I mentioned last week that I had been successful and killed a nice 9 point... I skinned him out and then cut his head off midway up his neck ... figured the next day I would complete the job and decide how I wanted to mount him. Well, the next day when I got home it was raining sideways and cold ... so I said I'd wait... the next day after work I walked back behind my shop and the 55 gallon drum that I had put his entire hide in including head was turned over and he was GONE! This deer weighed 208#'s ... so it wasn't a beagle that hauled him off. I spent a few hours this weekend walking over my wooded 50 acres and only saw a few patches of hair. I mentioned to my neighbor who lives the next property over and he asked me did I see any bear tracks ... ??? Didn't even think there were bears in my area! This was all 100% preventable and all my fault. I was tired after working all day, killing a deer that evening, getting him out of the woods, in my truck, cleaned and on ice... I should have taken one more step and done a better job of securing him before calling it a day. I doubt I ever find those horns... man that sucks!

Man I hope you find him. Look for buzzards

bummer ...

Could have been a pack of coyotes.

Hate that for you.

I had a similar think happen to me last year. I had just completed my first DIY euro mount, and threw it in the bed of my truck(there are bears where I live and the allure of that boiled off water I knew would be more than they could stand) and took off to work in Tampa. Kind of forgot it was back there, parked in a parking garage and went to work. 10 hours later I come back and it’s gone from the back of my truck. Why some one would want to steal a skull from a deer they didn’t kill is beyond me but they sure enough did.

Last photo I had before I left for Tampa.

Sorry to hear that.....a friend of mine had the same thing happen to him two years ago on a nice 10 point buck, placed the head outside up on a table about 4ft high and it disappeared overnight, it had to be the neighbor's stray dogs....we looked for it for a day and never found it......

I’ve had the same.

Got a nice 6pt and left the head by the front porch. Came back next morning and a dog/coyote had taken off with it.

The first really nice buck I ever killed in Alabama was a very nice 8pt. It was very cold the afternoon I killed him and I had skinned him out to have a shoulder mount done. Because it was so cold I had left the head and hide on the tailgate of my truck that night and was going to try to find a taxidermist the next day. I got up the next morning and when I walked by my truck I noticed my deer head and hide was not there. I searched all around the camp and couldn’t find it. Waited on daylight and looked some more. Then it dawned on me. Our old neighbor had a dog that would stay at his barn. I gave him a call and explained what was going on and he let me go look. As I drove up to the barn, sure nuff, the dog is laying out in the yard chewing on the hide. He had eaten the nose off and chewed big holes in the hide. I was able to save the antlers. Hard lesson learned.

I’ve learnt that lesson before. Sure does tick you off

I had a set of horns stolen out of my truck when turkey hunting one morning. Wasn’t anything impressive but I can’t understand it.

BIL killed a big 8 we got home to eat lunch and went back out and his yard dog had chewed the nose off it . Tail gate was down

I would bet a tracking dog could find your deer head.

My 1st attempt at a DIY Euro mount I put a nice lil 8pt in a huge Ant hill in my hayfield and put up a wire cage around it. Drove rebar to keep critters from being able to flip it over and figured the ants would be a deterrent as well. Went to recover a couple months later and something had dug a huge hole underneath the wire and It was gone. Last time I tried that bright idea.

Got any farm dog "packs" in the area? That would be my first guess. Or potentially yotes if it happened over night.