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Ohio Velvet

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,248
191
Ross County, Ohio
Early June on a Saturday morning of 2016, someone knocked on the front door at 7:30 a.m.

After opening the door, an Ohio Highway Patrol Officer tells me that a person hit a deer in front of my property.

She asked if they could leave their pickup parked at the end of my driveway until a wrecker could come by and pick it up.

Then in the same breath, she asked if I was interested in the actual deer 'TOO'.

I told her to give me a minute and I’ll meet you at the end of my driveway.

I think it was pretty obvious to the Officer that I wasn’t 'TOO' happy to hear the news, but I quickly gathered myself, jumped into my pickup and proceeded to drive down my 1,400' driveway to the scene of the accident.

As soon as I got to them, I asked "where's the deer?"

I was told the story first by the individual whom hit the deer, which left me with the impression that the buck came from out of nowhere, a complete surprise to him.

Neither the Officer or the driver of the pickup knew where the deer was exactly.

It took me all of a couple of seconds to locate the deer that was lying in the ditch expired.

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Once I discovered him, I Immediately became overwhelmed with bitterness & sadness.

Sure enough, he was the one I was trying to secure for the new season.

It was a real bummer, however I get it, accidents happen...

Still, it crushed me at the time no doubt about it, but I quickly jumped into action anyways.

I dragged that big beautiful buck to the back of my pickup.

I pulled him all the way up inside the bed of the truck all by myself.

The driver hit the deer shortly after 7:00 a.m. with his work truck.

I recovered the buck at approximately 7:45 a.m.

The rest is pretty much self-explanatory if you view the attached photographs.

My dogs & cats certainly appreciated all the scraps and ground venison for a couple months thereafter.

The wife and I certainly enjoyed fresh barbecued back-straps that entire week.

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.

I went ahead and had him preserved because I had a two year history with him. He lived in the area.

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I’ve always wanted a buck in velvet, but not quite like this.

I'll be picking him up tomorrow after a couple of final touches by the taxidermist.

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Last edited:

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,857
260
SW Ohio
Very cool that you got to him as quick as you did to save the meat and his cape wasn’t damaged from the accident as well. Does suck that it happened but at least you’re not hunting a ghost this year and you have a beautiful mount of him on your wall.
 
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