Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting normal to leave the head and antlers behind?

So I stumbled on this while hunting in 171 this weekend. Maybe its just because I'm so new to this but I found it odd that someone would leave the head and antlers behind on a bull elk like this? It appears to be quartered out and it definitely had been there a while cuz the smell was pretty damn strong. I marked it on my GPS and took this picture but I didn't want to mess with it beyond that. My buddy who tagged along wanted to try to take the head with him but I asked him not to because 1) I'm not sure what a game warden would make of it or if its legal (I had a cow tag) and 2) I'm not sure if the person might come back for it or maybe it was poached?
What is a good procedure for this type of situation? How long would someone have to wait before taking the antlers off a corpse they found that was obviously there a while? Is there some sort of hunter's code that pertains to a situation like this?

It's not normal because the law says you need to bring the antlers out as evidence the bull met the minimum point restrictions.

If I found that, I'd notify the CP&W, and let them deal with it.

Looks to me like the legs are still there. If they are, then it wasn't quartered, it was likely wounded and lost. It could be that it was de-boned I suppose, hard to tell from the pic what is going one there. I wouldn't have hauled the head from that elk out unless it was fairly close to the road, I would have taken the ivories and meat and called it good. If the meat was taken from the bull, it doesn't appear that the neck meat was taken. Shame to leave that good burger meat laying in the woods.

*Good point smokepole - In an area with point restrictions the head would need to come out.

I know the pic doesn't show it well, but the main bulk of leg meat was gone, it was just the ends of the legs left behind. Since it was so old, it was hard to tell if the meat was missing because of animals or because of people. If I had to guess though, it looked like a human job more than an animal.

I'd guess he was wounded and lost. I doubt anyone poached a rag bull but who knows. No law against picking it up in Colorado although you better have you ducks in a row if you do it during the season. I'd wait a bit so it is not so stinky and grab it if so desired.

Kind of looks like shoulders and hip bones are attached. There are probably a lot of ways to debone but I would typically remove the shoulders and the quarters at the hip socket and debone off the carcass.

That looks like animal work or a very sloppy, wasteful meat collection effort.

To me it looks more like an elk that got eaten by predators (possibly wounded or killed and lost by hunters). It hasn't been skinned, leg bones still there, rib cage hasn't been opened up, head and antlers still attached. Doesn't look like any "processing" has been done to me.

I going with the 'lost during archery season' theory. Hard to conclude much from that pic though.

That bone just in front of the head appears to be a shoulder blade. It's possible that just the meat was removed but I would imagine that it's a natural or wounding/lost death case.

I don't know about CO, but ID doesn't have much in the way of either sex hunts. The antlers would have to be taken out with the meat in a bull hunt.

I ran into a similar situation last year coming across the carcass of a 5 pt bull. I assumed it was lost during the archery season - one antler had been chewed on considerably so there was no question it had been down for a while. I left it there and asked the FWP gal at the game check station about it and their take on packing it out during an open season. She replied that if it was obvious it had been dead for a while, then there would likely not be a problem bringing it home, but also said that I would certainly be questioned if I did bring it out.

Looks a lot like a dead bull I found a few years ago during a November cow season. It was very well scavenged. Lots of bird droppings, coyote tracks still visiting in the snow. This one looks a bit fresher, but the position of the skeleton, and location of the carcass looks like a wounded bull sought out a well worn elk bed in timber, lay down, and succumbed to its wounds. The spot looks like a bed, the elk is at the base of a relatively large tree, and the body is positioned in a place a bull would have bedded. I think after death, they all generally stretch out in rigor mortis. This does not look like a human took meat off it and left the head. As someone mentioned, it is unlikely a guy would try to bone it without first disjointing the legs. Having done a lot of boning, I can't imagine leaving it fully assembled and trying to bone it out, especially the side on the ground. At a minimum getting the legs off one side makes it much easier to turn over to work on the other side.

I took the head, but because this is WY, I took it right to a game warden and described how it was found. I got an interstate tag, and was allowed to keep it. That was I am sure in part because the warden knew me pretty well, and believed my story. It probably helped that even as old as it was it was still very gaggy. In CO, I believe you are OK to pick it up. Having your photos of how you found it, is probably a very good idea. Maybe a call to CDOW to check on procedure would be good. It is possible a warden might want to visit the site with you.

Good luck. Don't wait too long or someone else might get it.

Most ain't that motivated, if it means getting outta the truck....

First off, where is the lower jaw at? Second, if you look closely, there is a knee joint that has been cut off in the joint by the neck. Third, look at the way all the red is off the rear femer bone, pretty clean and cut, not tore off by bird or beak.

My theory is that the poor excuse of a hunter took the easy to get to meat and ivories and left the rest. There is several ways of gutless deboning also so that could explain why the rib cage isn't split.

Just my theory.

I have seen coyotes eat nearly a whole deer overnight, all the way to the bone. It looked like someone had cut the meat off. I do not know how quickly a bear, wolf, coyotes and birds could eat a full grown elk, but I would bet not long.

I found a bull elk a lot more decomposed than the one you found and I took a bunch of pictures then cut the antlers off. Figured if I was stopped with them I could show pictures.

You could contact the local game officer and show him the pictures and get the okay to go get the antlers. I wouldn't leave them there for long.

Looks like that elk was lost and the scavengers/predators have been working it over.

My parents live in GMU 61 from May--November at 9200 ft with NF bordering two sides. On average, I find about one dead elk each year around our place.

Casey

Lion or bear kill ?

More than likely wounded by some Bow Hunter during Archery only season, would be my first guess.

Been posted before, nothing but the ivories were taken from this bull. I grabbed the head.

Seems like every state differs on laws concerning dead heads, Trud found this bull, our biologist friend let her keep it as it was a rut mortality (gored in the paunch). If it had a bullet or arrow in it NDOW would have taken it.

Wow. I guess I need a new screen.

I was tracking a single elk track through the timber once, looked a day old or so, came across a bear that had killed and half eaten it, but the elk was buried in the grass to hide from scavengers. Predators both cougar and bear do this.
The bear was a pig, and had two holes, one in his fore head skin and one in the shoulder. He came home with me.

Would liked to have seen that fight! So I think these were not predator killed animals or they would be buried.

If you save that picture to your desktop and then preview it in a enlarged version you will see that the lower jaw and the ivories are still there.