This is a buck that I’ve been trying to figure out for a couple of years now and I finally have some closure on him. This is the story of “One Eyed Willie”.

*The year is incorrect on all pictures; a couple of the pictures may have incorrect dates totally

This buck showed up on camera during the rut in 2017 and appeared to be a 3 year old buck. He frequented my cameras that season and I was excited that he’d made it through to grow another year.



Another buck (a year older than him) moved into this area and they began running together in March 2017.





The two bucks’ racks blew up that Summer and the younger buck, now a 4 year old, had his right eye put out in the meantime. He became known as “One Eyed Willie” and his older running mate became known as “Sweeping Beams”.

“One Eyed Willie” in the Fall of 2017


“Sweeping Beams” in the Fall of 2017


Together:


I killed “Sweeping Beams” on 11/25/17 and “One Eyed Willie” became a nocturnal ghost about that same time. I did get 2 daylight pictures of him during the rut that year.



He made it through the season and he frequented a camera/corn pile after season was out. I knew it was him because he was the only deer on the whole farm that was blind in his right eye. He was already showing some new growth in March 2018.





“One Eyed Willie” went MIA after this picture on 3/26/18 and I never saw him again. He was going to be my #1 target for this past hunting season, but he never showed up on camera...I was shed hunting/scouting last Friday and I found “One Eyed Willie”. He was dead in a pine thicket about 50 yds from where I’d recovered “Sweeping Beams” the previous Fall. I can’t help but to think that he died right after this 3/26/18 picture was taken.

Here’s his skull with a shed from each of his previous two years.



It’s nice to have some closure on him, but I sure wish he was still living!! I have no idea what killed him, as he always appeared healthy in all pictures

Hate it. Almost reads like a love story. Sorry for your loss.

Lol. It just shows how obsessed I am with these frustrating creatures!!

How’d you know it was him you found?

I feel 200% sure it just has to be him. There were no bucks near this area of his age and still aren’t now. This skull is a horse-headed mature buck with 1 1/2” worth of spongy antlers (just like in the last picture I ever got of him)

Look at his brain cavity inside and out very closely. I have two bucks on the porch that died from brain abscesses. Google brain abscess in deer. EHH brought me a skull to clean up a few years ago that had one heckuva hole in the skull. Obvious that he died from a brain abscess. It is a bacteria they get from rubbing trees. It gets into their skin, eats through their skulls, and eventually kills them.

Interesting read but, if I'm going to pay the cost to run Cuddeback cameras take the time to set the date/time. RIP Willie.

good story... crappy ending. RIP ole one eye.

I do set the time and date on EVERY camera EVERY time I ever close the cover lol. What kind of moron wouldn’t do that lol? Sometimes technology has a mind of its own, especially when used outside for 8 months of the year...The incorrect year was a design flaw by Cuddeback once 2016 hit. Since then, every picture on every Cuddeback Capture camera displays 2006 (even though the correct year is displayed on the screen)

So in March 2018 you found his shed from the 17/18 season.
In February 2019 you found his shed from ____________ season?
In February 2019 you found a skull from a deer you believe died summer 2018?

I just realized that I labeled the first shed incorrectly. It was found in March 2017, not 2018

1st shed: found March 2017 (from 16/17 hunting season)
2nd shed: found February 2019 (from 17/18 hunting season)
Skull: found 3 weeks after shed #2 (deer had been dead for almost a year - I believe he died in the Spring of 2018 right after the 3/26/18 picture was taken )

One Eyed Willie made me think of the movie Goonies. That was a good one.

Sorry for ur loss. Prayers sent.

Good read!

He's the deer on the far left in the last pic correct??…..Look at the copy of that pic you have saved on your computer and see if you can zoom in and look at his feet. I may just be looking at leaves or whatever he's standing in but something just looks funny to me....Also see if you can tell if he's holding his back right foot up in the air...(the right side as we're looking at it in the pic) Isn't that the hoof sticking out behind the front right leg just under his brisket? I see the other three touching the ground but not the back right one...I'm wondering if he may be injured or have some type of issue effecting his feet.

How do you know the skull you found belongs to one eyed willie?

Good read thanks

fine eulogy ...

Yes, he’s the deer on the left in the pic...I’ll study the pics a little closer and see what I can find

There’s just too many things that line up for it not to be him IMO...He was the only eyed deer on the farm then and still now; he vanished from my cameras when he began growing his new velvet rack; this skull is very big (3+ year old buck for sure) and it has the spongy antlers just like in the last picture I ever got of him

it was no doubt. That kid with the Primateen Mist inhaler.....i can relate. LOL

Yep, I always loved that movie. That’s where the name came from

Look at the ground below him....I see three feet with no problem. That back right foot is not on the ground though and I don't think its just hiding behind the other leg...If that's his hoof we see sticking out and he's holding it up the air in that posture then I'm saying he likely has an issue with it. It's possible that maybe the camera just caught him using his back foot to scratch with or something when it went off.... but nothing else about the way he's standing that would lead me to believe that's the case. He may have been injured during the rut and it finally caught up with him somehow. If his back leg is disabled then he would have a hard time eluding coyotes. I've been on a few tracks where the deer was shot in the back leg and it really disables their ability to get around compared to a front leg injury. On one of the tracks the deer tried to cross a creek branch and simply couldn't get out of it due to only having one good back leg.

I seen a dead deer on hwy 72 last week with a “get well soon” balloon tied around its leg. I immediately thought aldeer member

Not sure why but that area you hunt in has more deer that disappear for a year or more that show back up. Friend of mine killed a 160 8pt in the same county you hint in, last yr that was MIA 2017/18 season, was a 140 in 16/17.

Keep hope alive ole 1 eye willie may suprise yall next yr

Ben, this buck is the same way. Tons of pics of him in the 17/18 season; found one shed last September; found the other shed last week; but, haven’t seen him on camera since last Spring...we cut a bunch of timber in this area last Summer, so I’m hopeful it just pushed him off of us and maybe he’ll return this Summer...He was one of the best 3 year old bucks I’ve ever seen on our place in 17/18

I had a bunch of pics of a deer in 2010, looked to be a 3 yr old maybe 4 then but didn't see him or get pics of him until 2013. He started showing up on cameras all over the place and my buddy killed him soon after he showed back up. The place was clear cut in 2010 so we figured he had moved somewhere else since we never saw him again, he had the same rack just much bigger. It was like he disappeared in 2010 and reappeared in 2013, he was coming from the same travel route and same area as before. In 2010 I had lots of pics of him but not one pic until 2013 and then had lots of pics of him all of a sudden . When my buddy killed him he came in on the same trail as the first pic and most of the pics I had of him in both years.

Yeah, I'm not too sure that you won't see him again. Did I miss something or did he just quit growing brow tines?