The Process - Picture heavy

[Non-Typical Solutions]

My wife and I had an interesting encounter this past July out hiking. We love getting out and wandering around, if we find an antler Whoo Hooo, if we sneak up on some elk, YEAAAAAAA but in general our philosophy is, if we aren't out in the woods we never know what we might miss.

We were up in the Alpine area, decided to go hike an area that we have found that we enjoy, not too steep, deer, elk, turkey and the hope always of seeing a bear. While out hiking this time we decided to take a little different path than normal and this is what we bumped into!!!!

After our amazement to finding what appears to be a very healthy dead bull I called Game and Fish to report the find and also see if I could collect the antlers. ( I had no clue what I was getting myself into with regards to the velvet!!!)

I also really didn't expect to get the antlers, I have never experienced this type of situation so I was apprehensive. I gave them the coordinates, they asked if I could send them pictures but I couldn't because of cell service, I was surprised I was able to make a phone call, but pictures wouldn't send out, so we went on our way and I sent pictures when we got to good cell service. This all happened around 1:00pm! 

I was told that Game and Fish was going to send an agent out to investigate and they would get back with me and let me know if in fact I could collect the antlers.

My curiosity got the better of me, we went back out there next morning to see if in fact Game and Fish had gone out there. Sure enough they had been out and so had the vultures and at least a bear! Big ole pile of bear crap right next to the carcass.

 

I didn't hear anything from Game and Fish until maybe 4:00pm, the LEO that had gone out to do the investigation informed me I could collect the antlers and where did I want to go to get them. I informed him I was in Alpine and he agreed to meet me at the 191/FS249. So we met there and spent a lot of time visiting, asking questions. He informed us he had performed a necropsy on the bull, looking for possible cause of death which initially he found no cause. He took the skull and antlers to two vets that were camping up by Big Lake and they peeled back the hide on the bulls skull. They found an area that would indicate blunt force trauma to the head.

 

Overall very interesting experience, according to the experts I was too late to really preserve the velvet because it already has begun to slip! I was very impressed with my interaction with Game and Fish. When if there was any way to preserve the velvet at this point, he told me to go home and take a good picture to remember!

I forgot about the ear tags. One of the tags was radio traceable. This bull had been tagged approximately 50 miles from where he died!

[bigorange]

That’s very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 

[AZLance]

Velvalok actually works really well, you probably would have had to spray it on when you found it, not after waiting for G&F to show up.

 

https://www.velvetantlertechnologies.com/?absrc=Google&abid=&abcampid=20654844149&abgroupid=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzOvEBhDVARIsADHfJJRxcmD7JodKh76l9gmfO5__F7U_1FN3_sXZdSmxUuh7mlaCmvQe52UaAkV1EALw_wcB&abkwdid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20648640660&gbraid=0AAAAABuGUSKwgR1TbMmXwxRnvbCNlpzuu

 

[Chef]

Thanks for the recap of events.  Cool find and even better that they let you keep the antlers.

Get a bear tag!

[Ed67]

Nice bull.  Did he say where he was tagged 50 miles away?

[CatfishKev]

Blunt force trauma??? How does that happen.  I thought maybe another poacher with a head shot..

[trphyhntr]

That’s nuts 

[Coues247]

17 minutes ago, CatfishKev said:

Blunt force trauma??? How does that happen.  I thought maybe another poacher with a head shot..

You dont think they would have said it was shot if it had a bullet hole in its head?

[CatfishKev]

51 minutes ago, Coues247 said:

You dont think they would have said it was shot if it had a bullet hole in its head?

That's exactly what I would expect, but blunt force trauma seems so random.  I was just saying a bullet was what I was expecting it to be.  

There is a burnt timber right there maybe it fell on him? Looks like it's eyeball came out.

[Redman]

That is way cool, thanks for sharing 

[Sky Island junkie]

2 hours ago, CatfishKev said:

Blunt force trauma??? How does that happen.  I thought maybe another poacher with a head shot..

Possibly one of the local jack asses out blunting bulls and hit him in the head?

[25-06]

1 hour ago, Sky Island junkie said:

Possibly one of the local jack asses out blunting bulls and hit him in the head?

Does this really happen? And why?

[Couzer]

Very cool, I found a fresh dead bull last year while out Grouse hunting. It was a decent 240" nontypical. I tied the antlers to the tree and let Game and Fish know. They went out and called me same day. The game warden said if you want the antlers you can have them. I was already back in the valley and checked it out later on in the year. They were gone. 

[Sky Island junkie]

17 minutes ago, 25-06 said:

Does this really happen? And why?

I’ve heard rumors over the years of areas like the White Mountains where there is heavy competition among guides some unethical bastards will go out and try to thump mature bulls in a certain area to rile them up where a rival guide is hunting with a client prior to the season. I think that’s the motive anyhow. 

[Sky Island junkie]

I wouldn’t put it past local kids to go out and use the wildlife for target practice with rubber blunts not knowing how much force is really delivered. I almost ordered some online a few years ago when my neighboring ranchers menacing bull came after me twice in a year when out hiking to my glassing spot. I decided against it. Figured my luck would be I’d either kill the sucker or piss him off even more and then he would kill me