My sympathies go out to the OP.
There are quite a few people assuming the worst about the person who took the head. Reading what the op has written makes me think something quite a bit more innocent has happened.
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Originally Posted by Jeffbridge
I shot him on Sept 2nd..
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Your pics look like they are from down south. Given the time of year, it would have been warm out. Meat would begin to spoil quite quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffbridge
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.
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You are describing a large effort by many people to help find this deer. You don't mention how big the property is but I'm thinking that your crew would have been hard to miss. I would also think that someone from your group would have seen someone packing out ( or driving out ) your deer's head.
This leads me to think that your deer was discovered by the other person in the days after your group had given their best effort to find the buck. Given the time of year, the meat would be spoiled, the smell would be ripe and the flies would be thick.
This other hunter would come across this scene and make the logical conclusion that the deer has been shot, not recovered and has been laying there for several days.
He cuts off the head and takes it home. End of story. Nothing sinister. It's just a 'look at I found' kind of situation.
To the OP. I know that it is near impossible to include every detail of the story, but have you contacted the land owner? At one place that I hunt, the landowner keeps a record of who has permission on which days. Perhaps the landowner could be of assistance to you.