlers, but from where i live i get a good guess at when the deer lose the antlers since all i have to do is look out my back window.

Robb92

NICE STORIES AND THANKS FOR POSTING THE PICS!!!