a nice california shed and skull

deerhuntsalot · Jul 11, 2007

Hey guys I found these about 2 weeks ago. That shed is very nice for our area and one of the biggest i have found. These were found in D8 in california, technically california mule deer. When i measured him, I think if i doubled the other side with an inside spread he scores around 160 gross. No luck yet on the other side but will try very hard next january and february. Also found this nice little 4X4. He is very narrow only 16 inch wide but has some nice character with a 3 inch eye guard. I am pretty sure it was a lion kill because no one has hunted our ranch or near our ranch for many years(due to low population and migratory patterns). These damm deer migrate and are not on our ranch during the seasons, they are up in the national forest at about 6,000 feet elevation while we are around 3,500 feet.

slamdunk · Jul 11, 2007

Neat finds, i wish it were still legal in Utah to pick up skulls!
It looks like there is a bit of skull attatched to that single antler???

deerhuntsalot · Jul 11, 2007

yup there is a little piece from the skull is still attached. I bet it hurt when it came off. Hopefully he lived through it i am not sure.

slamdunk · Jul 11, 2007

Ya, i'm sure he received quite a migraine from it!
I witnessed two big bulls going at it one day and saw an antler break completely off, taking skull from clear down over the eye socket, at least a 4" chunk of skull attatched. (We picked up the antler)
That bull trotted away sideways acting like he'd been in the Jim Beam bottle for quite some time, he was WAY jacked up!!

I doubt he lived, you could actually seen brain matter as he ran off shaking his head. Probably was a slow death too, i'm sure the hole filled with blowflies that ate away at his brain :-(

(sorry for such a graphic story, it still amazes me evertime i think about it!)

deerhuntsalot · Jul 11, 2007

the skull part looks kinda big in the pic but its actually a small part and is pretty thin. This bone that ripped off didn't expose his brain, its not big enough. but i hope it did not mess up the pedicle and he may have a deformed antler next year.