Late walk, Lost deer, 6 eagles and a bunch of ravens

[Curmudgeon]

Out with the Misses on a beautiful late fall afternoon, we started flushing eagles near the property line. There were also a handful of ravens about. The sixth eagle came off the ground in a low spot. Investigating, we found a dead 4 point buck that has been scavenged for several days. It was appx 150 yards from a pop-up blind on the neighbors. The deer and blind are in a new hay seeding - beautiful forage. There was a bachelor group of 8 there until late September.

Given the condition of the carcass, the large opening above the shoulders appears to be from an arrow shot too high. I suspect the animal didn't leave much of a blood trail. I will avoid jumping to conclusions right now but it was in clear sight of the blind. I think I know who owns the blind. I'll ask if he lost a deer. Actually, I should ask if he shot at a deer. He may not have thought he hit it.

[NFA-ADK]

Good not to judge your neighbors even if they where the ones who messed up.  Hope its not something that happens often.  No one is perfect and a high shot can be hard to track.  Good luck!  Hope that's the last time I hear about that in your woods.

[Curmudgeon]

It turns out the deer was shot with a rifle during the youth hunt. This morning I will chop any remaining meat away from the wound and bury it to get whatever lead remains out of there. 

The kid who shot it was upset. He assumed that because they couldn't find a blood trail, he had missed.

[stoneam2006]

Did you give him the head gear. And did you ask/encourage the use of lead ammo when you talked to them.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Curmudgeon]

My wife talked to him in school. My understanding is, they are going up to look at it. If it were me, I would wait for maggots to finish cleaning the skull before touching it. It is really rank. It should get removed as those antlers will not do the haybine any good.

There were 2 eagles and 5 ravens when I got there this morning. I couldn't remove any meat as it has all liquefied. Decomposition is bad which makes sense considering the warmth and it has been out there 2 weeks.

She took him some non-lead literature. I am certain to talk to the father at some point soon.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Curmudgeon
forgot something