# west branch buck.



## snag (Dec 27, 2005)

Got this off the FB west branch site, a guy Muskie fishing today saw a big dead buck along the shore, checked it out and said it looked like a pass through gut shot. Dead a few days , stiff ,eyes whitening . Not salvageable other than the rack is nice. Guys on FB hounding him for location, he hoped the shooter could get found.










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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

Nice buck!


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Gut shot deer ALWAYS instinctively go to water and most times, there’s minimal, or no, blood trail to follow. Years ago,(on Monday morning) someone in our group hit a very nice buck “badly” during gun week. We looked everywhere on his thicket covered hillside(off and on) the rest of that day. On Sat morning, someone found it “bloated” laying in a puddle of the essentially dried up ditch running down a gully between his hillside and the next one. Again, this was many years ago. Since then, I’ve read and heard this same scenario a dozen times and formulated my above conclusion. 
Coincidentally, a truckload of wardens(Five/ODNR) showed up Sat. night while we we gathered around the campfire(one had apparently seen the rack hanging on a tree by camp during that day on a routine license check, with noone around. They literally surrounded us, hands on their side arms, and “demanded” to know Who cut the rack off “The State’s Deer” w/o a Tag! The property owner stepped up and ID’d himself telling them he did since the carcass was rotting! They told him he could be sited, gave him a stern talking to, then left after confiscating the rack! Not sure how this is “covered“ in the statutes now but that’s how it went down then!


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## M R DUCKS (Feb 20, 2010)

From rules and regs. A hunter *May Not *do….
15. Receive or possess a deer or parts of a deer unless such deer or deer part is tagged as required, or unless the deer or part of a deer has a statement showing when and where legally taken, the date received, and from whom received; or a Division of Wild- life tag, seal, or certificate or other proof of ownership which shows the deer was killed by a motor vehicle in Ohio; or an official tag or seal and valid nonresident license issued by another state if taken from outside Ohio; or certificate of ownership or receipt issued by a law enforcement officer. Shed antlers do not require a certificate of ownership or receipt by a wildlife officer.

it’s been this way for as long as I remember.
*a buddy found a nice deer(rack) while Christmas tree buying….had to involve Sheriff or Wildlife Officer to get the rack.


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