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From the stand

Here are the pics of the Mule Deer killed off my plots over the weekend- not any really good story to go along with it- this deer came limping by in the AM and he decided to do the right thing and harvest him. After he text me and I came up and helped him drag the deer out- I noticed it was certainly not a whitetail- just baffled me as I have never personally heard of one in the area

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bigbuckhunter88 said:
That's pretty wild. Did you inform the dnr? That would be something neat to experience.
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First thing I did actually was text the photos to the DNR to confirm what he was- at first he thought I was pulling his chain- but soon realized it was legit and confirmed it was a Mule Deer.

Troy (who shot it) said he is going to have it professionaly caped out and saved and he will give it to me- I think a rare kill like this- would be a shame to have that cape just get thrown out- so my question is- what to do with it? How weird would it be to see a mule cape with a huge set of whitetail shed antlers shoulder mounted??? with that awesome stripe across the face and dark chocolate chest- I thought it needed to have something done
 
Makes you wonder if he bred any of the does around your farm. Might be seeing some hybrids pop up the next couple of years.
 
I was wrong! I looked it up and they can successfully breed. It says that the young generally don't survive well though.
 
Well I guess we will see in the next couple years. He has to have a mom and dad around - he wasn't very old
 
That's pretty cool. Was wondering how old you thought he was. Almost looks like an ear notch you would see on cattle, but could just be a tear from something else. Would be interesting to know if any others are in the area.
 
StickersNKickers said:
That's pretty cool. Was wondering how old you thought he was. Almost looks like an ear notch you would see on cattle, but could just be a tear from something else. Would be interesting to know if any others are in the area.
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My aging on mule deer experience is a total of....1 mule deer now:) but this deer was young from what we saw- maybe 2 YO? and we thought the same thing about the notch- an escapee from a farm- but he also had a few battle scars on his neck so we thought it could have been split from fighting? With season winding down- I went and picked up a few more cameras and in prep for shed season I am going to get as many cameras out as possible this weekend to know what sheds I will be after- if any more are on this property- I should see them
 
He certainly looks like a typical 1 1/2 year old mule deer. I would bet he got "dispersed" from his home territory probably Nebraska or South Dakota, and just wandered into Iowa. Suspect his "parents" are still Cornhuskers... :) Though some maps actually show parts of Iowa as part of the mule deer's native range, I doubt if there is a breeding population anywhere east of the Missouri.
 
Whitetail deer are more aggressive and Territorial than a Mule deer. I'm sure that deer was pushed out of a home range and just on the move looking for a new place to call home. Definitely a NE or SD native.
 
In the box blind tonight- say here last night and had a really nice buck come out after sunset. Bumped a big group of deer on the way in on the opposite side of the property- hopefully they come out to feed in this picked bean field tonight!

Side note- I'm loving the SEC get dominated in the bowl games!!
 
Well the day started out great- as I was walking to my box blind I noticed a shed about 10 yards in the timber behind the blind- as I pick it up the match is 20 ft or so away. Right at 4:00 I had a group of 6 does walk right behind the blind and I noticed they kept looking back. About 5 minutes later a nice 150 class buck is in tow- he gets 40 yards broadside and stops - I let the smoke pole go and he drops right in his tracks. I was pumped. As I step out of the box blind I look up and there he is standing up- and I reload and by the time I can shoot he is gone- I honestly couldnt believe it. I walk up to where he dropped and there is about 10 smeared drops of blood and then I walk the path he was on and I couldn't find a SINGLE drop of blood. I looked for an hour or so in the immediate area with zero blood. Did I stun him when I shot him ? Very sick feeling - I am going to search tomorrow after a work meeting.
 
I had same thing happen a few years ago. Knocked him down with ML. Got my things together and out of tower to see him running across field. Never found him. All I can think is hit him high enough in shoulder that shock temporarily had an effect on spine but didn't hit the artery in the back. I got pics of him in next few weeks and could see plainly that I had hit that 4" void above shoulder
 
I hit a doe a few years ago that didn't the same thing. I was told I probably hit her high above the spine, which temporarily paralyzed her. It's frustrating for sure.
 
My brother did the exact same thing this past Saturday, twice, on the same buck. Knocked it down, reloaded, it got up and he smoked it again. By the time he got to where it was, gone. Found some blood at the location and about 20 more drops probably 250 yards away.
 
My grandpa did something similar in shotgun one year. Was out sitting in some CRP/edge of hay field, buck came by, took a shot and the buck dropped. Watched it laying there for quite a while, not moving (not sure how long my grandpa waited, but a while anyway). He then turned around to pack up and walked the opposite direction from the deer about 50 yards or so, turned back to look and...poof...he gone. Was an evening hunt, no snow, didn't find any trace of blood. Three of us came back the next morning, no rain, snow, etc., and none of us could find any trace of blood. Still can't explain it.
 
yeah I was perplexed to say the least. Bummed I wounded him as well- Hoping it was a "stunner" that dropped him and he is one tuff SOB and shows up on camera later this week. I'll be back out tomorrow- 50/50 on Sunday. Going to be awfully cold!!
 
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