lost and... found?

[CoyoteCowboy]

hey folks.

i gotta admit.. this is a long shot.

a little back story... this fall i bagged the second buck of my life. a nice black-tail buck over near Hood Canal, WA. tuff hunting as those deer slip in and out of that dense cover like ghosts. i took him on the second weekend of modern firearm season and i am still trying to figure out what he was up to! he came walking right up to me (30 yards) much more concerned with the doe right in front of him then me! i would have thought it was the middle of the rut the way his neck was bulging and his attention to the doe's assest. 

why am i posting this story under shed hunting you might ask?

well... along with this being the second buck of my life, he was also my first attempt at a European mount! i wanted my successful hunt to be commemorated and preserved with a beautiful wall mount for my house! my girlfriend (now fiance) and i spent a few days boiling, cleaning, picking and brushing this rack. what a keeper huh? we laughed. we joked and we almost vomited. haha!

anyway, after we finished the process i left the rack outside for a few days to air out before the final peroxide bath. bad idea. when i came home from work the next evening, the rack was gone. i literally was depressed for weeks as this was going to be a special decoration that my fiance and i would look at with fondness for years to come. but instead it was stolen and the only thing preserving the hunt is our memories.

i am hoping a local outdoorsman might find and be willing to part with a similar pair of sheds so i can have a relic from the hunt and deer-skull boiling experience with my fiance.

attached are a few pictures of the rack...

PM me with any questions or leads. thanks!
 

[daydreamn]

You might want to question the neighbors dogs.  Ill bet one of them made a chew toy out of your skull.     Good luck.

[Shed Stud]

Leaving heads outside where animals can get to them is a bad idea. dogs, yotes, and even racoons will drag those things all over. Check the brush and surrounding areas well as it might be close by.

[shedcrazy]

 

[Alan K]

Damn, sorry to hear it.  Like others said, it may have been some local dogs.

My first buck's rack, a spike BT, went missing similar to this.  We had cut the horns at a buddies place with a walk in cooler, and I sat outside on a 5 gallon bucket and was cleaning it up a bit while my dad wiped the hair off the meat.  When he was done we went took it to the meat shop and I just left the antlers there by the bucket.  You guessed it. . . When we got back they were nowhere to be found and my dad told me how much dogs liked them.  I wanted to go on a rampage throughout the neighborhood. Never did find them.

Again, sorry to hear that.  It looks like you had them strung up when you had it cleaned up, if it was out of reach of animals it may have been a scumbag who came by and ripped 'em off. 

[gonehuntin68]

yep i have had that happen its the pet dogs

[deadyote]

Yeah, I learned that lesson the hard way as well.  My first deer was a spike and I was 16 years old.  I took it home boiled it and let it sit outside for the night.  When I woke up, gone!!  It wasn't like I wanted it for a trophy or anything, but it was my first buck, so I was a little bumbed.  Lesson learned. 

[CoyoteCowboy]

thanks for the replies. in some weird way it makes me feel a little better knowing that i am not the only victim of rack theft... be it by some local meth-head or by the neighborhood dogs.

and like deadyote said ( ) it is a lesson learned the hard way. wont make the same mistake when i slay a monster bull and buck next year!

[Maverick]

really sorry for your loss bud. Maybe a taxidermist could make you a fake rack that looks similar to that buck?

[huntfor1]

What a bummer! I can relate also. I had a memorable hunt with one of my boys last November that was tainted after he left his buck skull out over night to find it gone. We searched the forest for quiet a while without success. I did take a bunch of pictures of the buck so I was able to blow up a few pics and frame them nicely for him. Hard lesson...

[shedcrazy]

Yep, your not the only one. My boss and his brother took a pack in elk trip to Idaho. Each took a nice 6 point bull, and when they got to Wenatchee his brother left his rack outside until he left the next day. Woke up and no more elk rack I think the neighbors rottweiler stole his, never saw it again

[Widgeondeke]

 
bummer of a deal. Hope you find an acceptable replacement.

[arrowflinger]

bummer, I have to say that I have not had this happen.....knock on wood.

[Jburke]

I actually had something somewhat similar happen a few years ago.  Except I left mine in my shed thinking it would be fine to let it dry out for a couple days.  Until I went to check on it and found that the mice had chewed the crap out of it.  Now this year I think I'll just leave it in the laundry room instead of outside.  I'm sure my dogs will like the smell.