Well sort of a successful hunt.

[gunther89]

I really thought we had a good chance at a buck we call Ice this year. Ice was a 4 or 5 year old buck and we thought we finally had his core area pinned down. We planned to not go in after him until the rut started. Ice disappeared from the cameras after the first weekend of bow hunting and we began to wonder if a neighbor had shot him. We hadn't heard of anyone shooting him but you never know. Well the weekend before gun season, I was sighting my gun in and in stops a neighbor with Ice's skull. They found him in a creek in mid October and figured he had been there for a good month. It was a blow to the gut but we now knew what had happened to him. My cousin went and talked with the neighbor and the neighbor gave him the rack. My cousin called the DNR and got a possession tag to make everything legal. We later found out Ice had been hit by a car and made it roughly 500 yards to the creek. We rough scored him at 154 as an 8 with a couple small kickers. Hopefully he spread his genes around.

 

[Tree Spud]

That is tough news ... we really have to enjoy our few successes when the disappointments can be so frequent.

I also have the same situation. A 5 or 6 year old I have been watching now for 3-4 years. Pics of him late July showed a main frame 8 point with incredible main beam mass, 7-8" brows and a lot of stickers. Probably 19" wide. I think I have pics of him last week chasing a doe. Hopefully I can get more evidence he survived over the winter ... just a waiting game.

 

[bueller]

Similiar situation, hopefully different result. We've been watching the buck in my avatar for the last two years. Missed out on hunting him during the rut when he was on his feet daytime, both years. A week before gun season my Pop's stopped to help a guy load a roadkill deer into his pickup down the road from us. He says it was a BIG buck that had it's antlers cut off. He thinks it's the buck we've been watching. I hope not. We won't know for another 8 months or so.

 

[strawhead]

Sad news for you all. Simply amazing to me how these mature bucks can "disappear" for an extended time. So many things can happen to them.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

It's a sad thing in many states that so many big boys get killed by cars. It happens here. Then we have the poachers. No hunting skill involved there at all. Just stealing from the rest of us. A legally killed buck is truly a trophy.

I hope you guys get positive answers to your mysteries.

 

[gunther89]

We were able to find out that he was indeed hit by a car. I guess the car got totaled out. Tough way to go that's for sure.