So I went horseback riding today... Guess what I FOUND?!

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exracr

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Feb 7, 2016
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So nice here in Eastern Iowa today, couple friends and my Mom, I got together for a short 1+ hr ride. First ride of the year... Here's the pictures!

Shilo the horse leading the way... Ears forward watching for those turkeys and whitetails... Operator is having a beer! :)

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When we got to the top of one hill where we harvest hay from... (Shilo loves munching here too).... there is a small creek and then the road. I saw some hawks up the valley take off and started looking for white to see if I could find/see any deer. I look down by the creek and see an ANTLER sticking out of the pushed down grass. I yell to my mom I see an antler that I'm gonna go get. She shouts back, there's another skeleton by the creek. I saw what she was talking about but told her to look left. Then I saw another antler sticking out. I got down and grabbed 2x full whitetail heads with the antlers still on them! The smaller one was a 11 pointer but had a tine broke. The bigger one is a very thick 10 pointer! Shilo (Horse) was even nice enough that he let me get back on while holding both skulls, antlers so we could bring them home. I'm going to have the bigger one scored by my Brother who knows how to measure them correctly. Check this out!

Shilo the Reindeer?!

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Not bad since I've never shot a deer. I got 2 coyotes this last year. So now I got 20+ pt's without any weapons? Go figure right?! Either way it was a great way to spend time with friends, and family!

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Yes that big one on the right is the 10 pointer. The horns are really really thick and very symetrical; should score pretty well?! What you guys think?
 
That's really cool! I've only found one skull like that...well, my dad found it under my stand and gave it to me that is. Course, mine is nothing like that big one, that's massive!
 
Thanks! In all the years I've been riding/ by myself since I was 3 yrs old... 35 yrs these are the first full skulls I've ever found?! I want to go tomorrow on another property we have permission to ride and see if I can find any more?!
 
Beautiful country. I'm more interested in the meat than the bones lol. Nice find though. Bout to go thaw out some tenderloin for the grill tomorrow.
 
Freezer in the garage is full to the top of deer... I was told to leave the back strap packages alone though :p
 
As far as coyotes go man them things are getting bad around here. I guess it was about 5 months ago my old dog was going crazy outside. Walked outside and he was chasing a couple coyotes that had got in the garbage.

These coyotes were brave let me tell you they didn't run when they saw people and I'm not taking any chances with my daughter or my nieces. Couple days later 3 of em came back. I had made plans and was ready for them. Smoked one and the other 2 ran off. I might could of gotten one more maybe both but didn't want to risk it and it not be clean.

After seeing their buddies fate they haven't been back..
 
exracr said:
I'll have to show you some pictures of what Eastern Iowa around the River looks like sometime!
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Im in Alabama. Iowa whitetail have a well deserved reputation. We have some nice bucks down here as well. They are getting overpopulated . You drive down the road at night here you better be careful Lotta dos with death wishes around here.

Damn things will look at you and if you pay close attention they'll smirk at you and step out in the road..lol
 
That, my friend, is probably a once in a lifetime occurrence (two discovered in one trip) and waaaaay cool. That big buck is massive and mature, just awesome.

I found a big muledeer buck while elk hunting one time. I drew the 'short straw' and was bird-dogging with a couple others while the rest of the group was sitting on stand. I picked the thickest draw I could find and headed down it, and there was the full skeleton of the muley, the front end still half suspended on the thick brush where it had probably been heavy snow when he died. I wish I'd had a camera on me to get a picture of how it was when I found him. I took the head, though, and still have it sitting in my workshop.

Anyway, sorry to get off on my own adventure, you just got me really cranked up, ha! :) Big congrats man.
 
yeah 2 had racks.. the 3rd pile was just bones.. couldn't find skull on that one.. all were within 100 yards of each other?!
 
exracr said:
yeah 2 had racks.. the 3rd pile was just bones.. couldn't find skull on that one.. all were within 100 yards of each other?!
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It may have been a situation where some hunters shot them all at different times and they just happened to bed down in the same area and the hunters couldn't find them. That's kind of strange, usually if somebody poachs deer they take the head
 
We think that since there is a main 2 lane paved road less than 200 yards away they may have been hit by vehicles n crawled down there n died?
 
Just a cautionary tale...

Years ago I was hiking and found an elk skull with antlers attached. Huge! Large enough that I strapped the skull to the backpack and the antlers wrapped around in front of me. It was difficult to get through the trees!

Well only later did I find out it was illegal to collect the head since I didn't have a valid elk license. You can collect antlers but only ones that shed naturally.
Don't know what the rules are with white tails in Iowa, but you might keep a low profile until you find out. Just a heads-up.
 
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