And I'm free to believe you maligned bowhunters without a fair trial.
You're probably right and I guess that's a little unfair. I've developed a somewhat bad attitude towards some bowhunters, and I don't mean that towards all bowhunters. But every year I hear story after story of deer being lost to bowhunters.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a neighbor and he told me his uncle (also a neighbor) and his uncles 11 year old son had hit and lost
five deer, including a 10 point buck, during bow season. Another friends son, an ardent bowhunter who uses his bow all the way through rifle season, usually loses one or two animals a year be it deer, hogs or turkey. Another buddies wife stuck a hog and that poor thing walked around for weeks with an arrow sticking out of its back. They even had pictures of it taken with their game camera. Anyhow, I digress....
I feel it was likely shot and lost during bow season for a few reasons.
In the state of Texas trespassing/poaching and killing game can now be charged as a felony. A game warden told one of our Hunter Education classes that when convicted of felony poaching a hunter loses EVERYTHING that pertains to hunting including firearms, knives, binoculars, etc. As such, incidents of poaching here are way down. Guys I know that used to drive the roads looking for quail to pot shoot or a deer to take off a remote wheat field wouldn't dream of it anymore. Yes, poaching still exists but not anywhere near on the level it did 20 years ago.
Occassionally stories and perhaps a game-cam picture of a mountain lion will show up around here but that's a pretty rare occurrence. Mountain lions cover what they don't eat and this wasn't covered.
Coyotes? Highly unlikely unless the buck was on his deathbed. This area is fraught with coyotes, but I've seen them in the presence of deer and the deer don't give them so much as a second glance.
Anyhow, whatever got it, what a shame.
35W
Coyotes had already gotten most of it.
like last year a cousin shot a bull with an arrow still stuck in its neck, or my grandpa shot a cow that had a old broad head with some shaft still sticking out all festered up on the cow in its spine, and i cant tell how many dead elk and deer ive found with arrows in the carcass or laying in the dirt with bones.
