You are hunting near the end of the season. You are the only one at your hunting club. You shoot a doe and while tracking it, you find the skull of a buck you know well. It's been there for about 2 years but is still in great shape. It is one that you had trail cam pics of and one you hunted for at least 2 years. You know who shot and couldn't find the deer but they are no longer in the club. They got out on their own, but left with some hard feelings with some members (not me). He had gut shot it because his gun scope was off (don't know the reason why, but it was supposedly sighted in before the season).

The deer is an 8 pt and just over 120", with an 18" spread, good mass and main beams that are 21 to 22 inches. It was an older deer and it had a very large body. It had declined from the previous year in which it was a very good 9 pt. It is a good solid deer for the area.

You no longer have the guy's contact information, but you know somebody who has it.

Do you:

1) Keep it to yourself, don't tell anyone, and just keep the skull at home?
2) Restore it and keep it at the club, maybe in the clubhouse?
3) Let his best friend know with the expectation that he will tell his friend. Then decide if you will return it if he asks for it?
4) Actively try to get in contact with the person that shot it so you can return it?
5) Something else???

A lot of things seriously went through my mind. I could rationalize several different outcomes. I wasn't really sure if there were any right or wrong answers.

So, what would you do???

take it to the clubhouse and nail it on the wall.

I'd prob tell his best friend that you have it but if he wanted it he could come get it.

Just call the guy if you're positive that's the buck he shot, and see if he wants them. If he doesn't hang them up a the camp house.

If you got along with the shooter I would attempt to get the rack to him. If he was a essobee I wouldn't worry about it and just keep it.

He lives about 9 hours away from me, not that it matters.

^^^^^^^

B'ham Freddy told you what to do. The deer belongs there.

I'd say nail it up at the skinning rack. Let everyone enjoy it.

cut the skull in half. mail him half and keep the other half.

Then drink beer...

Sorry, but my feelings is if you didn't pat him on the ass you are just guessing you killed this deer or any deer found. Seen many shot that survive only to be killed later....or shot and lost AGAIN.

I know 100% it is the deer he shot. There were 3 of us hunting it. I knew the instant I picked it up it, it was the deer he shot.

That's just wrong...

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I bleached his skull and re-stained his antlers.

I would call the guy. I would appreciate it is someone did that for me. If he doesn't follow up it's a nice euro mount.

I would call the guy. I would appreciate it is someone did that for me. If he doesn't follow up it's a nice euro mount.

I don't think that skull has been laying in the woods 3 years but I would tell them I found it aND send it to him if he wanTS it and if not do whatever I want with it. It's no big deal one way or the other though. If you don't recover the deer after the shot it wouldn't matter to me.

You're right. It was 2 years. He shot it in the 2014/15 season and I found it in late Jan of 2017.

The only thing wrong other than the end of the nose missing was a rodent had chewed in a couple small places on the back of one of the tines. When I found the head, the tips of the antlers were stuck in the ground with the teeth pointing skyward.

Looks to be in great shape for three years in the woods. I would do the stand up thing I try to contact the guy.

Keep it, tell your buddies he wasn't big enough for you to mount!

I would try and contact him. If he wanted it he could either come get it, send money to cover shipping, or ship it to him C.O.D.

I fixed it in my original post, but it was out there for 2 years. It was still in very good shape. After I restored it, it looked really good, at least to me.

Haha, that's funny

Here are a couple more from when I first found it. You can see some green on the antlers and the tip was buried and very dark. Also the skull was stained but the picture doesn't show it too much.

That's in good shape for being out that long. I would tell the guy I got it and if he's interested he can come get it. He might never pick it up.

If I thought the guy actully shot it I would ask him if he wanted it. If not, on the cabin wall.

I agree with Mark,if he is so far away he may just let it be though.

Kind of like fishing, you have to bring it in to claim it. The skull is your to do what you want with it. If i found it and a good friend or relative shot it then I would let them know and give it to them. If it was someone I didn't like then I would let them know that they are a bad shot and a lazy tracker, and I would keep it or put it up at the club. If you want to let the guy know you found it just to close the case for him that would probably be nice but he will want the trophy

I am 100% sure the guy shot it. Another club member shot at it a week or so before and missed (He never misses but the deer shook him up). He was helping track it and went to get the truck. He parks and hears his friend walking up the hill so he gets out and leaves his gun in the truck. Turns out, it was the buck and it walked up on him. He confirmed it was the deer we were hunting and all had pictures of. The guy that shot it kept looking for it for several days and has been sick about it ever since.

Try your best to contact him. I shot one that was found the following year by another member. I sure was thankful for the return

Ok, the rest of the story:

A lot of things went through my mind, but I texted his friend right away, after I found it, then told the other members in the club that I found the guy's deer. I took it home and restored it, the best I could.

