Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffbridge
My intent with this post was not to stir up any controversy. It's simply the buck of a lifetime and it will haunt me till the day I die if I don't ever get to see him in person.
As for the effort put into recovering him, I can assure you I did everything in my power to make that happen. I brought several close friends as well as my family to the spot and literally spent sunup to sundown looking for several days in a row. I personally put on over 76 kms in that little area trying to cover every square inch of the property. Not to mention the time donated by my friends who took out of their own hunting season just to help me.
Exactly a week after I had killed him I was still searching, and in a moment of utter exhaustion I knelt down and had an earnest prayer meeting right there on top of the hill. I got up from that and wandered around for another hour or two, turned around to head back to my truck, and walked right up to him.
I knew my shot was fatal, so I was going to keep looking until I found him or until I saw him on someone else's social media page. Once I saw that his head had been cut off, it became my mission to find the person with him. I'd love to know their side of the story. How did they find him? When was it? How was the velvet? Would they consider getting a replica made? This deer was literally all I thought about day and night for a couple months of my life and not knowing where he is or what the end of the story is, that's what's killing me.
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Great to hear that you did all you could to recover the buck. We all know there will be those days as archery hunters where things could have gone better like we had planned. You could approach your local fish and wildlife with a picture of the deer and inquire if they may have had it come in the office for a permit. Depending on how close he was to shedding the velvet may have still have been good (depends how much blood was still inside) Hopefully the deer turns up and we all get a chance to enjoy a few close up photos of him. Good luck