shed hunt surprise....

[growalot]

What a perfect morning to shed hunt...but I only found a surprise...a 1 1/2 year old 7pts CUT OFF rack...right in the middle of my woods...still had fur but looked old/weathered...not chewed at all...lol have no idea where it came from...but it's in the rack bucket now....

[Pygmy]

Growie....Probably fell out of Wooly's RACKSACK  when he was sneaking around your property in his shorts..<<grin>>....

Edited January 4, 2015 by Pygmy

[landtracdeerhunter]

Congrats grow on your first find this year.  Maybe this is sign for more finds in your future. We had ice yesterday and a good rainfall last night into this morning totaling 1  1/2".  Muddy mess and no way to get out.

[wooly]

Not mine.... once I get my hands on them I never let 'em go!

Have found a few over the years that I couldn't explain where they came from, or how they got there, but it makes no difference as they all end up in the same place in the end!

 

Now you know your eyes are focused on target and should be able to spot some fresh antlers in the near future! Big meltdown here last night and raining cats and dogs this morning has kept me indoors until the creek goes down a few flood levels. Hope you can scoop a few up this season grow!

 

 

[growalot]

Thanks guys..never expected a rack as usual...let alone both still attached to the skull plate...thinking someone didn't close a garage door...Lol...too bad such a young 7 nearly 8 point was taken though...it looks like an almost perfect pygmy 8(no reference inferred there)'''lol

Edited January 4, 2015 by growalot

[phade]

I wouldnt assume its a sawed rack. I have found a rack thats youd swear was sawed...but not. Found the entire body. Sometimes skulls break in oddest ways.

[First-light]

When I built my camp years ago I had a bunch of racks inside the unfinished cabin. Racks with skull plates, some mounted on wood but most rack and skull. I go up one weekend and some type of bug or worm got into some the fur/flesh part. I put them out back on the porch in a bucket. The neighbors dog starts to get into them and brings one by one over to my neighbors yard. He keeps on stumbling upon them and can't figure it out. I put 2 and 2 together and told him where they came from. We had a big laugh...

[Curmudgeon]

NYSDOT brought me a fresh roadkill yesterday - a curved spike with antlers firmly attached. I tried to break them off but couldn't. Some upstate bucks are holding onto their antlers. A friend 5 miles away found a fresh scrape last weekend.

[wooly]

 Sometimes skulls break in oddest ways.

 

This antler came to mind when I read that.

It was fresh although weathered from finding it so late in the season, and obviously broke off somehow and not cut off, but I never found the carcass or skull from which it came.

I assumed the deer was already dead when he lost this horn and something carried the antler and chunk of skull off to where I found it.

I could never come up with a good explanation of what cracked the skull that way other than a motor vehicle collision. If that was the case, then this antler had some miles on it to end up here.

 

[phade]

I'll have to snap a pic of the rack this week and post it. You look at it and you'd swear it was a cut off rack ready to be screwed onto the wall. Skull was broken and not sawed. Proabbly a 110-115" 8, too if I remember correctly. Haven't even seen it in over a year since its in one of my tote of sheds/finds.

 

That above pic is a doozy. Any teeth marks on it to indicate it was carried?

[wooly]

Nope, clean as new, with no chews.

Would like to get a look at that rack your talking about.

I have to imagine these bucks had a very violent death to be scattered around the woods in pieces that don't normally come apart like that.

I've found a bunch of sheds with a good chunk of the skull still attached, but this seems to be a bit extreme for that,lol

[Lawdwaz]

I killed a buck with the bow a bunch of years ago that had half the rack flopping on his head due to a broken skull.  He was acting perfectly normal..........can't imagine the pain he should have been in.

[phade]

Nope, clean as new, with no chews.

Would like to get a look at that rack your talking about.

I have to imagine these bucks had a very violent death to be scattered around the woods in pieces that don't normally come apart like that.

I've found a bunch of sheds with a good chunk of the skull still attached, but this seems to be a bit extreme for that,lol

 

This one was a complete find...body and all. Marshy area; the rack was found about 75 yds from the rest of the body. Hit by car as it was within 50 yds of road at a spot they cross often. But, doubt the skull was fractured fully through by the car...no damage to antlers and it was a clean split separated from the rest of the skill which was with the body. It got ALOT of sun  and was partially submerged at the same time. Have to assume weathering and freeze thaw action.

[phade]

Nope, clean as new, with no chews.

Would like to get a look at that rack your talking about.

I have to imagine these bucks had a very violent death to be scattered around the woods in pieces that don't normally come apart like that.

I've found a bunch of sheds with a good chunk of the skull still attached, but this seems to be a bit extreme for that,lol

 

Still haven't gone out to take a close pic, but I came across one I had of it, so I'll attach it.

 

If you look at it, you'd swear it was cut off, but that's not the case.