Deer kill out back tonight

[DLJeffs]

Neighbor and I found this out back tonight. I set up my trail cam. Hopefully we'll see who did this. The attack started under my neighbor's deck. The carcass was drug about 40 feet out under a tree next to the tee box. The gut pile was left there. The carcass was then drug another 40 feet across the tee box, across the cart path and under a cluster of trees. The cavity is empty, the front legs are gone, and interestingly, the entire head is gone. Chewed off, not cut off. Looks like at least two nights old, maybe more.

 

[scootac]

Big cat or bear in your area?
That's my guess.

 

[barry richardson]

So ya think the deer was trying to hide under the deck? Looking forward to seeing what you find out!

 

[DLJeffs]

Well crap! The golf course has sprinklers in the area and they came on so all I got on my trail cam was streaking sprinkler drops. The carcass has moved a little farther away from where it was so something came by last night. We have both coyotes and mountain lions in the area, haven't heard of any bear down this low. The mountain lion sitings have been down along the river or higher up on the butte. But unless this deer was injured or weakened somehow, I don't see coyotes killing it. If it was healthy (we haven't seen any injured ones lately), my guess is a mountain lion killed it and coyotes have been cleaning up the carcass. There's too much meat gone for a single cat. Funny thing is when coyotes find something to eat, they usually make a noisy ruckus and we haven't heard anything. And mountain lions usually try to cover their kill with leaves and debris and neither the carcass nor the gut pile were covered up, no scrapes in the grass or anything. Kind of a mystery at this point.

 

[Mike1950]

sounds more like a bear

 

[Herb G.]

That's gross.

 

[Mike1950]

That's gross.

if you grew up on a farm- ya called it nature....

 

[Mike1950]

if you grew up on a farm- ya called it nature....

and if you were a a bear- coyote- cougar- bald eagle-vulture- magpie-crow Ya called it dinner..... part of nature. Life- then death which creates and sustains more life.....

 

[DLJeffs]

We showed the pics to a wildlife officer and he pointed out how the cuts on the hind quarters and belly are very clean, not ragged and torn. The missing head is another concern - most predators won't bother with the head, it's too hard, doesn't contain much meat, and therefore consuming it uses more energy than it provides. And the gut pile was left more or less neatly in the grass, entact. Predators eat that first, it's soft, easy, and full of calories. Some indicators this might be a poaching. We've had a couple 4 pt'ers hanging around. I don't think the rib cage looks big enough to be one of those bucks but could be. On the other hand, we can't find a blood stain anywhere. If it was poached, where did they hang it and clean it? And if it was poached, it must have been by bow or crossbow because someone would have heard a gunshot. And it's about 400 yards from the nearest road so they would have had to haul the head and meat that far to a vehicle (unless they walked between our houses) and we couldn't find any footprints. Maybe a .22 at 2am would go unnoticed? I don't know.

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

Someone probably shot it, cut the head off and left it to rot. Then the scavengers went to town. We see it all the time.

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

And a .22 you probably wouldn't notice but we're seeing the use of crossbows of lately. The new ones are really compact, accurate and affordable. And you'll never hear them.

 

[Mike1950]

Someone probably shot it, cut the head off and left it to rot. Then the scavengers went to town. We see it all the time.

Head and hide quarters.

 

[Mike1950]

Head and hide quarters.

Nope bones are there. Lowlife scumbags.

 

[FLQuacker]

And a .22 you probably wouldn't notice but we're seeing the use of crossbows of lately. The new ones are really compact, accurate and affordable. And you'll never hear them.

New ones are freakn rifles without the knock down power!

 

[DLJeffs]

Someone probably shot it, cut the head off and left it to rot. Then the scavengers went to town. We see it all the time.

The strange part of that theory is we didn't find a blood pool. If someone cut the head off, shouldn't there have been a pretty obvious spot? Plus, the drag marks indicate it started up nearly right under my neighbor's deck. Of course, the deer could have traveled there after being shot before dying and then the scumbags drug it out on the golf course to cut it up. The gut pile being so nice and neat and complete supports the idea of poachers.

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

Twilight zone episode

 

[Mike1950]

We showed the pics to a wildlife officer and he pointed out how the cuts on the hind quarters and belly are very clean, not ragged and torn. The missing head is another concern - most predators won't bother with the head, it's too hard, doesn't contain much meat, and therefore consuming it uses more energy than it provides. And the gut pile was left more or less neatly in the grass, entact. Predators eat that first, it's soft, easy, and full of calories. Some indicators this might be a poaching. We've had a couple 4 pt'ers hanging around. I don't think the rib cage looks big enough to be one of those bucks but could be. On the other hand, we can't find a blood stain anywhere. If it was poached, where did they hang it and clean it? And if it was poached, it must have been by bow or crossbow because someone would have heard a gunshot. And it's about 400 yards from the nearest road so they would have had to haul the head and meat that far to a vehicle (unless they walked between our houses) and we couldn't find any footprints. Maybe a .22 at 2am would go unnoticed? I don't know.

a a a a , just information but a poacher does not hang to gut an animal, they do it right were it drops, but then again, so does a legit hunter, 1 mile back, you have to lighten the load or quarter it if an elk or moose. You try to grab a 600 lb bull elk and move it, just does not happen.