My plan was to put it in the clubhouse and then maybe after a few years either give it to the guy or just forget it. A week or so ago, I got a text from the guy and he nicely asked if he could have it and offered to pay for it. I made him confirm it was the deer he shot, which I already knew it was. He sent me game camera pics of the deer.

He said he wanted to get it shoulder mounted. That was the turning point in my mind. He paid to have it shipped to him and he said that was about the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. He got it a couple days ago and was so excited. He told me he had stopped drinking and he seemed like a different person. I always got along with him and didn't have any issues with him.

I knew it would mean much more to him than anyone else. He explained why he got out of the club and apologized for the way it happened (long story).

I knew if the roles were reversed, that's what I would want someone to do for me. I did not pursue contacting him directly since I knew his friend would tell him. I also knew if the deer was that important, he would make the effort to contact me.

In the end, I'm happy with the way it turned out, even though I was planning to nail it to the clubhouse wall.

I tend to agree with Troy. That is a clubhouse deer. He wasn't a member when it was recovered so I don't think he is entitled to it.

Now, it's not that big of a deal, so if you think he is going to cry about it, let him have it, but if it were me and I wasn't in the club, I wouldn't feel like I should have a right to it.

Should've found it when he shot it or stayed in the club if he wanted that badly.

That was the exact conclusion I had come to, even though I did give it back.

He got out of the club because he got hurt and was out of work for several months. He had to take care of his family rather than support his hobby. The main rub was that he kept saying he was going to pay, but never did and we had to scramble to cover what we needed. When it was mentioned about him getting back in, several members were strongly against it.

You did well.

Ask yourself this. if you had shot the deer? what would you want the guy to do that found it? Pretty simple if you ask me.

glad it worked out

You're a good man mman.

sure looks to me like you did the right thing; a fruit of the spirit, you might say. well done.

Yep, that certainly played into my decision. When he said he was going to get it shoulder mounted, that let me know how much he cared about that deer. When he received it he told me that it was as big as he remembered.

He looked and looked for it but thought it had gone off the property based on some loose dropping he thought had blood in them.

Yep, it all worked out.

Good deal!

That's why you do good things for people.

People will have all kinds of opinions on what to do or what you should have done. Bottom line is if YOU feel like you did the right thing then you did. Personally I feel like you may be rewarded in the woods later at some point for your honesty with the guy.

Way to go! Maybe a big buck will come your way as a reward for doing the right thing.

I had 2 pretty good ones come by me during the season, before this all happened, so maybe it was pre-paid . One scored almost identical to this one and the other one was a few inches bigger, being a 9 point (which is what this deer was the year before it was killed. Wow, I just made that connection).

This could have turned out much differently, and I didn't know how it was going to play out. I had come to the conclusion that the deer was the club's deer and it would be displayed as such...but now y'all know the rest of the story.

Good job. I too would have reached out to him.

I like it. Good job.

Well done mman.

Good deal

Problems like this aren't about what the other person did or didn't do. This is about what you do and how you feel about what you decide. Nothing more, nothing less.

Personally, I would take reasonable action to let the guy know the skull is available. If he wants it, then he can come and get it. You don't have to be his buddy or approve of his ethics.

Besides, I'd hate to see it hanging at the clubhouse as a reminder how a jackwagon boogered up a good deer. I'd get mad every time I looked at it.

Oops, saw this had been resolved after I posted. Sounds like it worked out for the best all around. Good job.

In the end, I'm just glad the skull didn't rot in the woods or get totally chewed up by rodents.

It was a great deer, and in the end, I wanted the deer to receive the respect it was due. I think that goal was accomplished, but maybe not how I thought it would at the beginning.

You did the right thing !

Excellent

About 15yrs ago I found an 11pt in the ground the same way. Saw the teeth sticking up and when I got closer realized almost the entire rack was in the ground. Mine had been there for some time and was bleached out with a couple tines broken. No one in the club claimed it so it sits in my shed. Pretty cool to find one like that. I have to assume they flipped over while running to drive the racks in the ground like that.

Was the former member a good guy? Did he help and do his part as a responsible member? I mean, was he really a great guy and always did the right thing and was not selfish?

If he is a really good man, I would call him and tell him. If he did nothing to help the club be a better place and he was selfish or an a'hole, then keep it at the camp!

Hard call here.

Glad he is happy and I'm truly not knocking him, but I just can't see myself mounting a deer that took three years for someone else to find. Euro mount, sure, but not a shoulder mount for me. But if he's happy, great for him.

You did an honorable thing and I hope he is worthy of it, from a hunting effort aspect.

No doubt, I'd do #4

Pick it up, throw it in the pile with about 50 others that been accumulating since the late 70's

x2

What an entry to share the gospel

You did the right thing, you should be proud of what you did. You practiced the Golden Rule, which most people talk about but rarely actually do. Karma will be on your side

+1

Clubhouse- no doubt.

I would contact him unless he's just a real SOB......it's the right thing to do.