Fresh matched set and interesting find

[MADMAX]

congrats
I spent a couple days looking for moose sheds up near 49 degrees north
zero

nice country though and nice trip I always wanted to try
lots of old boot tracks
think I went too late

[vandeman17]

So you guys think he shed one antler then died?

[NOCK NOCK]

Can only tell so much from the picture. Appears to be naturally shed, BUT, it would have been shed very early considering the conditions of the remains. I have been seeing a lot of bucks still packing both sides in that area.

[JBar]

So you guys think he shed one antler then died?

I would say yes, it's not unheard of for a buck to drop as early as January and if the buck was in poor health it very well could have dropped early. 

[-Trap_addicT-]

I have found this two different times. One time specifically, my brother found a fresh 2x muley horn that was really dirty and looked like it had been dragged around in mud. A few hundred yards down the hill I found the skull with the other horn still attached. We just figured a coyote was packing the skull and the horn fell off… A fun way to match one up though!

[vandeman17]

I marked it on my gps so next time up there I will scour the surrounding area and see what I can find

[M_ray]

My guess is someone found the buck hung up in a barbed wire or locked with another buck and cut him loose, he probably expired after the stress and length of time being locked down, seems to be the most reasonable explanation!

[link]

Could be, but I really doubt someone would cut the antler below the burr.

[M_ray]

Could be, but I really doubt someone would cut the antler below the burr.

Yeah hard to tell from the pic whether it was cut I'm just going by what you said. If it wasn't cut loose from something then that just leaves being shed.

[vandeman17]

If all goes as planned, I am going to head back up this weekend to do some more hiking and then go back and see if I can find the other side. I will snap some more pics with better detail

[M_ray]

  Good luck!