Interesting... Lion? Poacher?

[Guy Miner]

Spent the afternoon up in the hills with my wife, just enjoying the scenery and looking for wildlife. Found a few mule deer, likely an hour's hard hike from us. Didn't go there.

Then off to the side I saw a magpie. And another. And more. Hmmm. Glassed the hillside.

Sure enough, a deer carcass. Glassed some more. Saw two deer carcasses on the slope, maybe a third. Was hoping to find a coyote lurking in the brush, or maybe a bobcat or perhaps even a cougar! Had a cougar tag in my pocket, season is still open. The .45 1911 was on my belt and the .25-06 was in the Jeep... Extensive glassing couldn't turn up a predator of any kind so I took a hike up the hill and actually found four deer carcasses! Carci?

A small ribcage that was pretty well picked clean. Fawn perhaps?

Two carcasses that were too far gone for me to tell if they were bucks or does. Didn't find the heads... Interesting point.

One carcass that was a young buck, legal during the season, but young.

Found a chunk of deer leg a few yards below the buck carcass that had a lot of meat left on it. I was in somebody's dining room. Was this the work of a mountain lion? Coyotes? Wolves? Or perhaps men on a shooting spree, then the deer being fed on by scavengers? Don't know. Stopped at the WDFW office on our way home and reported it. An old friend of mine is the Sergeant there now. He wasn't in, but will get the word. I'm sort of hoping it was a lion. Each carcass seemed to be in a separate stage of being picked clean, with the buck the most recent. Who knows? It made for an interesting afternoon. I might be back there tomorrow, looking for a lion or at least coyotes to hammer with the .25-06 rifle!

Guy

 

[DrMike]

I wouldn't think it to be a lion, Guy. They tend to follow a circuit. It would be extremely unusual for one to kill four deer in one area. Also, lions tend to cover the carcases of animals they have killed, not unlike grizzlies. I would suspect that it was poaching and the scavengers were enjoying a feast. Still, it was an interesting find. I would not be at all surprised were you to get opportunity to pop a coyote upon returning.

 

[Guy Miner]

Yeah - I tend to think it was poaching too. Was really hoping it was a lion, but doesn't seem like it to me. Three of these, particularly the young buck with the head still attached, were well up on a slope that's rough to climb, even without dragging a deer. Wouldn't be surprised if someone shot all four, and the coyotes ate 'em.

Am glad I stopped in at the Fish & Wildlife office on the way home and let them know about it.

Guy

 

[Too Tall]

Guy, You got a metal detector? That way you can find the bullet. Maybe get a print of the rifling.

 

[FOTIS]

What a shame!

 

[Guest]

If you're ever wondering about a deer, you can tell the sex by looking at the pelvis. The bucks will have suspensory tuberosities on the inner pelvic walls. These are the attachment points for the ligaments that hold the penis, and as such, females do not have them. This only works for animals 2.5yrs old and older, though.

 

[Elkman]

I have seen a couple of lion kills ( I knew that because the lion was next to them), as Dr. Mike says both were covered with available material. Also both were near or under trees not out in the open.

 

[str8meat]

lion for sure. go get him

 

[RiverRider]

Are there wolves in your neck of the woods, Guy? I'm not sure I think they would kill multiple deer in a single attack, but then again I'm not sure I'd discount the possibility. I think poaching is the most likely possibility.

 

[longwinters]

Wish someone would poach the wolves around here.

Long

 

[onesonek]

Seems highly suspect imo. Wolves in a large pack will kill more than they eat. How far apart were the carcasses Guy? Even the wolf kills would be spread out somewhat, I wowuld think. Spree kills by poachers is a good possiblity