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The buck ended up being 26" wide. 3x4 with gnarly looking eye guards.
[inline buck.jpg]
His neck is 24" around. Tip to tip on his ears 28 3/4". Dressed with just his guts and lungs missing on the scales at Tooele Valley meat he went 285 pounds. The biologists I talked to put him at 11.5 years. A couple years ago he would have been a monster. He's still a nice buck, just regressed.
[inline deer2.jpg]
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I just dont understand why you would not cape out the other deer you killed and at least take the head that is common to came back to a deer ate by lions or coyotes if you took all the time gutting him you should of caped him out but that is just my opinion not to take anything away from you or your hunt but i would never leave a buck that big without caping it out nice buck and congrats to you i hope you dont take this the wrong way i am not putting you down i used to live in stansbury and have hunted all over that area alot of good bucks just few and far between i seen a 24" 2 point right by magcorp this summer rabbit hunting
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I've never had a coyote get on any of the deer we've killed over night, let a lone a lion, before this hunt. I was asked the same thing by my dad, grandpa and uncles. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for not caping him. My only problem was light. If I'd have even attempted to cape the other buck, I'd have failed. Miserably. I can pretty much gut a deer by feel, which I did with the big boy. I'm sure it was pretty dang messy in there, I just couldn't see it. When I caped the other buck, it took me around half an hour. I'm just not all that fast. Gutting both deer combined took me maybe 10 minutes. Trust me, I know I made a huge mistake. I'll just have to learn from it. Next time I'll probably just camp out on the mountain with the deer. It's safer that way. I don't feel right about just taking antlers ever. If I'm not getting meat at the same time, I just don't like to do it.
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That sucks man!
In your situation, I think I would have done the same thing. The tag is supposed to stay with the bulk of the meat, separating the head from the meat might have caused some problems if you were checked.
It's a hard decision to make and sometimes I guess you have things like that happen, but not very often.
On another note, when are we going hunting??????
You really need to show me the ropes, you and your family harvest some dang nice bucks every year on public land.
Congrats on the buck(s). [cool]
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If you read your tag before you leave your kill you must do the following.
1. Completely remove tag from permit
2. Completely remove appropriate notches;
a. Sex b. Month of Kill c. Day of kill
3. Secruely and visibly attach tag to carcass
Taking another deer on saturday is simply poaching. Lion or not.
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I'm sure you know the law states you have to tag the buck as soon as its killed, before field dressing it even, right. So basically what you did was poach the second buck.
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That is a pretty nice buck there my friend. I think I would have done the same thing. I'm not the best with caping in the daylight, let alone when it is dark. Too bad the lion got to it though, sounds like it would have been a dandy.
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Mc_Lennon if it was me i wouldn't have said anything about the first buck. you posted this on a public forum and the dwr does watch it. guy did the same thing a couple years ago with minnow and the dwr prosecuted him for what he said here on the forum and showed up at his door step to investigate.
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wildlife.utah.gov
Tagging requirements
Utah Code § 23-20-30 and Utah Admin. Code R657-5-18
After you’ve taken a big game animal, you must tag the animal before you move the carcass from the site of the kill or [#ff0000]LEAVE[/#ff0000] the site of the kill.
Sorry dude, you have broken the law and announced it on a public internet forum. Sorry to hear about you loosing a huge buck, but you might be in trouble now.[shocked]
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You dont have to take the whole deer the last 4 deer ive killed i did not haul out i cape them out and de-bone the meat since thats all that you need you dont have to do precision cutting on the spot you can always clean it up later a deer that is 34" wide with a droper those aint very common and i would have done everything in my power to remove it that night how could you even sleep knowing that that buck was up there and not in camp again just my 2 cents
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I was actually advised by an undisclosed officer with the DWR, who hiked into the area with me on Saturday, about what to do. It was fully with his support that I even continued hunting, and given my record with helping the DWR convict known poachers in Box Elder, Tooele and Millard counties, including people who I've been friends with my entire life, I know I have little to worry about. And I talked with him again today, and he said he found no illegal activities with the situation. He'll be the one to investigate any allegations, given its his jurisdiction. Given the fact that I do NOT possess any part of the other deer, including his antlers, I am not in the wrong. It's simply another deer lost to a lion.
I'm sorry for those of you who believe that what I did was either unethical or illegal. I know of hunters every single year who shoot animals and make little or no effort to claim them. I made every effort possible to reclaim the original animal. Every effort. And given the fact that it failed, I'm to be chastized? That's not right, and as I've been told by my friend at the DWR, it's just sheer jealousy. And I honestly, I don't care. I bust my ass to harvest my animals. I do it legally, and I put more effort into it than 99% of all hunters in Utah.
