Had pictures of a big 8pt with short brows back in the summer. I didn't have much information on where he was coming from and going, but knew the general area he was hanging out. I continued monitoring the area with trail cams and he popped up a couple dozen times between November and early December. With these images, I had a good idea where he was spending most of his time and a good plan for hunting him in the mornings. I ended the season hunting him 8-10 mornings from December 15th on....with no luck seeing him.

A turkey hunter found his skull within 200 yards of where I was camped all those mornings. Probably shot and not found by someone in the club, but it's possible he was shot from the highway which is just a couple of hundred yards away also.

Here is a before and after:

that sux

That sucks he was a very nice buck.

That's a bummer....no matter how he went down ..

Dayum shame...

Hate that.

Well, you found the antlers, at least you know he's dead and not in the next county next year.

Hate to see em go down like that.

I know the feeling!

Well at least you know now

It happens a lot, hard to stock pile them!

Hate that

Hate to hear that.

Now that hurts to see!!! So sorry to see that. I would HATE to think a poacher got him from the road or that a hunter shot him and the buck eventually died from his wounds.

One thing you may consider is that he died from fighting. All it takes is a tine to the ribcage or worse, into his gut area that perforates an intestine and there's a good chance he'll die from infection.

It happens often in pens where two bucks that are getting along fine and it's early before the rut but they have a little spat and one fatally gores the other and the one that's been gored dies a terrible long drawn-out death of sepsis. Well, that wouldn't happen in a breeder pen as the owner would take action and address the problem but it does in the wild.

I think we lose more mature bucks this way than we think, but I'm just speculating. I know big mature bucks are not benevolent creatures to each other!

what do you guys think the age of that deer was? Big bodied, four years old?

I have a couple of pictures from season before last, that I think are him, and I had him as a 3.5 year old last year.

As far as I know, no one has claimed to have shot (at) him. Just makes you wonder what happened to him. Of course, you never know how far he could have traveled with a poor shot. I do know a guy took a longer shot at a big buck that matches his description about 1300 yards away and was never found (granted the shooter didn't think he had hit the deer). You never know, though.

**Edit: the shot wasn't 1300 yards, it was more like 250-300...but where the guy shot at the deer is about 1300 yards from where the remains of this buck was found**

1300 yds away? That's a professional or highly skilled shot. If I'm a decision- maker in a hunting club, I would have a problem with a member taking such a very low percentage shot. IMO, that's irresponsible.

A 1300 yard shot is like 60-70 feet in bullet drop. That would just be crazy to shoot that far for me. I don't care how big a buck is.

I think he may be saying the guy shot at the deer 1300 yards from where he found the remains. I highly doubt someone attempted a 1300 yard shot at an animal. I can't think of anywhere I have hunted in Alabama that i could see that far.

This. Sorry for the confusion. The remains where found about 1300 yards from where a guy shot at a large buck that matches this deer's description. The guy didn't get a great look at the deer, but said he could tell from the moment the buck stepped out that he would be a shooter. The guy didn't feel like he got a great shot at the deer based on what he told me and never found any hair, blood, etc