Finding Dead Bucks
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
2/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
I mentioned that we have started hunting for sheds around here. The latest shed report: lots of larger, mature bucks still carrying. We are finding antlers, but not any real brutes, save one.
In the last post I told you about an antler that the guys found a few days back. I falsely gave credit for the find to Kurt Shroeder, but it was actually Mike Prucha who found it. That was the most impressive (but probably not the biggest) side we have found so far; from a 160 class eight pointer we filmed last summer and called "The Great Eight".
Well, Scott Prucha, Mike's brother, actually found two dead bucks while searching for antlers. They were both 155+ bucks (gross). One was at least 4 1/2 years old and probably was never going to get any bigger, but the other was a dandy 3 1/2 year old (shown in the foreground in this photo) that was sure to push into the 170s next year - or possibly much bigger. He was knocking at the door of 160 already and that is pretty darn good for a 3 1/2.
It was disappointing to lose such a buck. However, I had never seen him before, so who knows, maybe he didn't even live on the farm. He may have been wounded and come in here during the gun season or died of fighting.
The game warden came out and looked the carcasses over and checked with a metal detector but didn't find any bullets or arrows in the deer or on the ground nearby. So, who knows why they died.
I filmed Randy checking the carcasses out and Scott filmed a few segments from the big shed hunt roundup, so we'll put that together and bring it to you soon. Hopefully it will be entertaining.
Check back and I'll keep you updated on what we find.