I've seen admissions on this very website about hunters loosing deer, elk, and upland game birds, not being able to find them, and continuing to hunt. I've seen well known members talk about decapitating non-game species and making no effort to use or reclaim them or dispose of them in an ethical manner(illegal).
I'm done. You'll see my original post has been edited down to just pictures and facts about my deer.
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The fact that you contacted the DWR and explained the situation shows that you were concerned. If the DWR gave you the "Go Ahead", then I wouldn't worry.
Sorry that all these people have to attack you, pretty  . People wound deer/elk every year and follow the blood trail and never end up finding the game. I know of two guys that wounded over 6 animals each this year and never found any of them. To me, that is a more serious matter. I know of people that have attacked you on this very forum that have also wounded animals and continued to hunt. Not much difference if you ask me.
It's legal to wound (Kill) as many animals as you want and keep hunting in this state, but when a lion steals your kill you have to be done???[crazy]
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Funny thing is the undisclosed officer wasn't mentioned until the "attacks".
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Using the logic if I kill a small buck and it is getting dark so I start to hike out then on the way out I see a much bigger one that I want kill in the morning along the mountain. I pray a mt. lion will get the smaller buck I killed (and lets assume it did) then boom I get a nicer buck. I don't think this is right but if you do then good on ya but I always thought and learned early on that you must tag the animal even before you start to gut it.
It's kind of that the GW doesn't know the law. I can only assume he is a close friend and if you went randomly to any other GW I bet he would give you different information.
And yes I am judging you based on your story and what you did. But each of us have our own opinion on this matter. I'll probably get slack for this but it just doesn't seem or feel right to have done this.
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I think the big problem is that you didn't tag the animal. If you have to leave it on the mountain overnight, then that's fine, but it should have the tag on it. If you would have done that, and then come back to the animal being gone, then you wouldn't have had another tag to fill.
If the undisclosed CO gave you the go ahead to not tag an animal that you killed, he went outside the laws that he is supposed to enforce.
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Just for clarification
I'm not backing Mclennon on this, he should have tagged his animal and he shouldn't have killed another.
I just feel that wounding a deer that you know will die is the same concept. Two dead animals and only one tagged.
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Alright. I found a post you made a few years ago that you really need to explain. In this post, you say you don't feel right about shooting more than buck, and you also lost this buck to a lion.
So which is it? The 1st or 2nd time you've lost one to a lion?
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/gforum.cgi?post=287105;search_string=Worst%20shot%20I've%20ever%20made%20on%20a%20deer%2C%20or%20any%20other%20animal%20for%20that%20matter%2C%20flat%20out.%20350's%20a%20chip-shot%20out%20in%20the%20desert.%20I've%20seen%20my%20dad%20and%20uncle%20level%20deer%20out%20to%20500%20yards.%20Probably%20didn't%20help%20that%20I%20was%20shooting%20my%20old%20.243%2C%20either.;#287105"]Link to post[/url]
McLennon Wrote:
It was a good hunt this year. Lots of deer, lots of bucks, very few hunters.
It took me untill Wedensday afternoon just as the snow was blowing on the desert to find my buck. 31" or 32" wide, massive, tall, and long tined. I figured an honest 200" gross, 195" Net B&C buck. Exactly what I wanted. I got one shot at about 350 yards. And... He took one step as I was squeezing off, and I hit him too far back. [frown][frown][frown][frown][frown][frown]
Worst shot I've ever made on a deer, or any other animal for that matter, flat out. 350's a chip-shot out in the desert. I've seen my dad and uncle level deer out to 500 yards. Probably didn't help that I was shooting my old .243, either.
I tracked him through the snow storm(very cold experience, btw. The temp gauge in my F150 said it was 22* when I got back with a 30 MPH wind) untill it got dark. That wound up being about 4 miles. I had to kill my moose the next morning, so the thursday afternoon I was right back on his track with my dad. We managed to track him another couple of miles into a canyon that smelled heavilly of deer. Yesterday morning I finally figured out what happened. I found about half his body(not the good half, either), and lion tracks leading up into the cliffs. I looked, but as of yet no luck finding the antlers.
That cat's a gonner. A friend of mine has hounds, so guess where I'm going to be durring cat season. I could have shot another buck while I was tracking this one that was a 28" wide 4x4, but I don't believe in killing more than one buck. And I knew I ruined that big bad bruiser, so I couldn't justify it. I'll be looking around the cliffs tomorrow, so hopefully I can atleast find out where he's at.
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exactly. Does not tagging a deer you kill and field dress become legal if you have a CO friend? I think the CO should be called out on this as well
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well i hit this post alitle late. dont have the whole story. but i get the just of it. never seen a cat take half a deer??? ever and ive seen alot of cat kills. i used to go look for them when we could take the heads. tracking a drag from a cat is to simple to say you didnt find the rest???? i dont beleive it for 1 second. in my eyes you are part of the problem.
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