Incredible/Bittersweet find w/ pictures

[Tennessee24v]

I have hunted this buck hard for 4 years on public land. When I discovered him he was already a mature buck and I estimate his age to be 7.5+. He was incredibly smart, mostly nocturnal, and made it exciting to wake up early every day of the season since 2017. I have been within 50 yards of him only a handful of times and always during bow season. He used his nose like nothing I've ever seen, always came in down wind, and never came out in the open during daylight.

I hadn't seen him on camera for 2 months and hadn't seen his typical rubs refreshed since early Dec. Last weekend I went out to check cameras after the season and noticed the smell of something dead along a bluff line. I never thought I would find something this wild. 2 mature bucks slipped into this crevice and couldn't escape. They were 10 ft down and 20 ft from the ground, lodged so tight their bodies and heads were completely immobile. I was able to get both heads and will be doing euro mounts on both. Nature is unforgiving.

 

[Remington700]

That's an awesome find.

 

[tahtah]

Wow, that's crazy. Thanks for sharing the story and pics.

 

[Newt]

Wow that's awesome! No telling how much that happens we never know about

 

[Tom Collins]

Incredible! Would love to know the story as to how that happened.

 

[cbhunter]

I would guess they were fighting.

Do you have any pics of the racks after retrieving them? Awesome finds

 

[TnKen]

Terrible way to die

 

[backyardtndeer]

That is crazy. Horrible way for an animal to go just being stuck suspended. Cool find though.

 

[Deer 1]

Wow that's horrible but interesting to see.

I once found 2 mature bucks floating in a pond with their horns still locked together.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Apostolic Outdoors]

What a treasure!! Bitter sweet though it may be!!

 

[Bushape]

Awesome pics. Hate that those animals met their end that way.

 

[Carlos]

Too bad.
I'd be filling that crevice up with rocks to prevent something similar from happening again.

 

[Tennessee24v]

I edited to add a picture of one of the racks. After being suspended in a crevice for several hours and with the sun setting, pictures after the fact were not really on my mind. The picture I did get shows the mass of the antlers. He was a 10 (2 stickers out the back of the brow tines). I could not touch my thumb to finger tip around much of the antler. That pack is a full size badlands vario frame pack to give it perspective.

He is smaller than many bucks on these hunting shows, but in 8 years of hunting some of the most hidden east tn public land and trail cam pics of 100s of bucks, his rack has more mass than anything I have seen myself. Not the ending I hoped for.

 

[Tennessee24v]

Too bad.
I'd be filling that crevice up with rocks to prevent something similar from happening again.

It is state land, so that is unfortunately not an option. It would be quite the undertaking for sure.

 

[cecil30-30]

Bizarre for sure. I bet they was fighting.

 

[Tom Collins]

I would guess they were fighting.

Do you have any pics of the racks after retrieving them? Awesome finds

My thoughts at first too, but they aren't facing each other and seems to be a decent distance between the two.

 

[Acorn]

That is wild! Glad you found them!

 

[redblood]

Oddest thing i have seen in a while

 

[LA man]

That's wild

 

[Tennessee24v]

My thoughts at first too, but they aren't facing each other and seems to be a decent distance between the two.

The best I can tell, they were fighting. One buck slipped in facing uphill and the second facing downhill went over him facing the opposite direction. Bucks put a lot of force behind their racks when they fight. Imagine pushing on a door as hard as you can and then someone opens the door. You're going for a ride! It did have me stumped at first, but these were the two most mature bucks on the property.