Remains of buck I found in thick brush near where I lost one this past fall
This is the second part of a story about my muzzleloader hunt last fall so if you missed it go back and read part one.
I was turkey hunting that field the other day when I came across a femur bone to a large deer. I began looking around and after about 30 minutes I came across the skeletal remains of a buck. The seven pointer was in some brush about 50 yards from the area I grid searched. While I thought my buck was an 8 pointer this seven pointer was missing a brow tine that would have been easily overlooked by me. I had made one of the biggest mistakes when I tracked this deer many months ago by not retracing his back trail from how they entered the field. I had learned that lesson early on in my hunting career as I helped and observed more experience hunters tracking deer. A lot of times an injured deer will circle back to their back trail confident of the safety of it because they just came that way. “If you lose the trail look back to find it” He was laying within 10 feet of the trail he had entered the field on that day chasing the doe. I knew the doe went back that direction but it never occurred to me that he had managed to get by me and back that way. A rookie mistake and it cost me a trophy. This would have been my biggest buck yet.
I called the NCWRC and talked with an enforcement officer about the situation and while we can’t be 100% sure this is the buck I shot that day he told me that I could take the antlers. Not knowing for sure how the buck died there is no law in NC that would prevent me from picking up the skull and horns.
I didn’t get a turkey but I got a skull and horns that will serve to remind me to do all the steps when searching for a deer and skip the shortcuts.
