The Plot Thickens
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
3/16/2009 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
I guess I am giving away the next episode, but this past weekend Scott Prucha, his brothers, nephews, friends and son hit the Winke turf again looking for shed antlers. What they found still shocks me. If you take a look back at Episode 10 you can watch Chad Lathrop make what looks like a good hit. We jumped that buck 16 hours later and never found him. It was a depressing time. Well, Scott's crew found that buck dead.
On top of that, they proceeded to find the huge buck I hit low and back on November 7. That hunt was on Episode 17. It was a very deflating moment in my hunting history when I realized that we weren't going to find him the next day. I thought the buck might score as high as 190 from looking at the footage. Will Prucha found him dead a good mile from where I hit him. Finding the carcass wasn't exactly the outcome I had hoped for. I was hoping for a full recovery and the chance to hunt him again next year. Or at least to see him again. No dice.
We have it all on film and I will be putting it together into another "shed antler hunting" (I should start calling these "dead buck hunting") episode for Midwest Whitetail. Look for that show later this week or next week. I have several articles to write and then I am headed to the OH Deer Classic that starts on Friday, so it may be next week before I can get that show out. 
So with salvage tags in hand, Chad and I finally got to handle our prizes. Very bittersweet, almost sickening. We didn't do our job when the bucks were right there. Bummer. We both would much rather have seen a different outcome. The other buck in the photo died of unknown causes. His burrs were not rubbed so it is possible he died in late summer from EHD shortly after shedding velvet. That would make some sense as I have heard that some people are finding a lot of dead bucks from EHD this year.
Check back in a few days to see these bucks along with several good antlers that aren't attached to skulls!
